I have really, really had it with television!

[whirlcool]

I don't watch much television to begin with, but I have become so fed up with commercials, low quality of programming I have finally had it! About a month ago I stopped watching television live and taped everything for later viewing. Here is what I found:
In a 30 minute show you will have about 10 minutes of commercials and in a 60 minute show you can have from 20 to 25 minutes of commercials. That is totally ridiculous! What do these broadcasters think we have time for? The commercials are stupid, loud and intrusive.
The thing that broke the camels back with me, so to speak, was the fact that when commercials play, they play on all the stations at the same time so you can't jump to another program when one comes on.
So except for the news broadcasts, I have decided to stop watching television once and for all. I will read, listen to music, play on the Internet but no more TV! It has become totally worthless to me! Does anyone else feel this way?
Stepping down from my soapbox.

 

[maytagbear]

I stopped watching tv

in 2001, and I feel saner and no less dumb by it. I read the newspapers and listen to NPR for news, and sometimes go to BBC.com, and MSNBC.com

Of course living alone possibly has something to do with it...I feel odd watching tv by myself.

About the only time I do watch tv is when I am in the hospital.

Not sure if it was Noel Coward or Quentin Crisp, but one of them said something along the lines of :"television is for appearing on, not for watching."

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[jasonl]

$2000 lcd tv

... and nothing to watch.

Helen always has some crime drama on (CSI, etc.)

I on the other hand are more likely to pull out a Bugs Bunny, Sesame Street, Speed Racer, Brady Bunch, Partridge Family, Ren & Stimpy, All In The Family, or Beavis & Butthead DVD. Or better yet, grab the Guitar Hero and hammer away at that.

Agreed, television sucks and I'd just assume have a 1970 Zenith Chromacolor with a DVD playing some of the above show.

The only shining light on TV these days is The Price Is Right, and even that's jumped the shark since Bob isn't there anymore.

 

[sikiguya]

DVR/TIVO

That's what my DVR is for. I record all the shows I want, watch 30 minute shows in less than 20 mintues and hour long shows in about 40 minutes. I hate commercials and refuse to watch them.

 

[rocketeer500]

I stopped watching TV too

Not because I dislike commercials, but.... it was more of a control issue.

Back in 1984, my partner (at that time) would plan the evening (or weekend) based on the TV-Guide. Basically, I and our relationship, took a back-seat to the television. From then on, I wanted nothing to do with television. Even now, I don't watch TV; except for an occasional DVD I might rent, there is no TV watching at all. My current partner feels the same way... so the TV might be on (with the DVD player) for 2 hours every other week -- maybe??

The way I look at it... there is too much to do, see, and experience in a day to be tied down, watching television. If I want to hear noice, I put on the radio or play music. I don't miss watching television at all and never thought about it twice since 1984.

 

[countryguy]

I also use my DVR to record most of the shows I like to watch so that I can skip through all the commercials. What I really hate is how some stations are extending an hour long show by anywhere from 1-5 minutes. ie. a show starting at 9 pm might not end until 10:05 pm so that if I wanted to record something at 10 pm on a different channel I have to either miss the beginning of that program or the end of the previous program.

Gary

 

[retro-man]

Funny we have gone thru this in my household also. Pretty much the only time we watch tv is usually in bed to fall asleep. Then its usually the science channel or history channel travel channel discovery or national geographic. Set the timer for 1 hour and never see it shut off. We have thousands of albums, cd's, reel to reel and a host of music channels on the cable. We play word whomp on the laptop in the kitchen at night with music on in the background. Great for draining your brain after a rough day. Don't miss the tv at all. Didn't care about the writers strike either. We stopped watching about 10 years ago.
Jon

 

[whirlcool]

About 5 years ago we gave up on Network TV. The network documentaries are about as bad as the other shows. They just repeat the same info over and over again. Another trick they use to make the show longer with less material is after a commercial they "recap" what was shown before the commercial. This is fine if you like to tune in during the middle of the show, but really!
So for the past 5 years we have been watching things like PBS, TLC, Discovery TV, Bravo, etc. but even those are now on a par with the networks. And talk about reruns! DHC even runs shows that were first run back in the 90's again!

 

[neptunebob]

The only time I watch TV is when I visit my mother. Like many seniors, she has it on loud all day long with CNN, political shows, soap operas, and more politics and gets upset about it. She says "I'm a senior and I can watch all the TV I want". Have any of you run into this with seniors?

Speaking of soap operas, there was a great deal of hypt over Guiding Light being shot with portable cameras instead of being shot like "I love Lucy". The new look is awful, with jerkiness, bad lighting, too close to people, it makes me almost sick to watch it. Somehow I wonder if this was a cost cutting move.

 

[washabear]

Yeah, my mom has the TV on pretty much 24 hours.

As for PBS, it is not so good anymore. At least on my local PBS station, fundraising dominates. The ratio is pretty much 2 weeks programming, 4 weeks fundraising, alternating like that all year. And both the programming and the fundraising are the same tired old programs they show again and again and again. Disgusting. I think they should just fold.

 

[petek]

Also in agreement. When we moved back here in 2006 we left our old old set behind,wasn't a vintage or anything worth keeping or I would have. It needed repairs so I figured figured I'd wait and buy an LCD set after the move once we got in our new house which I did. Ordered the basic cable and for the last year now there's been absolutely nothing to watch. I detest most sitcoms, have zero interest in anything "reality" or "celebrity" and so the set has been hardly used. About a month ago we got an offer from the cable to upgrade to HD with extra channels so we're trying it out but honestly there's still nothing to watch in the near 200 channels but the same old junk rereuns of 3's company and other shite. As pointed out above even the History Channel, TLC and Biography channel are terrible. I like biographies but nearly all of them seem to be about current Hollywood celebs I could care less about. Larry King who I used to like does little more than Hollywood gossip now. The whole thing has been a waste of money and after the trial I'm giving it up. Not to mention how the commercials always come on twice as loud as the program and they're so stupid.

Jason I agree,, I used to like the Price is Right occasionally but it aint the same now with Drew, he's too stiff and appears to be only going thru the motions.

 

[rp2813]

I'm in agreement with everybody here but my partner has the TV on a lot. Even the local news is full of teasers of things that are "coming up next" but really they don't "come up" until after a couple more commercial breaks minimum. Or they throw in a teaser on something that's going to be aired the following day. And the shows that track celebrities are the absolute worst. They are for A.D.D. types who can't sit still and listen to anything for more than 30 seconds.

Election night coverage is another repetitive nightmare on the networks and on cable. I really liked watching the BBC's coverage of Super Tuesday earlier this month and will likely tune in to them more between now and November. Their newscasters strike me as quite collected, especially compared to the blow-dried airheads we have blathering the news over here.

My other beef with TV is a social one. My partner and I have been invited over to another couple's place for some activity that's much more interesting and enjoyable than TV, or at least that's what they suggested, and instead we have ended up watching stupid TV shows. This has happened more than once in recent months. I feel it's a major social violation to inflict TV on your guests. It demonstrates social retardation. If you're having guests, for whatever reason, leave the TV off. We've had fun times with these guys in the past but are going to think twice before accepting another invite. I can make exceptions for Super Bowl Sunday or something like that, but leave the TV off otherwise.

Don't get me started on the whole thing where I walk in the house from work and there are three TV's going and my partner isn't watching any of them!

 

[rickr]

Watching tv is a waste of time. I never was a tv fan. I will try to watch 60 Minutes in the winter time, and PBS from time to time, and that is it. The rest of the year my set may never be turned on.

 

[washabear]

Cable TV is a ripoff too

I find that cable television is as much of a wasteland as broadcast television. The days of commercial-free cable programs are long gone. I like to watch old movies, so I do enjoy TCM sometimes, and that is still commercial free. The on-demand movie service, though, is often down--and that for the monthly fee I pay. I would cancel my cable television in a flash if I didn't need the Internet service, but if I canceled the television service, they would jack up the Internet fee probably higher than the package fee I'm now paying. Nothing like being held hostage.

 

[rpm]

I can agree with the seniors watching tv non stop.
I worked at a retirement home.
You haven't heard anything till you have heard 8 or 9 tvs at full blast with the Price As Right going.
And always one that was a different episode or time so when you did get a break from the bells and whistles it was time to spin the big wheel.
I love Bob Barker just not at that noise level.
Has anyone saw the you tube of TPIR Old Dirty Barker?
Too Funny, Too Perfect.

 

[MikeS]

Standing Up For The Tube

I'm going to admit it here and now: I LOVE television! I love its history, its twists and turns and watching what others visionaries have come up with week after week. Of course, I write about American TV for a UK website, but still, I've always been interested in the industry and the shows since I was in college. I respect those who don't watch television on a regular basis, but I consider myself a fair consumer of the tube--I certainly don't watch EVERYTHING (I only tape the results episode of "American Idol" and zap through both the commericials and Seacrest & Simon's drivel), but I do have "appointment programs."
Let's hear it for the TV fans!

 

[DADoES]

washabear, I have cable Internet without television service. It's $35.63/month, which is $13.50 less than what my grandmother is charged for the provider's "basic expanded" TV package.

 

[frigilux]

I confess: I watch WAY too much television. In fact, the TV in my bedroom is usually on all night, although the sound comes through a stereo system, so I generally turn the picture tube itself off at some point during the night, usually around 2:00-4:00 a.m.--- and just have the sound very low in the background for the remainder of the night.

TiVO is the answer: You'll never watch a commercial again!

 

[scott55405]

I watched a lot of tv growing up and earlier in adulthood, but with the changes in and steady downward quality of what's available, I watch very little tv now. Additionally, between the gym and time spent online, which we didn't have 20 or 30 years ago, those things I find pretty much take up the time I used to spend watching tv. Some people at work seem to watch a fair bit, but I really don't know where they find the time.

I still watch the news every night, and leave it on for Nightline if it's about something seemingly interesting, and I watch Saturday Night Live, which I still do enjoy and is probably largely owing to tradition/habit after 33 years, and it's sort of a link to the past having been on for so long. I also watch the occasional Perez Hilton special on VH1 since I'm kind of addicted to his page, LOL.

One show I do like if you're interested in sitcoms is "Tyler Perry's House of Payne", which at least here is on Wed. nights on TBS. It has the occasional religious overtone to it, but is a lot of fun and has treated subjects like drug use, AIDs, homosexuality and similar things with great deference and respect. If you've never seen a Tyler Perry movie, most of them are hilarious. There's a new one called "Meet the Browns" opening this weekend, matter of fact.

All that said, my TV is 17 years old, and if it goes, I'm not entirely sure I'd bother with another one. It certainly wouldn't be an immediate thing, I'd see first if I felt strongly enough about it to want one again. I have cable hooked up to both the tv (mainly for reception) and computer, but I think the computer would only go up $5 or something if I drop the tv so I'm not worried about that.