Tv, yay or nay?

[FoxKitsune]

So, long time lurker occasional poster here, but I thought the escapist might enjoy this.

This webseries is a set of shorts (about 5 mins long a piece, maybe?) and about half hour's worth all in all, I think. I gave it a watch when browsing around and found it rather amusing!

https://www.youtube.com/user/ProductionWolfpack

It got me thinking, too, about how little actual television I watch anymore. It seems like the majority of my entertainment in that sense comes from stuff like Netflix, youtube and stuff like this. I love BBT, for example, but this tickled me far more (maybe it's the British blood, stand by your countrymen and all!)
So what about the rest of you escapists? Is this becoming a common thing in the internet age? Are there actually a great deal of us who rarely use those televisions in our homes anymore, but for gaming and such?

 

[Colour Scientist]

I never watch television any more.

Any shows I regularly follow, I watch online. I like to watch shows in bed or whenever I have a spare hour so television schedules are kind of a pain in the arse.

I'll occasionally throw on Friends reruns, or whatever's on, while I'm eating dinner but that's about it.

 

[Foolery]

My TV is for playing video games. Shows are watched online with my PC. And honestly, I feel traditional TV programming is mostly aimed at the 40 and older crowd. That's why remakes of 60s or 70s cop shows like Ironside or Hawaii Five-0 are made.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

We still watch some programs (usually cherry picking the best of whatever's on in a given year, which usually boils down to a half dozen or less shows), we stream movies off VOD or watch them off DVD, I watch hockey, and the girlfriend will watch just about anything when bored.

So yeah, the TV still gets a reasonably good workout, although I'd say the two computers are the activity hubs of the home.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I like watching television, you know, when something actually good is on. Unfortunately this isn't really the case anymore. Sometimes there'll be a good movie on, but even then I have to suffer through 10-minute long commercials every 20 minutes.

Apart from watching DVDs and playing games, I tend to use it as a bedtime tool.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Before the birth of broadband, I used to be a couch potato which I pretty much traded the TV for PC with broadband at my surrent state.

Even if I do want to watch something on TV (if the internet was d/c for hours) I can't cos I don't get lived show on it (doesn't got that cable connected in my room). Also I'm a pc gamer now (do longer need the TV for played a game on a console) nor do I watch a film on it seeing how my tv is the old box SD type which my pc screen is far more supreior to that.

 

[Thaluikhain]

TV is for watching the occasional new show from Britain on ABC, and repeats of older shows from Britain on 72. Currently, everything else tends to be rubbish.

And for playing DVDs on.

 

[Queen Michael]

I don't even own a TV set. Never had one in my apartment. Never needed one.

 

[Elfgore]

I haven't watched TV, except when I'm at my Dads (he doesn't have high-speed internet), for about six months now. I have netflix to watch all of my TV shows, I have streaming sites for all my anime, and I own a lot of movies. My TV is used for video games and netflix. That is all.

 

[Smolderin]

I only watch TV if one of the following is on....Game of Thrones, Orange is the New Black, Hannibal, Sherlock, Dexter, Young Justice, and South Park....Everything else? Not worth my time.

 

[darkcalling]

I've been watching a lot of Netflix recently, mostly due to it being cheaper than cable. Personally I prefer regular tv for it having a regular schedule. Yes it's frustrating when there's nothing on but it also helps me keep track of the time if I know that for example Seinfeld is on channel 23 at 6 or something. But I've always lost track of time pretty easily.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

TV is mostly for gaming. The only show I watched this year was True Detective and Sherlock, and you know how long those last. When not gaming I usually use the news channels, or channel surf when I'm having dinner, stuff like that.

 

[Flutterguy]

Yeah.. TV is pretty much a relic of a dying age, like home phones and 2-prong extension cables.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

We just got rid of our cable box, we're a streaming family now. Fuck cable TV, we make our timeslots.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Youtube is effectively my TV now, the place I go to kill the time. I've always preferred movies in general and haven't regularly watched television since 2009. When there is a series I really, REALLY like (Game of Thrones, I'm looking at you) I hold out for the DVD collections and marathon them.

TV hasn't had a grip on my life since the days of Saturday morning cartoons. Honestly, it would be me tossing money away to get a cable subscription at this point; I just wouldn't watch it enough to justify it.

 

[Crazy Zaul]

Everytime a TV thread comes up about 80% of Escapists say they watch barely any or no TV.

 

[beavweav]

I honestly don't remember the last time I turned on my TV to actually watch TV - I use it to surf the web and play games or even catch up on netflix movies

 

[Guffe]

TV in my country is shit these days.
The things worth watching are childrens shows for the children, movies in the evening and sports.
Other than the two latter, I use the TV for videogaming.

 

[agent9]

I don't really watch tv either. netflix and crunchyroll. I'll mix it up a bit every now and again to check out people like jonathan holmes, jim sterling, angry joe, AVGN, etc. that is about it though.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

I tend to only watch shows that I find interesting and even then it's during prime time and on a few nights of the week.

There's just too much "dumb" reality shows out there that passes something completely fictional as real, competitions where there is a certain trend of winners which causes the whole experience to be predictable, and long standing TV series that have since peaked and are desperately grasping at anything topical for a show.

There's always something more interesting/new/old, but good online anyway, so the decline of TV is not a sad one.