I watched well over an hour of truly awful television.

First, my roommates and I caught two episodes of 'Date My Mom' on mtvU. We tried to laugh our way through the scripted superficiality of this, the worst show I could ever imagine. Sadly, even ironic enjoyment proved difficult in the face of so much stupidity.

My soul was further crushed this evening, as I caught most of 'The Real Housewives of Orange County' on Bravo! This show was slightly more palatable, because it's not transparently scripted. Therefore, I can convince myself that nobody actually wrote it and it's just accidentally terrible.

Honestly, all I can say about these shows'and many others on MTV, VH1 and other channels'is that they are irredeemable trash. They make me ashamed to be alive. They are modern civilization at its worst. They glorify consumerism, superficiality, pettiness, selfishness and flat-out stupidity.

Then, as usual, I started thinking. And, as usual, it only caused problems. It's easy to point to these extreme shows''My Super Sweet Sixteen,' 'Ten Shocking Celebrity Secrets''and complain about how superficial and meaningless they are.

But isn't it deeper than that? The problem is not just limited to a few shows on a few silly networks. Think of our most important, most serious news networks. Well, not C-SPAN, I guess. So think of our popular but still serious news networks: CNN, MSNBC. I guess also FOX News.

All of them have their celebrity hour, their updates on Britney Spears' latest hijinks and Anna Nicole Smith's stupid, stupid burial. Even these channels are at least partly tainted by meaningless gossip masquerading as news.

Fixating on celebrity gossip is about the same as the shows I've mentioned, since it exploits viewers' superficiality. Sometimes only old man Jack Cafferty of CNN's 'Situation Room' has the sense to point out that recent developments in the lives of celebrities just don't matter to anyone.

Even though I think that everyone I know is way too bright to enjoy 'Date My Mom,' it manages to remain on the air. These shows are not a new development and they aren't going away soon. For some reason, we are desperate to distract ourselves with the day-to-day trivia of strangers' lives. These shows try to convince us that the most important things are appearance and shopping, and it's really sickening.

Don't get me wrong. I know that the TV is essentially for distraction, mindless entertainment. It would be very difficult to put a thoughtful program on TV. But the difference is obvious. 'The Real Housewives of Orange County' is a show based entirely on superficiality and ignorance'that of the 'cast,' as well as that of the audience. Even something like 'Chappelle's Show' requires a little thought and addresses topics beyond expensive shoes and petty fights.

I know people who say the 'real news' is too depressing to watch, but I don't understand. To me, most things outside the news are really, really sad.