Reasons to be cheerful in 2012: TV's great

"Are you watching Borgen on BBC4?" I'm asked 10 times a day right now. "Oh, we love Borgen!" people chatter. "We've set our Sky+ and we gobble up the episodes three at a time!" friends tell me, testing out their new Danish phrases on me, then contrasting the subplots with Wallander , The Wire and The Killing . Few cheerful things have emerged from the financial downturn for me, but a kick in the pants for the roaring TV snob brigade is one of them. I love television. I've spent a lifetime defending that magical box of flashes and bangs in the corner of the room as just as valid an art form as a night watching thesps clank through Chekhov or tickets to see the latest Darren Aronofsky . "Oh, you write about television? I don't have one," thundering dullards often said to me at parties. "I buy the Guardian and I throw that section out." As finances become tighter, it seems even the highest-brows are recognising the low-cost beauty in loose-fitting track pants, a comfy sofa, the humble Kettle chip and Breaking Bad on Netflix or a Sky+ stack of The Hour , Rev , The Shadow Line or The Crimson Petal And The White . "I can't wait for the new series of Mad Men on Sky Atlantic," an academic friend told me recently. "It's a real event. We stay in especially for it. And we plan meals around it. And get really annoyed when anyone spoils it for us." I don't want to darken the glee by saying, "You mean, you've discovered how to watch television without guilt and bloody love it? Just like a normal person without two degrees and an MA? Well, this is a turn-up!" So instead I just smile sweetly. My tip for 2012 is Homeland , coming to Channel 4 next month, a spy thriller with Damian Lewis and Claire Danes . It's simply stunning television. But then, you probably don't even own a telly, do you?