| Media burnout? |
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If you are rooting for shows to be cancelled so that you don't have to decide what you have time to watch, then you are probably spending too much time watching TV.
So, guilty as charged.
The thing is, I don't usually watch TV shows "live" when they are broadcast. Although I think certain commercials are more inventive and creative then a lot of feature films, I hate what they do to the pace of a show, especially a drama. It's really disgusting to rent DVDs of TV shows from the 60s, 70s and even into the 80s, and realize how much they've shrunk to accommodate more advertising. So even though directors, writers and actors are aware they have to tell their stories in 7-minute blocks, I'd much rather pay iTunes $1.99 to watch a program for 42 minutes in a row, when and where I want to. Consequently, when I'm actually near a TV, I mostly watch news, sports or one of the few shows I can't download.
I guess that's increased my entertainment budget somewhat and it certainly means I don't go the movie theater nearly as much as I used to. (There are lots of other mitigating circumstances for that, not the least of which are $10 tickets, $5 sodas, rude employees and even ruder patrons.)
It's fascinating to see how much the broadcast and cable networks (as well as music companies) are fretting over the innovative new ways that the public wishes to receive its media gratification. I would think the fact that I am willing to pay two bucks to watch an episode of "C.S.I." that I could watch for free (both now, and in several rounds of reruns) would speak much louder than trying to find out which products CBS' sponsors are trying to sell me that I'm ignoring. "A bird in the hand," right? The networks still get my dough whether I tune in or buy what their advertisers are selling. But it's a paradigm they haven't figured out quite yet.
So, what's my time worth? When I actually calculate the hours of TV watching, that's a much more embarrassing number than the dollar figure. At least, a part of me tells me I should be embarrassed. And another part of my can't wait for the next episode of "Battlestar Galactica" to be posted... |
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