Mosherose, just saying “television is asur” is not helpful; there are plenty of rabbis who watch television from time to time.
I agree that it’s not helpful to merely state that it’s asur, but I disagree that the assumption that some people who are considered rabbis doing something means it’s not.
Would it be helpful if I quoted from R’ Ovadiah Yosef Shlit”a (who in turn quotes several earlier gedolei haposkim)?
??? ??? ?? ????? ??? ??? ????? ???????? [?? ?????] ???? ????, ??? ??? ????? ??????? ????, ??? ????? ???? ??? ?? ????? ?? ????, ????? ??? ?? ???? ???? ????, ?????? ????, ??? ?? ???? ???? ???? ??? ?????, ????? ???”? [=??? ???] ?????, ?? ??? ????? ????? ?????? ??? ???????, ??? ???? ??????? ???????? ????? ??? ??? ?’, ????? ???? ??? ?????, ????? ??? ???? ?? ????… ??? ???? ?? ????? ?????…????? ?? ?????? ???? ????, “?? ???? ????? ?? ????”, ??? ??? ?? ??? ?? ????? ????, ??????? ??????? ????? ?????? ????, ????? ???? “??? ?????????? ???????????? ???????” ???? ????? ????? ???????? ?????? ??? ??? ????? ?????? ?????? ???? ???.
(??”? ???? ????, ??? ?, ???? ????, ???? ??, ?”? ‘(?) ?????’, ??’ ?”?-??”?. ?”? ‘??? ???’, ??’ ?)
I found this here:
http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/maamar.asp?id=124
In a different thread, I quoted a translation of a similar teshuvah.
http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/coffeeroom/topic/giloy-arayos/page/2#post-152657