I probably will get DVDs of them, one day. Some, anyway.
Oh, and Breaking Bad. I haven’t seen that, either.
Off the top of my head, The Wire, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Dexter, and Lost are all shows I’ve never watched and am willing to watch. I just haven’t gotten around to watching them. I won’t bother listing the reality/competition shows I’ve never watched, but I generally avoid that genre.
O.k., strong objection. Must be the way I said it. The quote above from Little Nemo represents roughly the counter-argument I thought I might get in response to a total abstinance POV about television. I’ll address this comment hoping to state this better.
By analogy, Nemo’s argument seems to take roughly the position of a wine-taster or a connoisseur of single-malt Scots whiskey addressing a teetotaler: pointing out that things of remarkable quality and rare enjoyment are to be found among alcoholic beverages.
This is undeniably true; but overall, I believe alcohol has been a terrible burden and a net loss to humanity (quite unlike books). The fact that we have remarkable single-malt whiskeys to sip and fine Burgundies for dining does not mean we are blessed by alcohol and it becomes a net boon to humanity. Some decide to avoid it entirely–even condemn it.
Regarding quality on television: The average movie script is, what, 30 pages? I assume the average television script for an hour program has about the same number of pages and takes less time and money to film. The book I’m reading now on the French and Indian War is 750 pages, and was written by a scholar of late middle age whose entire life was devoted to the study of the material, not a TV screen writer with a good concept. I’ve made a reasonable choice of where I might best invest my time.
Mine is not an argument from elitist theory. I’ve seen only a double handful of things on television, from the early 60’s to the mid 1990’s, that I regarded as memorable and wholly worthwhile, and this aggregate was not worth the total time I spent with some level of my attention invested in an appliance. I was by default choosing screen writers over authors, writers, scholars, and serious historians, and in the few “single-malt” exceptions found on television none of the latter were writing at their highest level in 30 pages. Being occasionally well entertained and broadly informed become not enough for me. There is no criticism of others, intended or implied, in this. It’s a strongly negative opinion based in personal experience and extended to the entire medium–the analogy to alcohol is a good one in my mind.
I still follow the latest movies, attend a few each year in theaters, and watch movies regularly on my laptop. I admire “Inception,” and I re-watched “Rob Roy” last night–a fine, single-malt movie indeed despite only 30 pages of script. I indulge some guilty pleasures from time to time (Chronicles of Riddick, Vin Diesel)–but I no longer live life with one ear cocked to the TV hoping for a tidbit amid the chatter, nor endlessly pushing the channel-change button in frustration looking for something that catches my interest. I won’t have the damn thing in my house.
How can I know the state of television without watching? Were I the runaway son of a lifelong alcoholic and abusive father, and were I asked how can I know he has not changed for the better, I would have to admit that I cannot know–but I would not return home to find out.
You’ve created a false dichotomy. You don’t have to make a choice between reading books and watching television. If that were the case, I’d agree with you that books are a better choice. But that choice is unnecessary.
You read books. That’s good. I read books and watch television. That’s better. I have a broader outlook on the world than you do. Why? Because I seek and find knowledge in a place that you avoid.
To turn away from any source of experience or knowledge is a deliberate crippling of your mind.
By the way, the rule of thumb for movie scripts is one page of script equals one minute of film. So thirty page scripts are not the standard.
See? You just learned something.
wei ji (and everyone else), please take the discussion of TV as a medium to another thread. It’s a worthwhile topic but it’s only barely related to the subject of this thread.
Well of course you wouldn’t, since you’ve never seen an episode of it.
Me either. No desire to.
There are MANY I haven’t seen, since I haven’t had a working TV since the switch to digital. :rolleyes:
I only read about half, but I should be cool cause I’ve never seen them either.
Marley, I apologise.
I’m with Little Nemo- I have not seen an episode of any of the ones he has listed with the exception of The Big Bang Theory.
Nighttime soaps in the 1980’s Dallas, Falcon Crest, Dynasty, Knots Landing. Teen angst shows like Beverly Hills 90210, Dawson’s Creek, Friends. Never saw ER either.
I’m sort of proud of avoiding those shows.
30 Rock, simply because I detest Alec Baldwin and all his brothers.
Yes, clearly this is not the place for this discussion. Good call. Didn’t see your first instruction on it, sorry.
Well, I’ve got you all beat. I have a TV and I only turn it on to watch the program guide
scroll by…never seen that, never seen that…nope. nope. nope. Shark week? nope. Dr. Who? nope…nope…then I turn the TV off.
This is a list of all the reality shows I have ever seen: Last Comic Standing, Design Star, Mad House and Sureal Life I watched whole seasons of, and I’ve also seen a few episodes of [insert #] of Kids and Counting, Jon and Kate Plus Eight, A Baby Story, I Didn’t Know I was Pregnant, and Downsized.
That’s it. Every other reality show out there, from American Idol to Real Housewives of Wherethehellever, I’ve never seen an episode of.
Me neither. I have also never seen a single scene from Sex and the City. And a whole BUNCH of other shows (90% of those mentioned in this thread so far).
I am not lucky enough to have avoided shows like Sex and the City, but oddly I have managed to miss Heroes, which would otherwise seem right up my alley, with me being a comic book fan. And even when it was preceded by Chuck, which I watch religiously.
I’m sure there are others, but the two that stand out are The Shield and Deadwood.
Apparently I watch more TV than I realized. I like to at least try an episode of the shows du jour to see if I’ll like it. Oftentimes, I don’t, and I have only seen that one episode. I’ve never seen an episode of:
24
Dexter
Weeds
Real Housewives franchise
Jersey Shore
I plan on watching Dexter because I’ll think I’ll like it. I’m tempted by Weeds, but I’ll probably pass. I’ll definitely pass on the others.
Lost
Big Brother
Sex and the City
Buffy
Six Feet Under
Jersey Shore