On Thu, Oct 28, 2010 at 11:37 PM, Tom Wolper <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 28, 2010 at 11:33 PM, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Maybe he signed up for the "No TV" portion of the posts...we might be due > > for another one of those "Mac vs PC" flame threads that would suffice. > > I have always been more interested in the role television plays in our > society and culture. Since the internet has become an everyday tool > for most people in developed countries, I've been paying attention to > the transformation of TV from 3 networks + PBS to the multichannel > universe to whatever the next stage will be based on shows streaming > through the internet. Mr Bojack's choices fit in my extended > definition for TV. > > I have a 20" analog TV hooked up to limited basic cable and a 21.5" > iMac. Where possible I prefer to watch DVDs and streams on the > computer. It's not as extreme as what Mr Bojack says he does, but I > can see going in his direction. > Mr. Bojack wrote that: "I have stopped watching television about a year ago. I can honestly say that I have learned to do much more productive things with my time." He did go on to say that he watches television programs on devices other than a television set, but I did not take his point to be that he was just switching platforms. If that is all he was saying, then where did he get all that extra time to do more productive things? My mother, who died 22 years ago, understood "TV" to be a signal broadcast over the air to her set on the living room table or her bedroom dresser. By that definition I have not watched television for 15 years (we can't get a broadcast signal where I live). If that is all Mr. Bojack meant, then I guess I stopped watching television a decade and a half ago, and have been doing more productive things with my time, like watching programs recieved over my satellite service, on DVD, or streamed over hulu or netflix on my IMac. I also sometimes watch programs on my ITouch while walking briskly on the track. In my life, there still has been no single more profoundly transformative technology effecting my television experience than TiVo. In that sense I really have been able to be more productive, in that for some years now I control my time, and not network programmers. I love "Mad Men", but rarely find it convenient to watch on Sunday nights. No matter - I can spend time with my wife or son, or work on projects due the next day (as is often the case) and wait till I have 2 or 3 stored up and have my own mini Mad Men marathon some Friday afternoon when I get off work early and have some time to myself. I am a lifelong Giants fan, and am extremely pumped up about this World Series, but had a very long meeting Wednesday night that went until a quarter past 11:00. No matter. I got home, woke up my 12 year old son, and watched the last 5 innings (I watched the first 4 before the meeting). Last week it rained heavily in my town - so much that my mini-dish was overwhelmed, and my narrow southern exposure closed. Faced with no signal on an NFL sunday, I went to the DirectTV webpage and spent $50.00 so I could access the NFL package on my computer. Without missing a single play I soon had access to every single NFL game, and could even watch 4 games at the same time. I plan to have the 4 games on my computer screen next week while watching a 5th game on my television screen next week. But unless I was playing some kind of word game, I would find it odd to say that I have stopped watching television. I watch quite a bit of television, its just that I can watch it when and where it is most convenient. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
