How much Tv Do you watch?

Cafe Society
1

Okay, I dont’ know if this has been done before, but I had an idea that could be ineteresting here. I know how a lot of people hate it when people say " Well, I don’t watch television." Yeah, it kind of bugs me that some people think they are above the idiot box in which we almost all have our guilty pleasures. The ironic thing about that is that I don’t really watch too much tv myself, but I never make a point of that. I am merely more interested in mindless things on the internet instead. Its not some kind of level above as I’m sure all of you here on the SMDB know. But anyways, I wanted to know a couple of things…

  1. How often do you go, on average, without turning the tv on, when you have the opportunity (That means, your have the choice between watching TV and some other leisure activity).

  2. What are your favorite shows? Please list the most embarassing too.

  3. Anything else to add to explain your answers for 1 and 2?
    I’ll go first

  4. I can be a very sporadic TV watcher. A lot of times I’ll have it on while I mess around on the net. I actually never focus on watching it without having something else going on. Do you? That is, of course, except for when I sleep. But then I did whatch a whole lot of television during the election.

  5. My favorite shows are. The Daily Show. Futurama, Family Guy and Sealab 2020. Not a distinguished group. I would probably watch a lot more tv if I hadn’t seen all of the Family Guy episodes, or bought all of the futurama DVDs. So I have no reason to watch them on TV now. I don’t really watch the Daily Show much anymore, because I really don’t want to care about politics at the moment. It is usually funny, but I just dont’ catch it anymore. Also… the very guilty pleasure. American Chopper. Yes… I like the tuttle family a lot. I also really like Jessie James. The funny thing is though, that I am totally not someone that you’d imagine woudl like that. I am probably the polar opposite of that type, but I really got into the whole family thing recently and I started watching it semi-regularly

  6. I suppose I’ve described my idiosyncracies in the first and second numbers… Okay, no strict rules here, obviously, but just try to give some info on that stuff…

Oh yeah, I might get sucked into the OC soon too. I can feel it…

2

I’ve watched maybe 10 hours of television in the last 12 months. I don’t consider myself above the idiot box. Merely that for person reasons now, I find watching TV unpleasant.

3

I haven’t watched TV for a week or so. I don’t have anything against TV, it’s just that in my precious free time I have better things to do. (Such as read this message board, go to movies, read a book, or, best of all, play World of Warcraft.)

  1. On average, I’d say 2 weeks if you count watching DVDs as “turning the TV on”. If not, closer to three weeks.

  2. My favorite TV show is “The Sopranos”. Once the new (and final) season is on the air, I will watch significantly more TV than I currently do. If my work schedule allowed it, I’d probably be watching “24” regularly.

  3. I work second shift, 3:30 to midnight. Therefore I miss pretty much all TV worth watching. Every now and then on the weekends I’ll watch something if I’m bored, but I prefer surfing the Internet or going to movies.

4

  1. Pretty sporadic, although I have a set of favorites that I catch – and if I’m not here, will record and watch later. I’m NOT a channel-surfer, like my dad. If there’s not a specific show that I want to see, I’d rather do something else, like read. Sometimes I will flip through the movie channels to see if there are any interesting movies on, and my digital cable just got OnDemand, which is nice, because I can pick out movies that I’d like to see (lots of free ones available). But that’s just when I feel like a movie.

  2. Current favorite shows I catch (I’m only listing current series, things I’m watching now – you mentioned Futurama and Family Guy – I love those, and will be watching Family Guy when it starts up again with new episodes in the spring):

24 – must see TV
Lost
Scrubs
Arrested Development
Enterprise
Malcolm in the Middle
Will & Grace – it used to be better and is currently losing its appeal. Don’t know how long this one will last for me…

Except for the set of favorite shows, the only other things I’ll usually watch are movies, either on the movie channels (if anything good on) or on DVD. I seldom just flip around and watch “whatever’s on” – that bores me.

5

My wife and I only really watch maybe three or four shows: Apprentice, American Idol, and to a much lesser extent, Real World and the Osbournes, but the latter shows have been suffering lately and I can’t even hardly watch them any more. She also watches “Passion Cramps”, but I haven’t the stomach for it so she watches from the bedroom. My Tivo also picks up many more, mostly documentaries, which I’ll watch with one eye with the other on my laptop.
That said, I pratically live on the couch with my laptop. (I have a doohickey that keeps it from overheating*)

I work from home on said couch with said laptop, and 90% of my time that isn’t spent working or sleeping is satisfying my internet addiction.

And most of the rest of the time that I’m not in bars with my wife, we are on the couch in front of the TV, perhaps playing games of one form or another.

Even when I am asleep, I snore so bad** that I’m for the most part banished from my marital bed, unless I’m making love or my wife is drunk (or both :wink: )

Plus I prefer a little background noise to help drown out the sounds of silence and help me sleep.

So therefore, even when I’m at work or asleep or spending lesiure time on the internet, the TV is usually on in the background.

Figure I’m in front of the always-on TV for 22 hours a day, but maybe only 1 to 2 of that is actually watching. The rest is absorbed through osmosis.

*This can be a real problem, as most laptops aren’t really designed to sit on your lap or on the couch, they tend to require airflow underneath, and moreso unfettered flow from the fans in the rear which is easily blocked by a quilt or blanket.

**This IS a real problem, but we’ve tried everything and the only solution in sight is surgery, which we cannot afford at this time.

6

I haven’t watched very much TV for the past year. If I’m bored and have nothing better to do (and have a TV, which I don’t right now), I’ll turn it on and channel surf but, for the most part, I am surfing the net, reading a book, or out looking for something else to do. I don’t have anything against it though… I’ve just fallen out of the habit.

My favorite shows are Star Trek: DS9, Star Trek: Enterprise, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Good Eats, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Friends, Joan of Arcadia, Jake 2.0, The Twilight Zone, and The Outer Limits.

7

I’m above the idiot box.
:slight_smile:
Actually, I just hate television. It’s so sensational and insipid. I prefer to spend my time on message boards.

I think it’s been 3 years since I’ve turned on a TV.

I used to like music videos—they were the only thing I could stand to watch. But as time went on there seemed to be less and less music videos on, so it just wasn’t worth it to even turn on the television.

8
  1. I usually go for days without turning the TV on.
  2. Nonetheless, I always have to watch Adult Swim on Saturday nights. I particularly like Fullmetal Alchemist and Ghost in the Shell. I also like South Park, The Simpsons, King of the Hill, MXC, The Powerpuff Girls, CSI, and several other various shows (the most embarrassing is Inuyasha- is it better or worse if I primarily watch it to ogle Kagome?), though I don’t make much of an effort to catch them regularly.
  3. Going online and playing video games just appeals to me more than TV. So I spend my free time doing that, instead of watching.
9

I don’t have a television. So I only watch programmes if I’m at someone else’s place. I doubt that I’d average more than 2-3 hours a month.

10

watch tv or tv shows?
I turn on the tv maybe three times a week to see broadcast shows. However, I rent movies and tv shows, buy dvds and catch the morning news on tv when I wake up.

11

I hate TV. Commercials are the bane of my existence. I get traumatized by the news. We didn’t have any television for a year, then I got it switched on so that my daughter can watch her favorite cartoons. I still don’t watch it, although since it’s been back on I did watch the History Channel show about the French Revolution.

Most TV is so annoying, though, that I just stay away.

12

I totally 100% agree. I haven’t watched more than a minute or two of TV in months. Ugh commercials.

13

I did not own a TV for three years. Then last year my Mom gave me a little black-and-white, which I used mostly to watch the news… until the picture tube burned out. Then no more TV for about another month… then I discovered bittorrent. Yowza.

I download TV shows during the week and have marathon TV watching sessions late nights when I’m home and on weekends. I’ve sampled a helluva lot of shows but regularly follow about nine.

Justice League Unlimited
Lost
Desperate Housewives
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Huff
Mythbusters
The Daily Show w/ Jon Stewart
Arrested Development
Malcolm in the Middle
The Amazing Race

Occassionally I’ll want to see something like Ken Burns’ Unforgiveable Blackness but have to wait until its being fileshared.

14

I watched probably 2 hours a week. Thats usually just the weather on the local news. I spend the vast majority of my time on my computer/internet, roughly 4 hours a day at home. Have no favorite shows, don’t even know whats on network tv anymore.

15

I watch 3 hours per week: Lost, Law/Order SVU, and The Apprentice (this is up from last season, when I only watched L&O SVU and a couple of episodes of The Apprentice). I also watch, on average, one DVD movie per week. News I get from the Internet. My free time is usually spent goofing around on the 'Net or reading (trying to do less 'Net, more reading).

Years and years of night school, followed by 60-hour per week jobs and flex-hour jobs, means that I never really picked up the habit of sitcom TV, because I was never home in the evenings to watch any shows. Even now I usually go work out in the evenings so I Tivo the 3 shows that I do watch.

16

Gee, compared to some of you, I watch a lot of TV. I’d say I watch about four to five hours a day during the week, and as much as eight hours on weekends. There are some shows I always watch such as 24, futurama, Family Guy, Law & Order, and the Daily Show. There are shows I sometimes will watch if I’m bored, like all of those motorcyle and car based shows on the Discovery channel. I watch a lot of sports, especially college basketball. I watch the news almost every night. I watch a lot of movies. I even find myself watching a lot of TV Land.

17

Left to myself, I’ll watch very little. I’m a SAHM, and don’t usually turn on the TV during the day unless there’s something I really want waiting for me (a DVD no one else wants to see, or an episode of one of my shows). I TiVo Simply Quilts and Mission Organization for myself daily, but have already seen most of the episodes, so I actually watch them about once a week.

Then, DangerDad and I have shows we watch together in the evening: news, Mythbusters both Stargates, and Monk. TiVo means we can skip all the ads and boring bits! We also rent DVDs from Netflix. We don’t always watch TV in the evenings, but we frequently do, and usually I sew and he programs on his laptop.

The kids are allowed about half an hour a day; I TiVo Oobi for them, or they watch one of several videos we have.

18

I don’t watch any TV. I can’t remember the last time I turned one on to watch anything. I’ve mentioned before about not having a TV for 15 or 16 years, so it doesn’t occur to me to wonder what’s on. It’s on during supper, when my wife likes to watch whatever is on HGTV or the Food Network. Other than that, I have all kinds of other stuff to do, and TV isn’t even on the list. I’m not above anything or anyone. TV just has not been a part of my life.

19

I have a TV and DVD player, but I got rid of cable close to 3 years ago. I find that if I am in a bar with a TV on I watch it pretty intently, even commercials.

20

I don’t watch TV just for background noise or a means to pass the time, but I have my favorite shows that I enjoy and try to catch when they’re on:

Arrested Development
24
The Shield (back in March!)
Justice League Unlimited
South Park (only the new ones)
Boston Legal
Scrubs (I’m rarely home when it’s on and I’ve only seen it a few times, but I like it)

I rarely sit through Saturday Night Live or Late Night With Conan O’Brien, but if I’m up late enough, I try to tune in in time to see Weekend Update with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler on SNL, or Conan’s opening monologue and sketch before he brings the first guest out.

Other than that, I may catch the occasional Law and Order: SVU or Simpsons rerun, but only if I’m eating and nothing else is on.