Broadcast TV / Cable - I've turned away

[Troy Spiral (13)]

I've never been a "Kill Your Television" guy , even though i can understand the mentality. I've always been an avid reader of "classics" and lots of nonfiction , and the mindless bullshit that populates about 80% of TV , while annoying, doesnt render the entire medium "worthless"

There are plenty of bastions of intellignence and quality on TV.

Having said that...

I've now turned fairly anti broadcast/cable tv. Due to the onset of Netflix and ... DVD burners. (whoa did i say that last part, must have been a typo.)

Im slowly losing much use for TV, save the occasional watching of the news/documentaries or older films on say TNT or AMC that are just not yet avial on DVD and im , for whatever reason, really chomping at the bit to check them out.

First and formost its the selection, the selection of things to watch from the huge Netflix library is so much better than whatever bullcrap happens to be on TV at the moment is amazing.

Then theres the fact that it irritates me when i miss something, ( having to get up to go do something for instance) and i cant stand commercial breaks. For the most part , TV isnt "on demand" in the way that DVDs are. Scheduling my life around what time cable or broadcast TV decides to show a program burns my ass. :laughing: (Tivo might be an option at some point but the $$$ is a bit high for me the last time i did a budget breakdown)

Even when i hear about some new series that im interested in checking out i usually dont bother with it, as theres some much available on DVD that ill just watch the commercial-free, on-demand, massive selection , until it does come on the DVD market.

Summary? Netflix is good. :

[Onyx]

Me too.

If it weren't for my kids I'd probably cancel my cable service and just have internet through my cable.

[Nienna]

I have a TV. It's sole purpose is to run my PS2 so I can play video games. I don't even watch my Netflix on it because I prefer to watch those on my laptop so I can lay in bed. The only time I watch TV is if I'm staying with someone who is a "TV head" and they are "TVing out".

[Lilith]

the onlly tv we watch around here is cartoons, and i dont actually watch much of that i just listen.....as i cook, clean, wash laundry etc........

i would rather spend my time here online in DGN or the likes than watching TV... I just cant seem to sit and get invovled in something that is only going to last 30 min and not be interactive..... i can sit and watch movies all day long but reg tv just does not stimulate my mind anymore

[Fierce Critter]

TV is what you make of it. You can use it for the entertainment medium it was originally created as, or you can use it for education.

I was raised with a TV in nearly every room. We weren't restricted on how much we watched. We're talking early 70's here, and my sisters and I were much more interested in going outside and playing than sitting in front of a tube all day, so thankfully that permissiveness didn't backfire on us.

Back then, TV in our home consisted of a lot of sitcoms like All In the Family, variety shows like Sonny & Cher or Lawrence Welk, Saturday morning cartoons, action/adventure like Ironside & Star Trek. Weekends meant laying in my parent's bed with my dad while we watched bowling or billiards.

What I remember most about that period was that we were RARELY plunked down in front of the TV alone. Except for the Saturday cartoons, TV was always a family thing of some nature. I can remember vividly things like watching Star Trek while brushing my sisters long, straight hair. Or my parents' nervous faces when Sammy Davis Jr. kissed Archie Bunker. Or my dad explaining to me why Ironside was in a wheelchair. So it was NEVER used as a surrogate babysitter.

And quite often - VERY often - what we watched was educational in some way. PBS was ALWAYS on in our home. I'm sure I saw every episode of Jacques Coustou. Sesame Street had me reading by the time I was 2.

I just think television was smarter in those days. I learned that there are people in places known as "ghettos" who had to struggle just for a place to live. I learned that people can overcome prejudice. I learned about the ocean and it's inhabitants. I learned that C is for cookie - and that's good enough for me. :

We gave up cable/satellite in order to save money mid last year. But when we had it, I had channels like Animal Planet, The Learning Channel, The History Channel, DIY, the Discovery Channel and similar "how to/educational" channels on 90% of the time. I do miss that inlet of information that's easy for me to take in and understand. There's just something about the visualization IN ADDITION to the oral narration that helps me comprehend & absorb educational information better.

Now that we don't have pay TV anymore, I'm revisiting network TV again. And I'm finding that I really do enjoy it for entertainment value - to a degree.

Though raised on sitcoms, I now find myself either impatient with them, or almost insulted by them. Like they're so predictable now or something, I can't help but feeling UNentertained. For me to watch a sitcom now, it's gotta have some kind of twist. But even then, I don't find myself eagerly anticipating the next airing, and often just plain don't bother to watch.

I am getting into network dramas more than I ever did. I'm watching re-runs of ER on weekends. And two local stations now carry reruns of The West Wing, and just this past weekend caught-up to where I left off watching Cable reruns. So I'm looking forward to 2 episodes of last season on Sunday nights.

CSI has caught my attention, and I watch it when I don't feel like doing something else.

And I admit to being a reality TV fan. To me, watching real people interact relatively unscripted is MUCH more interesting than the predictable scripts of modern-day sitcoms. That said, I do draw the line. I watch Survivor & The Amazing Race, and occasionally Extreme Makeover Home Edition. But I will NOT watch The Swan or other shows that I personally find superficial and potentially damaging.

Which brings me back to an important point. TV was created as purely an entertainment medium. If you are NOT entertained by anything on TV - that's fine. But it's really silly to expect TV to be anything more than what it was conceived as. It's like getting upset that a piece of concrete isn't a diamond - it was never MEANT to be a diamond, and never WILL be a diamond, therefore being upset about that which it really is is irrational.

I am looking forward to the day when I can have cable again. I miss the tips I learned on shows like Hometime. I miss the medical shows that give me trivial facts that someday might actually come in handy someday. And I DO miss the lighter fare, too.

Now, as for commercials & impatience with them, 3 letters - VCR. Can't afford TIVO? Well, who the hell CAN? : I tape a good 75% or more of what I watch regularly. It's GREAT to be able to watch at my leisure, fast forward through commercials & come back to it if I need to run off somewhere.

I'm also pondering a Netflix subscription. I COULD have one right now, but I'm going through a big box of free videostore throw aways instead, while watching pennies toward moving. Fact is, they have a lot of shows like Six Feet under available, and even if I had cable I wouldn't pay for any of the movie channels. So Netflix might fill that need instead.

And I've checked - I think they have a fantastic selection of documentaries. So I can see where someone with a Netflix subscription would find network TV and cable obsolete.

[Jarodaka]

ReplayTV and TiVo are good for skipping those annoying commercials and making TV an on-demand experience... I really gotta get me one.

[Daniel]

TV just gets on my nerves. More specifically, commericals get on my nerves. I'd rather pay extra money to not have to watch/listen to commercials. They totally ruin the TV experience for me. In fact, I hate going to people's homes where they have the TV on all of the time, and having to listen to more obnoxious advertisements. They make my skin crawl.

Some documentaries are interesting, but I am always alarmed at how much misinformation comes out of them. I think I could seriously do a documentary about how documentaries lie. For all the commercials you have to watch, they should be damn accurate! =)