This is us. We might snack in front of the TV, but regular meals are at the dining room table. This is partly because he can’t eat without making a mess. Also, we don’t have a coffee table.
But really, it’s for the conversation. We chat while we’re doing other things, but it seems like dinner time is when the real talking happens.
It is not uncommon for me to eat breakfast in front of the TV.
Typical day: Wake at 7. Work right away. Around 9 take a break for breakfast and watch some TV.
But usually the only time I eat before the TV. More regularly, I at at the computer while working.
Growing up, my family always ate in the living room, in front of the TV. I was embarrassed, because my friends had “real” meals in the dining room. We used our dining room table twice a year, Christmas and Thanksgiving. But like WhyNot said, we talked all the time through dinner. We didn’t watch serious movies or anything, just the news or comedy shows, and it did keep the conversation going. Now that I’m living away from my parents, I call them often and can easily talk for an hour or more. It didn’t lead to me growing up, unable to communicate with my parents except in grunts or anything, don’t worry.
I usually eat at the dining room table now, but always have a book beside me. I don’t flip on the TV and just watch whatever, because I live with three roommates.
I might be the most pathetic. I live by myself, so no motivation to sit at the dining table. I have a three-section couch (two couches, actually). The back of the middle part flips down to make a table between the two end sections. It has room for a couple of plates and cupholders molded in. Both of the end sections are full recliners. Needless to say, I eat every meal on that couch in front of the TV.
We (2 adults, one child) used to eat in the livingroom and watch Jeopardy together two or three nights a week.
Now we have DVR and Jeopardy starts when we tell it to. If dinner is fairly portable sometimes we go in and watch “live”.
If we cook it I prefer to eat at the table. If it’s just a sandwich or takeout - in front of the TV is fine (unless it’s messy takeout, like Indian food).
I can’t remember *ever *eating dinner in front of the TV when I was growing up.
Empty nesters. We rarely eat in front of the TV, unless there are sports specials that conflict with dinner time (world series, Brier (men’s curling), or the like). When we had kids, we banned reading over dinner. I still think we should, but both of us like to read so much that we usually do.
Our children now have families of their own and also don’t eat in front of the TV. But what I see about meals that disturbs me somewhat is that they rarely sit down together for dinner and never all have the same meal.
No TV watching during dinner growing up, except for a brief series of Saturday evening Battlestar Galactica( the original). I still remember it because it was so unheard of.
No TV during dinner now. We always eat at the dining room table and read or talk or do crosswords or all three. The TV is in a different room, and we only use it for watching DVDs.
We eat in front of the TV maybe twice a week - the rest of the time, it’s the dining room table.
This is for a whole load of reasons:
-Gravy on the arms of the sofa from careless, distracted eating. Don’t like it
-My kids will sit watching TV, motionless, with their mouths open until the food is stone cold, then they’ll complain that it’s no good to eat.
-I refuse to let the TV be the primary ‘social’ focus of our family. It has its rightful place, but I will not be made to fit around it.
-I like the atmosphere of the family table.
I always eat at my desk, either surfing the web on my computer, or watching the tv across the room.
Our dining table is always full of crap. I clean it off but 24 hours later it looks much the same. Even so, my son & I usually eat breakfast there. My husband eats his breakfast standing while making his lunch.
Every now & then I clean the table off & we have a meal together. Sometimes its great, but normally my husband picks at our son’s table manners. So usually we are eating in front of the TV.
Just in the last week or so my son has taken to eating at the dining room table by himself. Doesn’t seem to be so he can idsposre of any disliked food. So maybe I should clean the table off & try again. 
Those of you eating on your couch fit perfectly in the tradition of Roman nobles, where people ate their dinner, cena, lying down on couches. All couches looked out at the center of the room, where entertainment would be provided by dancers, musicians and the like. If they had had a TV, they would have put that in the middle.
I eat breakfast behind my computer screen.
We have home cooked meals every day, as is the custom in the Netherlands. Dinner is eaten with my husband and the baby at the kitchen table. As one of us has to entertain the baby, it just isn’t practical otherwise.
Before we had the baby, if the meal was easy and suited for eating with a single utensil, we put it on a tray and ate it in front of the TV about two thirds of the time.
Even on the nights we get to have dinner together, my SO and I will either eat at our desks while we play video games or on the sofa in front of the TV. We have a dining room and dining room table, but it is used as a computer desk/study table.
Some part of me thinks I should be appalled at this, as my parents never allowed any distractions over dinner. But to be honest, neither of us is really bothered by it. Speaking for myself, I regard eating at the dining table as something I no longer need to do now that I’m living on my own. Maybe it’ll change when we have kids.
Depends.
At Mom’s: if there’s less than 4 people having dinner at the same time, we have it in the kitchen.
If there’s more than 3 people, we have it in the living room and the TV may or may not be on.
If Lilbro is in and Absolutely Must Watch The TV (translation: footie’s on), then he has dinner in the living room with the TV on and the rest of us have it in the kitchen. If there’s any interesting plays, he’ll holler loud enough to hear it and, if we feel like it, hop over to watch the repeat 
There we do have lunch (in Spain the important, family-together meal of the day for most homes) with the TV on if Lilbro is in; if he’s not (and sometimes when he is) we don’t switch the TV on. Lunch is always in the living room.
In my flat there is a TV but it’s only used by visits and by my housesitter. I know it does switch on, I can tell it how to reset the channels, but that’s it. I wouldn’t even have bought it if it wasn’t so good at keeping Mom off my back.
In Glasgow I don’t have a TV.
In either location, if I’m eating with someone I do it with no music or anything, sit-down. If I’m by myself I’m likely to eat in front of the computer.