Slashdot Mirror
You're Watching Less TV
NickFusion writes "With a plethora of online games, chat, IM, email and, well, Slashdot, who's got time to watch television? Evidently, not men ages 18-34. The NY Times (free reg, etc) takes a look at the issue and comes to conclusions that will shock, I say shock, the average Slashdot reader. Meanwhile, Fox Broadcasting Corp. is calling for a recount. Disclosure: I'm quoted in the NY Times article, and so is one Rob Malda. Mom will be so proud!"
Quoting the penultimate paragraph:
Mr. Spector sees things a little differently. The missing men grew up with a joystick in hand, he said, and computer games have grown up with them.
No comment necessary.
I'll do it for cheesy poofs.
I'm turning 35 in a few months...does that mean I'll have to start watching more TV?
Now I know you're lying. No one enjoyed Jeremiah.
the major advances in civilization are processes which all but wreck the societies in which they occur - A.N. White
Mom does not need an endorsement of the fact that you've wasted your life to date on this interweb thingie. All she wants is grandchildren, Timothy. When are you going to deliver on that?
Big stations thought they had it right with reality TV but that certainly drove more women to the small screen but moved men away from it. Now we're playing more video games than ever and hating TV. At least there aren't ads in the middle of my game.
I waste a lot of time tinkering with my MythTV box (thank you Isaac and team!).
I spend so much time making my TV and video viewing time more productive that I don't have much time for actually watching TV.
As a side benefit when I do sit down to watch some boob tube it's on my terms (no advertisements) and on my schedule.
Thanks...
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
BayWatch knew what men in the 18-34 age group wanted... big breasted women running down the beach in skimpy swimsuits.
Plotlines? Well, if you insist, but they aren't central to the show. Try and limit it to stuff like: "Pam gets injured while undergoing a bikini wax. Other cast members lend support."
Chip H.
So what does television need to do? Experiment. I want to see stuff on television I haven't seen before, not some dumbass sitcom that's revolutionary because it has a gay person. Real life is far more interesting.
;-)
Wait a minute, did you just make an argument for reality TV? Nooooooooooooooo!!!!
Not that I think this is a bad strategy. I'm ripping and distributing 7th Heaven in an attempt to get it off the air. So far, no luck. No downloads either. I think the ideal TV audience is the techno-illiterate.
The Boob tube indeed.
Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm
but who wants to watch all these reality shows?
Middle-aged office secretaries. Every office has a gaggle of them where all they do is talk and gossip about who's getting voted off, fired, etc. The thing is, they think everyone watches it, as if it's really something to do.
"OMG, you DON'T WATCH JOE MULTIMILLIONAIRE?!"
"Uh, no. You ask me this every week."
"Yeah, but that show is GOOD."
"...you're lonely, aren't you?"
Basically it gives them something to look forward to in their otherwise meangingless lives.
We have secretly replaced these Slashdot mods' sense of humor with a rusty nail. Let's see if they notice!!
>as a pirate, you are violating copyright laws and contributing to the decline of quility programming on TV.
I feel *so* guilty thinking that the networks soon won't be able to produce shows like Survivor, the Bachelor, Train 48 and that show with the toupeee guy... Donald Trump.
I don't know the meaning of the word 'don't' - J
Why would people be less interested in television when there's so many good things on?
* Real World - network executives get young kids to the point of alcohol poisoning and videotape them for your amusement
* Fear Factor - out-of-work hollywood actors line up to eat bugs for your amusement
* Tough Crowd - Colin Quinn and his buddies validate your racist tendencies
* The Apprentice - A dozen yuppies compete to get close enough to see if Donald Trump's hair is actually a new, sentient life form.
* American Chopper - All of America tunes in each week to see if this will be the show where Paul Jr. hits Paul Sr. over the head with a tire iron.
* Rush Limbaugh - Only in America can the Vice Presient of the United States be seen calling in to an Oxycotin addict's tv/radio show.
* Seinfeld - A "show about nothing"; of course it will be a huge hit. Each week we anxiously look forward to an entirely new paradigm shift in obsessive-compulsive behavior.
* The Osbournes - Watch burned out rocker being slowly driven crazy by his own family.
* X-Play - This is a show that's all about Morgan Web's sweater pies, but I think there's a side theme of gaming, but I'm not sure.
* Almost everything on WB - Lame urban sitcoms that have revitalized the laugh track industry.
* Survivor - Amuse yourself by watching Mark Burnett dangle rice and toilet paper over the heads of starving, back-stabbing media-whores on a deserted island.
* Law and Order: SVU - It's like Dateline NBC with worse acting.
* Will and Grace - Yet another show about 30-something beautiful single people. I just can't get enough of homo/hetero-erotic lust triangles. Rumor has it, Mr. Roeper will return during sweeps week.
* CSI: Miami - Someone died; someone's hiding something; someone's an arrogant/evasive prick; someone's hair is in the wrong place. Not since CSI: Topeka, CSI: Fargo and CSI: Van Nuys has CBS come up with an intriguing, compelling and creative series.
* American Idol - Innovative show involving no-talent hacks (who have slept with the right people) criticizing no-talent hacks.
I'd write more but it's time for the Jimmy Kimmel show.. gotta go.