11:53 a.m. EDT, August 10, 2011

In the first photo taken of me walking as a baby, Big Bird is on the TV screen in the background. I’m staring right at him. I guess “Sesame Street” was my first TV love, quickly followed by “Fraggle Rock” and the TGIF lineup and 1990s Nick TV (“The Adventures of Pete and Pete”? Time for a relaunch).
Sure, my taste has sophisticated since then — “ER,” “The West Wing,” “Mad Men.” But I’ve always paired the lowbrow with the highbrow. In college at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, many a late night “studying” was actually spent watching reality dating shows like “Blind Date.” Currently, I’m addicted to shows about old stuff (“Pawn Stars,” the three (three!) shows about buying storage units) randomly addictive reality ventures (“Teen Mom,: “Hillbilly Handfishin’”!) fantasy-fun (“True Blood”) and absurdist comedies (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”).
I guess you could call me an eclectic TV connoisseur. I hope that never changes.

Jordan Bartel is assistant editor at b and lives in Mount Vernon. Email him at jordan@bthesite.com or follow him on Twitter, @jordanbartel.