Why Is the Golden Age of Television So Dark?

The Official Blog Spouse and I are nothing if not loyal members of our television-watching demographic. "The Wire" is our favorite show of all time. We watch "Boardwalk Empire," "Game of Thrones" and "Homeland" together; I also watch "Mad Men" by myself, as Peter finds it too dull. We are working our way through "Breaking Bad." I really do like all these shows, and yet, when I watch this list I have to ask myself: Why does almost everything we watch involve criminals and violence? No, not just involve them, but elevate them to the center of the story?

We are in a golden age of television, I am told, where television shows are taking the risks, doing the interesting things that are no longer possible in movies that need so many tens of millions of dollars to cover the cost of production and marketing. I largely agree with this assessment. So what does it say about modern society that it considers shows about meth cookers, crack dealers and gangsters to be the finest mass market entertainment we can produce?