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.

[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.

[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).

[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...

[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.