What’s On Tonight? Too Many Crime Shows?

As I was trying to figure out what to write about today my daughter heard me muttering and offered her two cents.  She has been bothered lately by the number of television shows about crime and policing.

When I look at the shows we have programmed into our DVR there are more crime related shows than most other types.

Other than sports, our main shows are House, NCIS, Bones, Castle, Mr. Sunshine, Glee, Project Runway, Chuck, Mentalist,Little Mosque on the Prairie,  Harry’s Law, Big Bang Theory.  When not watching things that are recorded we tend to watch Cake Boss, Ultimate Cake Off, Say Yes to the Dress, What Not to Wear, or a real estate show like Love it or List It.  Hmm, the first thing I notice is that we watch too much TV! Of the 17 shows, only 5 are crime based. 

So, we aren’t doing too badly, but if you look at the list of shows available I think my daughter has a point.  There are many other shows about crime and forensics that we could be watching.

Does it matter what we watch?  If we watch shows about crime will we be tempted to commit crime?  Will we become desensitized to violence?   There was no television when the Bible was written but we can look at what it had to say about other possible problems.

So, if watching crime shows doesn’t tempt us to evil then it shouldn’t be a problem for us.  If we didn’t watch them we would still have plenty of evidence and video footage of the depravity of some humans by watching the news.  The heroes of crime shows are not the criminals but rather people who put their lives on the line and their greatest gifts to the job of making the world a little safer and a little more just.