I’ve seen a lot of blogs lately that read like personalized TV Guides. Television is so much a part of our lives, many of us schedule our lives around when [insert favorite television show name here] airs. We live our life in 12-minute segments from one commercial to the next. I’ve been told “Wait until a commercial.” Or “I’ll call you back during the commercial.”
One blogger confessed to spending an entire Sunday afternoon surfing the internet researching when her favorite TV shows were airing new episodes. Her blog contains 600 words detailing what shows she watches, what shows she Tivos, and how she finds time during the week to watch those shows. I counted 30+ shows that she and her husband watch each week.
According to a 1998 A.C. Neilsen Company national survey the average American watches 3.75 hours of television each day! The average number of hours the TV set is on during the day: seven hours, 12 minutes.
Another blogger apparently has been taping the soap opera One Life To Live for 20 years and watching five hours every Thursday evening after ER. I admire that kind of dedication. She keeps up better with her TV family than I do with my real, live, breathing family. I don’t spend that much time each week phoning, emailing, or spending time with my friends and family. (In all honesty she probably doesn’t have much time to devote to her extended family either.)
Case in point, according to the 1998 report, the number of minutes per week most children spend watching TV is 1,197; while the number of minutes per week most parents talk with their children is 38.
Then there are those abnormal Americans who do not watch any television and build relationships with each other – not just during commercials. I have a friend who recently got rid of the box completely. He and his wife take walks together now and spend each evening conversing, playing games, and reading with their three children.
One blogger was debating on whether to include Leverage in her already hectic television schedule for the new year. Taking on a new show is like starting a new relationship – we chose our friends carefully because we want them to be around and not just fair-weather friends. Sometimes the relationship ends all too abruptly and our newfound friends drop off the face of the planet never to be heard from again.
I’ve been burned a few times by my television friends who didn’t stay around for the long haul. Jericho. New Amsterdam. Journeyman. And my long lost friends on Soap. I am very selective now; I can’t afford to invest too much time in a relationship that isn’t going to pan out for me. My line up includes Survivor. Project Runway. America’s Next Top Model. Top Chef. Lost. I have no room in my life for other shows. I can’t afford to get hurt.
One blogger confessed to spending an entire Sunday afternoon surfing the internet researching when her favorite TV shows were airing new episodes. Her blog contains 600 words detailing what shows she watches, what shows she Tivos, and how she finds time during the week to watch those shows. I counted 30+ shows that she and her husband watch each week.
According to a 1998 A.C. Neilsen Company national survey the average American watches 3.75 hours of television each day! The average number of hours the TV set is on during the day: seven hours, 12 minutes.
Another blogger apparently has been taping the soap opera One Life To Live for 20 years and watching five hours every Thursday evening after ER. I admire that kind of dedication. She keeps up better with her TV family than I do with my real, live, breathing family. I don’t spend that much time each week phoning, emailing, or spending time with my friends and family. (In all honesty she probably doesn’t have much time to devote to her extended family either.)
Case in point, according to the 1998 report, the number of minutes per week most children spend watching TV is 1,197; while the number of minutes per week most parents talk with their children is 38.
Then there are those abnormal Americans who do not watch any television and build relationships with each other – not just during commercials. I have a friend who recently got rid of the box completely. He and his wife take walks together now and spend each evening conversing, playing games, and reading with their three children.
One blogger was debating on whether to include Leverage in her already hectic television schedule for the new year. Taking on a new show is like starting a new relationship – we chose our friends carefully because we want them to be around and not just fair-weather friends. Sometimes the relationship ends all too abruptly and our newfound friends drop off the face of the planet never to be heard from again.
I’ve been burned a few times by my television friends who didn’t stay around for the long haul. Jericho. New Amsterdam. Journeyman. And my long lost friends on Soap. I am very selective now; I can’t afford to invest too much time in a relationship that isn’t going to pan out for me. My line up includes Survivor. Project Runway. America’s Next Top Model. Top Chef. Lost. I have no room in my life for other shows. I can’t afford to get hurt.
I have more to say on the subject, but it will have to wait until the next commercial. My show’s on.
