T.V.

g under p

chadwick wrote:

who doesn't have their t.v. hooked up?
who doesn't watch t.v.?
i disconnected my cable t.v. about 6-9 months ago to save money.
i do miss certain t.v. shows but not very many.

i like being among the people who don't watch (much) t.v.
seems to me that they are a smarter group of folks.

discuss.

I try to not much television at all mostly rented movies, turned of all my premium channels since I don't watch them. I certainly keep it away from my daughter during the week, we play word games instead.

TELEVISION: The Drug Of The Nation

Peace

One Song Glory

As a full time student with a very time-consuming part-time job, I have little time or money for TV and haven't paid for it in 3 years. The only regular show I was watching at that point was Grey's...which kinda sucks now. My roommate and I have a few different shows that we've amassed on DVD, but other than that, movies are the way to go. Besides, I figure if there's ever anything I HAVE to watch, I can find it online anyway.

Who Princess

I've never had cable. No satellite, no dish. Once in a while I feel like I'm missing some things but it's not that big a deal. We have Netflix and like to watch movies and I have a few shows I commit to, like Lost.

I got out of the habit of watching TV a long time ago, when I was a student. I didn't have a TV for a couple of years so it got to where it didn't bother me.

My husband's family got rid of their TV when he was 4 years old. :wtf: He doesn't watch a lot of TV either but I've noticed that he'll sometimes watch utterly mindless stuff that drives me crazy. He's a really smart guy but sometimes he just enjoys vegging. :ugeek: I guess everybody does occasionally.

TravisTheSky

When I moved cross country and set up my new place, I decided to buy an all-in-one flat screen TV / combination computer monitor. It was a prescient move because I dumped my cable service after just 16 months. I was able to find most of the shows I enjoyed for free online. It's been over 9 months of just having internet, and my DVD player.
The only show I still miss is "Animal Cops." It's a documentary series following the ASPCA as they rescue abused animals. I can't find the show anywhere. Turns out Animal Planet is one of those rare networks that rabidly scours the web to remove all uploads of their programming. Most cable networks offer new episodes for limited-time free viewing right on their websites. But Animal Planet is a party pooper.

Heatherj43

I watch TV all the time. I didn't have cable while my kids where growing up, couldn't afford it. Now, I have it and love it! There are a lot of channels where I learn new things, but there is also just entertaining stuff.
I think we need to be entertained sometimes. I think even brain numbing, dumb funny stuff is good for us. C'mon, everybody needs to take a break. TV gives us a break. Reality can be too much a lot of the time. Look at what's happening in Haiti. I need a dumb show like Springer to take me away from thoughts about Haiti. It doesn't mean I bury my head in the sand about my world and whats happening in it, its just a break!

dunkman

chadwick wrote:

i like being among the people who don't watch (much) t.v.
seems to me that they are a smarter group of folks.

discuss.

they aren't smarter, just poorer than everyone else. :thumbup:

I only watch TV for sport, music, movies, Top Gear, travel shows and documentaries.. basically most things other than X Factor, Talent shows, Soap Operas, that kinda shite... I hate watching reality tv crap as well... over here we have Celebrity Big Brother at the moment and Stephen Baldwin is on it.. and he's a complete bible-bashing moron of the highest order... my life is too short to wonder about what psalm Stephen Baldwin is wanking over any given morning.

Byrnzie

Last time I watched the t.v was during the Olympics in 2008.

Hitch-Hiker

chadwick wrote:

who doesn't have their t.v. hooked up?
who doesn't watch t.v.?
i disconnected my cable t.v. about 6-9 months ago to save money.
i do miss certain t.v. shows but not very many.

i like being among the people who don't watch (much) t.v.
seems to me that they are a smarter group of folks.
discuss.

That's an incredibly condescending and ill-informed point of view. The "much" in brackets in your post above almost saves what you're saying, but it seems to me to be an afterthought. Watching tv doesn't make you any stupider. In fact, up until a couple of years ago I would have argued that those who do watch tv are generally more informed lot than those without. Obviously it depends on what you're watching, and the advent of the internet has pushed tv to the sidelines in terms of a source of information in recent years too. There's a lot of stupid programs out there (Two and a half men immediately springs to mind), but there's a hell of a lot of intelligent well written tv shows, not to mention the glut of documentaries, commentary shows, current affairs shows etc which are taking up the airwaves these days.
It's just wrong though to talk about peoples intelligence with such broad sweeping statements like that though.

CantKeepMeHere

peacegirl wrote:

we never had cable growing up and I still don't have it in my own house...I get the 7 channels that are free
I never sit down and search for something to watch or watch something for the heck of it...when I watch tv I am watching something I have specifically chosen to watch...there are certain shows I enjoy watching

most people are shocked to find out I don't have cable...in fact, my best friend's boyfriend asked her what I do with my time since I don't watch tv!

however, I do have netflix and enjoy watching movies

That is my house exactly -
We haven't had cable in like 7 years -
Got Netflix and the roku watch instantly box - but if I don't put in the que the kids don't see it-
They do not mind not having cable one bit - one is 17 and the other is 13
When we are somewhere like my parents house or something staying over for the holidays (they have super extended mega cable) and it takes me FOREVER to choose what to watch- and you realize quickly there isn't shit on the damn thing anyway so why are they spending like$150 amonth??? that is almost $2,000 a year. Blows my minds.
We do however plug the lap top into our TV to watch Lost new as it airs the next day on ABC.com - John Locke does't have TV and he is the smartest man of all smart men - he is no ones Rival

Jeff Murray

chadwick wrote:

who doesn't have their t.v. hooked up?
who doesn't watch t.v.?
i disconnected my cable t.v. about 6-9 months ago to save money.
i do miss certain t.v. shows but not very many.

i like being among the people who don't watch (much) t.v.
seems to me that they are a smarter group of folks.

discuss.

I have cut back my cable service as well, doesn't make me any smarter, but it does save me some dough. In order to keep the high-speed internet service Comcast makes you keep the basic package which pretty much just includes the network channels. My TV is smarter then Comcast though, since it has a digital tuner it still picks up all their digital channels now that they turned off the analog channels and I don't have a box. So I am basically getting the same service for $10 a month! I was going to be perfectly fine with the basic package since I only watch the major networks anyway.

Did you get your official membership card to the smarter group yet? If not, you are unfortunately still a member of the dumber common folk that watches TV...

Since you opened the door for generalizing and stereotyping, the "smarter" group of folks you talk of must be a riot at parties. What the hell do they talk about? The latest "smart" book they read that no one cares about? I find the smarter folks are those that can blend all kinds of activities in their lives including watching "dumb" TV, it's a balancing act that makes people much more interesting.

eyedclaar

Jeff Murray wrote:

Did you get your official membership card to the smarter group yet? If not, you are unfortunately still a member of the dumber common folk that watches TV...

Since you opened the door for generalizing and stereotyping, the "smarter" group of folks you talk of must be a riot at parties. What the hell do they talk about? The latest "smart" book they read that no one cares about? I find the smarter folks are those that can blend all kinds of activities in their lives including watching "dumb" TV, it's a balancing act that makes people much more interesting.

When I see those smart, no t.v. watchin' nerds, I totally push them down and say, "Who's smart now, huh?"

chadwick

meant no harm.
for many years i have noticed that some of the professors i have known at the two different schools i've attended do not own televisions. i find it interesting and quite profound that's all.

like what does this math nerd do when he goes home? he doesn't watch tv...
hhhmmmm...

he does math, he reads, he does drugs, who knows what he does..
he isn't watchin some bullshit american idol...

gabers

When I'm watching shows that aren't aren't for my three year old, I really probably only watch like five or six different channels. I wish you could just pay for the channels you watch.

But I think it's silly to say TV makes you dumber. There are plenty of educational programs out there that are no less informative than if you were to read the information. There's just a whole lot of filler crap. I know many people think the TV is the devil and will suck the smart out of you (or put more dumb if you're not that smart already), but only if you let it.

chadwick

gabers wrote:

When I'm watching shows that aren't aren't for my three year old, I really probably only watch like five or six different channels. I wish you could just pay for the channels you watch.

But I think it's silly to say TV makes you dumber. There are plenty of educational programs out there that are no less informative than if you were to read the information. There's just a whole lot of filler crap. I know many people think the TV is the devil and will suck the smart out of you (or put more dumb if you're not that smart already), but only if you let it.

yeah i do love me some history or discovery channel.
good stuff.

i do miss t.v. sometimes, true fact.
but without watchin t.v. i am becoming a superhero of sorts
you may have heard of me, yes/no?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJPFSNu_QNs

decides2dream

chadwick wrote:

meant no harm.
for many years i have noticed that some of the professors i have known at the two different schools i've attended do not own televisions. i find it interesting and quite profound that's all.

like what does this math nerd do when he goes home? he doesn't watch tv...
hhhmmmm...

he does math, he reads, he does drugs, who knows what he does..
he isn't watchin some bullshit american idol...

in this day and age of computers....there's ALL sorts of trouble he can be gettin' up in online, including watching many, many tv shows and sure, barely legal porn...so no, not having a tv doesn't much signal much in my mind beyond someone who doesn't mind watching shit on their computer.

Byrnzie

I'm glad that I haven't watched t.v in over a year and that my t.v signal was disconnected for non payment today.

Indian Summer

neilybabes86 wrote:

i cant live w/ out my sports

if my cable goes out for an hour i bug out

Same with me. I couldn't care less about TV shows. But I love NFL and College Basketball far to much to give up TV. I would have a nervous breakdown if I had to miss March Madness coverage. I take extra days off work for the tournament just to watch the first two rounds.

neilybabes86

Indian Summer wrote:

neilybabes86 wrote:

i cant live w/ out my sports

if my cable goes out for an hour i bug out

Same with me. I couldn't care less about TV shows. But I love NFL and College Basketball far to much to give up TV. I would have a nervous breakdown if I had to miss March Madness coverage. I take extra days off work for the tournament just to watch the first two rounds.

i don't understand these people who live w/ out it

i mean how much can you play around with the wife or g/f

miss hockey? or march madness ? or the yankees ....never

LONGRD

I only have basic TV, which is about 20 channels and some of those are duplicates. I'm more in programs like Frontline, 48 Hours, sports and SportsCenter than regular shows anyway. There's no on-going stories to keep up with on a weekly basis.

The last time I had Cable TV was when Bravo was playing independent and international films, nowadays I hear they play Project Runway and reality crap like that. I actually discovered Akira Kurosawa through Bravo because they ran a marathon of his film in 1998 when he died. So there was time when that channel was actually good.

ZiggyStar

Byrnzie wrote:

Last time I watched the t.v was during the Olympics in 2008.

Realllllly? :problem: