Being the couch potato I am, I watch a lot of TV. I mean A LOT of TV. I have noticed some particular ... what do I call it? Ideas? Tropes? Practices?

All of the above I suppose. I'll just say I have noticed some things that are common today that were not prevalent 10 years ago. Some of these speak to the development of society as a whole, while others are just interesting observations.

So here are four things we see on TV that we didn't 10 years ago.

1. Interracial couples.

The presence of interracial couples on TV has become more commonplace in the last decade.

I’ll admit 10 years ago TV did feature interracial couples. However, they were not nearly as prevalent as they are now. These relationships have been shown in more grounded ways.

The people in these couples have been presented as people who are fundamentally different and come from different backgrounds. This changes the interactions between the two.

A perfect example of this is Maggie and Glen from "The Walking Dead." I think everyone is at least to some degree rooting for this couple because of everything they've been through. It is a great example of an interracial couple being presented as normal: the two meet, fall in love, get married and (hopefully) are going to have a child together.

2. Mental illness in kids' shows.

Mental illness has been a issue addressed in televised media for decades. However, it have always been more difficult to come by in children's media. Upon analysis, it may be found that certain characters had some sort of mental illness, my favorite being the idea that characters in Winnie the Pooh represent various mental disorders.

Today, though, people with mental illnesses are addressed in a way that kids may be able to understand.

Take the Ice King from "Adventure Time" for example.

This guy starts off the series as a bumbling idiotic comic relief villain, He is constantly hatching the dumbest plots, and the "heroes" were able to handle them within the length of a single episode.

Then, over the course of several episodes, it is revealed that the Ice King's madness was induced upon him. We learn that the Ice King is not purely malicious as he had been made out as, that he doesn't perceive the world around him the same as everyone else. He then ceases being a villain within the story. The main character Finn, the person most kids are supposed to identify with, learns to engage in situations with Ice King without resorting to violence or verbally degrading him.

If nothing else, this may teach kids to try and learn to try and understand people with disabilities.

3. The rise of satirical talk/news shows.

Before 10 years ago, the only shows that fell into this category were "The Daily Show," which was very different from what we were familiar with, and "The Colbert Report," which was only just starting. Most people's largest exposure to satirical news would likely come from Seth Meyers and Andy Sandburg's comedy bit on "Saturday Night Live."

Today, however, these types of shows are well immersed into popular culture. Jon Stewart has become one of the figureheads of progressivism, and the former contributors to such shows have now gone on to larger scale broadcasts, with Stephen Colbert now hosting "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" and John Oliver going on to host the "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" on HBO.

As an aside, what is with all of these shows including the guys' names in the title? I mean, I didn't really think about it with David Letterman, but with Seth Meyers and Steven Colbert becoming talk show hosts the practice came across as odd to me.

At any rate, these shows are now becoming very ingrained in popular media. These shows are in enough of the popular consciousness that "real" news program address what they say and a large amount of people rely on them for reporting of news.

4. SUPERHEROES EVERYWHERE!

So this one probably goes without saying, but media has been completely saturated with superheroes from head to toe. Don't get me wrong. I love it. Jessica Jones? On point.

But it is kinda draining having all of these comics being transitioned into TV. Especially because so many appear for a single season then disappear. I'm looking at you DC.

...and now I'm in a bad mood.

I'll leave the list at this for this week.