Staying Away From Dark TV

A few years ago, I was watching “House of Cards” when my husband Daniel walked by the TV. 

“What’s this show about?” he asked me.

“Oh, you know, just politics, cheating, lying, murder, all that fun stuff,” I said.

“Wow. That’s depressing,” he said. “Why are you watching such dark television? Doesn’t it put you in a bad mood?”

“Well…” I said, pondering his question. “I guess it doesn’t put me in a good mood.”

“Then can I make a suggestion? Maybe you should turn it off.”

Daniel brought up a solid point. So with that, I finished the episode and never watched “House of Cards” again. 

I had a realization: I was watching a lot of dark TV. It served no purpose in my life. Many times, it gave me nightmares. It made me view the world from a more negative perspective and kept me feeling down.  

From then on, I only watched lighthearted comedies like “Friends” and “Jane The Virgin” that made me laugh and gave me a break from real life. Over time, I noticed myself not only becoming more and more sensitive to dark content, but also recognizing how much of it was out there. 

I’m going to turn on my TV, have a laugh at something stupid Joey said on “Friends” and go to sleep with a smile on my face.

Just scrolling through Netflix’s original content, I saw documentary after documentary about murderers like Ted Bundy or the Night Stalker. When Netflix isn’t producing true-crime television, they’re putting out deeply creepy shows like “You,” about a psychopathic couple that kills people, “Black Mirror,” which highlights a sad, dystopian future and “Squid Game,” which is about people dying in gruesome ways. I could go on and on. 

Even new comedies these days aren’t funny – they’re also dark and disturbing. I tuned into “The Righteous Gemstones” thinking it was a silly show about a group of religious leaders. By the end of the first episode, I had witnessed cheating, stealing, drug use and attempted murder, set to dark lighting and ominous music playing in the background. The biggest sin of all? It wasn’t remotely funny.  

People may think I’m being an uptight religious person. I’ve heard this argument: We read about disturbing things that happened in the Torah, so why can’t we watch dark TV? Isn’t it the same? 

I believe that there are lessons we can learn from the Torah and deeper meanings that can be revealed from these stories. In the Torah, evil people’s actions are by no means condoned. Just for one example, when Cain kills Abel, he is punished. When characters do bad things on TV, they sometimes get away with it. We may even be encouraged to root for them (Walter White in “Breaking Bad,” anyone?). I’ve never learned meaningful values by tuning into my streaming services. 

I do understand why people like to watch dark TV. It may give them better insight into human nature, and having evil characters and gloomy plotlines adds to the drama of TV shows. Horror gives people an adrenaline rush, which can make them feel more alive. 

When I was going through a traumatic time, I started binging on horror movies to try to distract myself. What was happening in these movies was much darker than my trauma, so I thought it could help me feel better. While it entertained me for a little bit, I wound up feeling worse afterwards. And now, I had all these sick images in my head to boot. It was like eating junk food when I already felt bad about my body. 

These days, if anything negative happens in the first few moments of a show, I turn it off. Some stringent people may advise me to cut out television altogether to avoid these situations. But I love television. I always have. For now, I don’t want to give it up. 

I just have to be vigilant about what I watch, and I advise other people to do the same. After all, the world is scary enough right now. Television should be a positive outlet. It should be a place where we can find shows that lift us up, not drag us down.

Now, I’m going to turn on my TV, have a laugh at something stupid Joey said on “Friends” and go to sleep with a smile on my face.

Kylie Ora Lobell is the Community and Arts Editor of the Jewish Journal.