In Other TV: The New Media

[maggie2]

I always enjoy hearing what people think of the non-Buffy shows they're watching, so I thought I'd do some occasional postings on "other" TV.  But first I thought it was time to do a bit of a squee about how great the new way of watching TV is.


I'm of a certain age.  By that I mean I remember when there were four channels to choose from and no way of time-shifting.  You either caught the show when it aired or you never saw it.  Probably that's why old TV was almost entirely episodic.  People were too likely to miss individual episodes to be able to follow a complicated arc.  Soap operas moved glacially so that people missing episodes would never get lost.  Miniseries were Big Events.

I don't have a DVR and I don't care.  I just cancelled my cable.  I love watching TV on DVD because there are no commercials, and because I can see the show as a whole by watching the episodes in rapid succession.  That's how I became a fan of BtVS, and I've blazed through a bunch of shows that I'll be talking about from time to time.   I actively dislike watching shows that are on the air now.  While it's true that you can be swept up in the enthusiasm of others when you watch the show at its peak popularity (i.e. when it's actually on), the waiting between episodes drives me nuts.   Right now I'm watching Dollhouse, LOST, and Dexter.  LOST is really just an exercise of loyalty at this point -- when the show got uber-plotty I stopped caring very much.  So I don't mind waiting between seasons or between episodes.  Dollhouse (alas) has never had me thinking I just *have* to see the next episode right now.  Dexter I wish I had on DVD.  I'm a big fan.  Anyway, Dexter has lured me into the world of online viewing, about which I know next to nothing.  But I'd much prefer it if I'd waited to check it out until the series had run its course.  At any rate, Netflix is my friend.  And in a few years I bet it's all instant streaming, which I already find uber-cool because it means that if I'm not in the mood for Dexter, I can watch 30 Rock instead, or any one of a hundred movies that I've always meant to see.  Roku.  Love. 

Other people do have DVRs and cable.  This is also good.  DVRs mean we aren't wedded to episodic TV and instead can get big epics like Battlestar Galactica.  Cable means we can get quirky shows that don't appeal to a ton of people.  People my age like to puff up and declare that they don't watch TV (what with it being beneath them and all).   Ha!  The new TV isn't just miles better than old TV, it's better than most movies.  So:

Squeeeeee!!!  We live in a golden age!

Comments

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, totally agree!

Before the internet it was horrible. I only got to watch synchronized shows and they did things like only show the first two seasons of B5 and no Buffy at all.
DVDs and the internet is what really got me into tv, so much that I don't even have regular tv anymore, because I can't bear to hear the stuff in german anyway and they take forever to show it.

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

I forgot to mention how great the internet is for those of us who don't have DVRs. For the shows I watch that are airing now, Hulu lets me not feel like I'm chained to the networks' schedules.

I'm pretty sure you're from Austria -- is that right? Where in Austria?

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

Yes, Austria is right :)I'm from Innsbruck

We didn't even have cable when I was a kid so I was limited to ORF (the austrian public channel), I have a great dislike for tennis ever since because sometimes my favorite shows would not run because of some stupid match.

To imagine the ammounts of commercials I saw before everything became available online.

[deird1]

Absolutely.

I have a huge number of dvds, mostly of shows I hadn't really seen before buying. And the only things I watch pre-dvd are Dollhouse and Doctor Who.

Yay for dvds!

[next_to_normal]

It's funny the way TV watching goes in cycles. You started out with episodic TV because people had no way of time-shifting. Then VCRs/DVDs/DVRs came out, and serial shows started becoming more popular, because people had ways to catch up. But then all the time-shifting destroyed the "water cooler talk," because you can't assume anymore that everyone watched the show that was on last night, and "spoiler warnings" are required even after a show has aired. But now that internet discussion of shows is so popular (and so immediate) people seem to be again making an effort to watch stuff when it's on, just so we don't get left behind.

I actually watch a lot of TV as it airs, but half the time I'm watching it online the next day or later that week.

I rarely buy DVDs unless it's a show I really love and expect to watch multiple times, but Blockbuster online is my best friend when it comes to catching up on whole seasons.

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

Apart from BtVS I'm not much for buying DVDs either. Not just because they're expensive if you aren't going to watch them over and over, but also because of the clutter. In ten years I bet none of us will own anything -- it'll all be on-line and available at the press of a button.

I think you are partly right about time shifting fragmenting the water cooler talk -- but I also think it's been the increase in niche entertainment. Back when there were only four channels (one of which was PBS), it wasn't like you could skip to the food channel if you didn't like what was on TV. I think that's why some shows were able to give the sense that *everyone* was watching. The last episode of MASH was a national event... bigger than the superbowl or at least right there with it.

It's true though that on-line makes it much easier to watch series that are still on the air, though. I love not being totally tied to the broadcast schedule. And the internet allows us to find the other people in our niche so there is a sense of enthusiasm. I'm not watching Glee and I definitely feel a bit cut out. I still am not much on the waiting though. If I had Dexter season 4 on DVD, it'd be done by now and I would know what happened!!!

[next_to_normal]

Dexter is one of those shows that's in my queue (as is Lost), but I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle, lol. The queue keeps growing! With all the shows I'm already watching (and, you know, occasionally having a life), I rarely seem to have time to catch up on ones I've missed.

[shapinglight]

I find that watching shows on DVD works better for me too. I'm not good at keeping up with episodic television these days (which is why I gave up on Dexter when it was shown here, not that I didn't think it was good, more that I wasn't ready to watch it in that way).

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

I'm now having to watch the fourth season of Dexter episodically (cause once I start something it's not so easy to sit around and wait). I really wish I'd waited on Dexter until the whole run was done, though.

I just saw a bunch of brief teases for the Dollhouse episodes through November, and it's looking *really* interesting. If it plays out well I don't think the shows demise after 13 episodes is a done deal.

[shapinglight]

If it plays out well I don't think the shows demise after 13 episodes is a done deal.

I so hope you're right, Maggie, though if you're not, I hope Joss has prepared to wrap things up properly. I do love this show (which still makes me feel vaguely guilty). See, icon. That shows I'm serious.

[ladyofthelog.livejournal.com]

I actually dislike TV and have not actively attempted to follow a show since the fourth season of Daria (I got into the show right around the third season, and programmed my VCR every day to record noontime reruns of the episodes that I'd missed). Aside from Arrested Development, Buffy is the first show I've watched in its entirety since Daria, and I watched AD & BtVS on DVD.

Admittedly, I came into existence about five years after MTV, so...

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

I took a decades long break from TV -- from the late 1980's until now. I don't even know what Daria is. What changed for me is that one friend leaned on me about the Sopranos, which was quite good, though I was never in love. And then another friend leaned on me about Buffy and it was all over. TV had obviously improved in quality and while I don't expect to find another Buffy, I am on a quest to find shows that I think are worth the attention. I've got a small handful. Reservations about all of them, but on balance I'd rather watch them than your random movie at the cineplex. That said, I don't pour over the fall schedule and look for things to watch. If a show gets a big buzz from people I respect, I'll check it out.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Have to admit that the DVR is insanely addictive. Menu Guide, Pause, and Rewind of 'real time' have to be three of the most addictive functions ever.

Since most of "my shows" are still on hiatus (love "Lost" and also love "Chuck") I'm mostly watching comedies at the moment -- "How I Met Your Mother", "The Big Bang Theory", and "Modern Family." On the polar opposite end of the scale, I'm watching "Mad Men" although I don't think there is a single character on the show that doesn't deserve to be bitchslapped. Repeatedly.

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

I missed out on watching HIMYM when it started airing, so it's on my list of things to catch on DVD. Mad Men is also on the list -- in fact, it's next on the list! Intriguing that so many like it although there's apparently no sympathetic characters. Right now I'm working through Six Feet Under.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Most all of the Mad Men characters have their sympathetic moments. It's just that a few weeks later (or sometimes in the same episode) you may be broadsided by the flipside of their nature. You appreciate the fact that the guy looks disgusted when his boss sings a song in black face (black face!!), and sympathize when he gets dressed down for having suggested their client buy advertising in Ebony magazine, but he's also the guy who may or may not have raped the nanny (it was a bit subjective). You sympathize with the bored housewife with the endlessly philandering husband who feels stifled by her gilded suburban cage, but you're also apalled by the passive/aggressive way that she treats her daughter... to the point that when the ten year old has a screaming fit at her, your heart goes out to the ten year old and you kind of hate the mother on the child's behalf.

I think that it usually works because we're supposed to be horrified by the characters behaviors. We're supposed to be flabbergasted by the casual racism and rampant sexism (the show takes place in the early 1960s). The sword of Damocles hangs over these characters heads. The modern viewer knows that changes are coming. It's easy to imagine that by 1967, little Sally Draper will be one pissed off flower child denouncing every code her parents live by.