Sometimes, being earnest is important.
If you can mix a little earnest endeavour with education, in front of the television, without leaving your comfy chair, then your day has been well spent, and a creeping sense of self-satisfaction will ensue.
Tomorrow night on Dunedin's Channel 9, Dougal Stevenson - a gentleman who needs no introduction - makes all of the above possible when his Dunedin Diary takes on the weighty and worthy issue of family law.
The 30-minute magazine-style television programme is aimed at a mature audience, but watch it anyway.
It has been going since 2007, and does a terrific job of flying the flag for local broadcasting and local content.
For tomorrow's episode of Dunedin Diary, the programme tries something Stevenson calls "quite different".
The plan: to take on an issue, and give it the time it deserves.
The outcome: a 30-minute interview with the Dean of the University of Otago Law School, Prof Mark Henaghan.
What one learns from Dunedin Diary is that the very best course of action is to sail through life without finding oneself caught up in the various issues covered.
But if that is not possible, it is well worth tuning in.
The interview begins with child custody, or what Prof Henaghan says nowadays is called "day-to-day care".
It takes in the legal issues surrounding the 4000 grandparents in New Zealand caring for their grandchildren in situations where their children are not up to the job.
Despite finally being in that long-dreamed-of situation where it should be possible to devote one's life to drinking tea and having naps, these poor souls are once again loaded with the responsibility of children.
And the 4000 get a bad deal with the law, Prof Henaghan says, without automatic legal status as parents, without the full benefits given foster parents, and without the respite care the state provides other carers.
It takes in matrimonial property.
"If you think people want to fight over children, when it comes to property, people get really, really nasty," Prof Henaghan says.
Also, it appears, a trifle petty.
Prof Henaghan relates a story of a lawyer walking down the street with a bundle of Pink Batts his client insisted must be shared evenly.
And Prof Henaghan's advice to the legal system he observes?
"Make a decision. It's not a perfect world. Make a decision about what's going to happen with these children, then get on with it. They will adapt."
Dunedin Diary runs tomorrow at 5pm, 7.30pm and 9pm, and on Friday and Saturday evenings.
