I think a lot of the tv watching comes down to the same thing that causes most of our emotional woes as modern humans. We're separated from the kind of society that we evolved to be in.
Each of us evolved and is hard-wired to exist in a close-knit community of around 25-100 people. Everyone we would see on a daily basis would know us intimately and we would know them intimately, and our lives would be intertwined. Seeing someone from outside your society would be a rare and potentially dangerous event.
Being separated from this kind of existence is a very recent development, evolutionary speaking. It took the development of agriculture to start living in bigger groups. I think it's outrageously stressful for most people to live in a situation where they only have a handful (or less) of people that they know intimately and can depend on in a crisis. Even this handful is often scattered over large distances. On top of that, we're thrown daily into situations where we have to interact with total strangers, something our brains find inherently dangerous. It might all sound melodramatic. We're used to all of this stuff. But, I think almost all of us suffer at least a little because of this, and I think a lot of people who suffer terribly though life would be perfectly fine in a small society.
Okay, this is getting wal-esque, I'll bring it back to TV. TV is therapeutic in a couple ways. It gives us the intimate details of the lives of reoccurring characters. With just a few shows, we can artificially have a nice 30-person society. It's not close to a substitute, but it's pretty calming to a roughed-up brain.
Also, regularly watching a show, to the point that you can recite catch-phrases and talk to others about the latest episode puts you into a little sub-society with other people who watch the same show. Watch how much people relax when they bond over a sitcom catch-phrase. It's almost startling.
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