A few things over the last few days have inspired me to end up here. The first were Darren and Lottie’s posts about Lost, the second was an article in yesterday’s Sunday Tribune about the end of Battlestar Galactica which again got me thinking about the nature of modern TV experiences and how they are such a crucial part of the lives of so many of my friends. They are the the subject of pub discussions every time groups of us are out, they are the focus of watercooler chat in work, they appear in blog posts on some of my favourite people’s blogs… but I have a problem.
See, I don’t watch TV anymore. Almost ever. And these days that means that sometimes, I may as well be from the dark side of the moon.
Before you say it, it’s not as if I’m one of those lot who think TV watching is beneath them, something for the proles, far from it. TV brought me up, I learned almost everything I know from it and I can tell you pretty much anything about anything from any TV series prior to about 1990-ish. Gets a little bit patchier after that what with the discovery of alcohol, a social life, work and kids and the like but it something I always had a healthy and anoraky interest in prior to a point.
Then, a couple of years ago, I just let go.
I saw the first series of Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty, mourned the end of Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip and that was pretty much that. Even in the years prior to that I’d fallen away from TV apart from an interest in documentaries and current affairs stuff. The Sopranos, The Wire, West Wing and most of the last ten years of the Simpsons had gone straight over my head. I don’t own a TV of my own now.
Yes, I do see the flashing box occasionally but relatively rarely and usually because I’m trapped around it. The only things I make an effort to see are Match Of The Day, University Challenge and the exceptional Dr Who when it’s in season. I catch news here, bit of current affairs there and, accidentally, snatches of The Late Late or Jonathon Ross. I used to not feel that bothered but every now and then when there are cultural touchpoints that I have no part of I get a little tug to my chest - I used to be that guy that watched those things that were pretty good.
Some of it is just about time slipping away I think. I have time to invest a few seconds on a boring website, 90 minutes in a crap movie, a week on a book that turns out to be poor, but five years on a TV series that seems to be going around in circles and no closer to anything resembling a satisfying conclusion I may never reach? No. I think some day box sets will be the way to go and I’ll spend 4 solid years creating the ass groove to end all ass grooves on an old sofa somewhere, but that’s just a maybe.
As an experiment I watched a half hour of Lost last night as an experiment, just to see like, and while it looks very flashy and highly stylised and “Prisoner”-y I get the feeling even from such a brief look that it’s all window dressing and panic. Panic as to where it’s going next because the writers are Lost too…
Great post Rick. I would say you lead a much richer life without a TV. Opiate of the masses and all that jazz. Still holds true.
I had a conversation at the weekend with a friend of mine who complains of having no time to pursue her dream of running a marathon. Yet she can tell me exactly what happens in Emmerdale, Eastenders, Coronation Street and Fair City on any given night. No time eh?
Time is precious. TV more often than not pillages that time.
Ah but if I only was using that time to write the great first novel….
Do it. Go on I dare ya!
When I moved house, after packing a LOT of unwatched DVDs and unread books I decided not to get a TV.
I have a computer monitor connected to a lot of equipment, but a TV signal wasn’t one of them…
Then in your economic times I had to follow the money and I’m back in the family home.
With a TV.
I didn’t miss it when I didn’t have it. (except for BSG and Dr Who, in Whos case the DVDs come out just as the series ends, so a “wasted” weekend later and you’re up to speed cough * online * cough)
Now, by osmosis (its hard not to watch it when its on), I end up following the plots of Fair City and East Enders (and at some point I’ll even know who these people are). I get sucked in to the food porn that is “Bake” and “Trish’s Paris Kitchen” (favourite quote “yes you’ll put on weight, but its oh so worth it”)
Work / wasting time fills to expand the time available.
So Rick, want to work on a fiction blog?
I hear ya holmes
Living by myself for a year in a house with nothing but a big bookshelf,an internet connection and lot’s of DVD’s for entertainment was bliss. After a few days of ‘i wonder what’s on’ i got over it and over time realised that 90% of what’s on TV is tripe. With a few exceptions such as the Wire, Arrested development, 30 rock, some national geographic, IT crowd etc. Generally the quality stuff is in short supply.
Although there is a tv in the place where i live now but i haven’t bothered to get cable. If i really want to watch something now i stream it. FYI: United States Of Tara-worth a watch.