According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than four hours of television each day. Do the math and you'll come up with 28 hours a week, or two months of nonstop television watching per year. As Nielsen puts it, a 65-year-old will have spent nine years glued to the tube.

Anyone who spends that much time doing something certainly must know how to do it.

Not necessarily.

From left, freshman Justin Tarlow, sophomore Lorraine Infante, junior Veronica Morales, junior Nicole Monigan and sophomore Desiree Cannuci are learning to watch TV with a critical eye.

Recognizing the impact television has on society, Thom Gencarelli of Broadcasting was compelled to develop "How to Watch Television," the Broadcasting Department's first class open to non-majors. Fifty-seven students are enrolled this semester.

"Education is about building citizens, so people need to be educated in the medium from which they get their primary information," he said. "I want my students to see into television, not through it. Seeing into television gets viewers to be thoughtful rather than judgmental with knee-jerk opinions."

Kevin Warne, a junior broadcasting major, says the class has gotten him to think about the medium in terms of content, industry and the medium itself. "Seeing through TV means we allow it to flow into us. It's what makes us brain dead," he said. "Watching critically I evaluate how a program will affect people. I'm excited about this class because I'm looking at TV from a different perspective -- in front of the screen."

Emmy Award-winning television anchor Steve Adubato '80 agrees with Gencarelli and says that children should be "trained" how to watch television at an early age. "Television is the dominant force in our lives," said Adubato, who hosts "Caucus: New Jersey" and "Inside Trenton" on New Jersey Network. "As someone who works in the industry, I believe a course in how to watch television is critical. I wish it were a mandatory course for children so they could become more discerning."

Adubato believes viewers should be allowed to watch how programs are edited -- taking in the raw, pure material. "When it gets to us it's already edited and repackaged to sell products and keep our eyes glued to the screen," he said. "So we have to edit ourselves in our own minds."

Gencarelli describes much television programming as infotainment, using shows like "Entertainment Tonight" and daytime talk shows as examples. And local news, he said, is not far behind. "After the sports and weather person, who have a contracted amount of time on the air, and after all the 'happy news' and human interest stories, including marketing and publicity pieces disguised as news, and after the commercials, there are 5-7 minutes left for hard news," he said.

Local stations carry critical stories about policy, issues, public or political affairs, but Gencarelli said those stories don't "show" well and they're not "sexy" in the industry-sense of the term. "In New York, five stations are competing against each other at 6 p.m. to present the exact same news," he explained. "A program wins that competition by pandering to viewers' attentions, giving them what they want, which completely flips the journalistic tradition on its head because news professionals are not simply market researchers."

Adubato, who is executive producer and host of "One-on-One with Steve Adubato," said the issue of infotainment is a constant battle. "My motivation as a TV personality is to make a difference," he said. "I work in public broadcasting, but I have worked on the commercial side. The irony is that there are more eyeballs watching my commercial work but my most meaningful work is in public broadcasting."

Freshman Justin Tarlow is not a broadcasting major, but wanted to learn how to watch television with a critical eye. "I want to be able to judge garbage from first-class material," he said. "TV is a business and we're all consumers, but most viewers don't even know that." Tarlow said he considers sitcoms "Friends" and "Will and Grace" to be quality television. "They bring to TV original ideas, and they challenge and play with taboo issues."

Reality TV is another topic of discussion in Gencarelli's class. "The preponderance of this stuff is a wave," he said. "Reality TV has become popular not because viewers demand it; it's a matter of economics. When I was a kid there were seven channels. Now there are at least 90. That means the audience tuning in to any station is smaller, and that translates to less advertising, which results in smaller budgets. It's not because these are the shows everybody wants to watch, and they are not making a statement about our culture. The bottom line is, these reality shows cost very little to produce."

Most TV, according to Adubato, is dreadful. "But we love it and we're addicted to it," he said. "Watching television is the way many of us spend countless hours, and I'm guilty of it, too."

But Adubato also finds value in the medium. "TV is not bad," he said. "It's easy to trash TV. The implications are that people who don't watch TV have a life and we don't. It's pseudointellectual to say, 'I don't watch TV.' I watch TV, but I love a good book, too."

Gencarelli wants students to leave his class understanding from what perspective they view television. "Empowered viewers analyze and criticize, which eventually will translate to better television," he said. "Or they will at least come to better grips with television in their own lives."

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