# A Growing Indifference to Television



## BAYLOR (Apr 10, 2022)

I watch television but , I find  myself watching less of it  and watching more dvd  of older tv shows.  Do you find yourself not following  favorite tv shows anymore  and do you find the latest tv offerings  to be less than appealing ?


Thoughts ?


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## Droflet (Apr 10, 2022)

Yes. I no longer have a tv or need one. I download the shows _I _want to see. Not the repetitious studio junk.


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## Laura R Hepworth (Apr 10, 2022)

Oh yes, I haven't found most of the new shows (and even most of the new movies) appealing in a long time. We got rid of our cable years ago and, recently, got rid of Netflix also. We pretty much just use our Roku now (Tubi mostly) and watch a few things on Amazon Prime. We're also increasing out our DVD collection of older shows and movies that we know we liked and would actually want to rewatch.


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## Lumens (Apr 10, 2022)

I guess soon the only thing we'll be left with to entertain us, is reality...


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## Robert Zwilling (Apr 10, 2022)

Using an outdoor antenna, selective streaming with Roku, and dvds, I can automatically filter out most of the cable stuff, the new "network" stuff, and the new movies. It's like a time delay of from 1 to 90 years. With not the greatest home made antenna you can pull in 60 or 70 channels that are not guaranteed to show up everyday due to the weather. It doesn't even have to be raining, just the wind, too much heat, too cold, a channel, or channels don't show up, or are too pixelated to watch.


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## Elckerlyc (Apr 10, 2022)

I watch TV for the News and likewise stuff. One or two quizzes that actually requires some intelligence from the attendees (*not* being celebrities.)
All in all less than 1 hour each day, if even that.
Mostly I watch streams from Netflix and CuriosityStream (documentaries), but even there it's increasingly hard to find something original and worthwhile watching.
But I have a similar problem with reading. It has become difficult to find something that invites me to turn the next page.


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## Rodders (Apr 10, 2022)

Over lockdown i bought a Fire TV cube and subscribed to Amazon Prime, Netflicks and more recently, Britbox. I have to confess that i'm not really interested now. It's on because it fills time and it's nice to have dinner in front to the telly. 

I'm falling behind on a lot of shows at the moment. I wouldn't say that i was bored with TV, i think numb is a better way to describe my feeling toward telly at the moment.

There is just so much content these days, making it hard to choose what to watch. Channel hopping now is a nightmare. 
Committing to a series of 5 seasons of 22 episodes each can be daunting. 10 episode seasons are making things a little easier.
Subscription TV is making the whole affair quite expensive. I subscribed to Netflicks for Doctor Who and It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, i subscribed to Amazon for The Expanse, I subscribed to Britbox for Blake's 7 and THHGTTG. I want to watch the new Star Wars content, so i'll have to subscribe to Disney Plus. I also want to see the new Foundation series on HBO. Rounding up, i already pay £30 a month with potentially another £20. On top of a TV Licence. It's too much.
Too much dumbing down with TV now days. Mostly due to the rise of reality TV. I think that TV has a certain degree social responsibility. These guys we see on TV are potentially our heroes, (especially for children). When you have shows such as The Kardashians, Real Housewives of... and The Only Way is Essex i think it affects certain people poorly. I blame shows like this for the rise of entitled behaviour that appears to have crept into our culture over the last few years. (I apologies for such a sweeping statement, but i hope you know what i'm getting at.)
News is just as bad. Baised and sensationalist.I think we have it okay in the UK, but in the US it  appears to be terrible.
Fun fact. News stands for "Notable Events, Weather and Sport".

I want to get back into reading instead of watching TV.


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## Mouse (Apr 10, 2022)

I watch Hollyoaks (I know, I don't care) and that's about it. Nowadays I mostly watch YouTube (and the vast majority of that is about gardening!).


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## BAYLOR (Apr 10, 2022)

Lumens said:


> I guess soon the only thing we'll be left with to entertain us, is reality...



The network canceled that due to lack of viewer interest and low Neilson ratings..


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## Astro Pen (Apr 10, 2022)

I didn't have a TV for 15 years. My real life expanded enormously as a result. Joining clubs, groups and classes.
I bought a license due to constant threats and intrusive visits from the licencing authority, I knew that one day I would 'lose it' with one.
So I got a little TV again and installed a freeview antenna. I watch 'The Repair Shop' and 'Landscape Artist of the Year' That's it really.
The adverts are just awful on so many fronts and run long enough to make tea.
(and did I mention that _everything _is politicised and biased now. It feels like a propaganda machine in the corner. )

I consider myself "Post TV'. Basically the internet with adblock is where I live now.


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## Vladd67 (Apr 10, 2022)

Astro Pen said:


> I didn't have a TV for 15 years. My real life expanded enormously as a result. Joining clubs, groups and classes.
> I bought a license due to constant threats and intrusive visits from the licencing authority, I knew that one day I would 'lose it' with one.
> So I got a little TV again and installed a freeview antenna. I watch 'The Repair Shop' and 'Landscape Artist of the Year' That's it really.
> The adverts are just awful on so many fronts and run long enough to make tea.
> ...


When it comes to the tv licence we haven't had one in nearly ten years, we just ignore the monthly threat'o' grams and we have had two visits, in the first three years, the goon said tv licensing I replied no thanks and shut the door.


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## Robert Zwilling (Apr 11, 2022)

We do not have a tv license fee, we just have to watch/wade through commercials to pay for our viewing. Even sources that were commercial free are showing commercials. Commercial free public tv has sponsor spots that are exactly what tv commercials looked like 75 years ago. 

I pay around $20 a month for acorn, britbox and amazon. The original roku cost around $40, should have been a one time cost (its still working) but amazon changed their signal so I had to get a newer roku which lasted a week before the output to tv socket broke off the circuit board. Bought another one and glued the cable in place. That's around $100. Good news is that the new remote works a lot better on the original roku than the original roku remote worked. 

Don't use converter boxes (cheap ones don't last). I only use 27 inch flat screen tvs with built in digital tuners. They cost between $10 and $20 at yard sales. 

The outdoor tv antenna is composed of several small antennas cobbled together for a cost of $100. I run the signal through a 30 year old tv signal amplifier that cost $20 when I got it and still costs $20.  It is topped off by very old metal fm antenna that was originally horizontal to the ground but got clobbered by a large tree branch blowing by in the wind one night that knocked the fm antenna to a 45 degree angle pointing up into the sky. The mountings got bent so it is permanent. The good news is that brought in another dozen channels from another state 120 miles away. They only work in the daytime.


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## Mon0Zer0 (Apr 12, 2022)

I've been watching *Babylon 5* - missed it first time round. After a shaky first few episodes it's hitting its stride.

New series?

*Better Call Saul* is amongst the best TV ever made.
*Severance* - if you like PKD, Kubrick, Beckett or Black Mirror you'll also love this. Rate this highly.
*Upload* - A lighter, fluffier Black Mirror - I can't say it's unmissable, but it's an okay way to pass the time.
*The Expanse* - one of the better sci-fi series
*Resident Alien* - teeny sci-fi series - the first season is fun.
*Maniac* - interesting sci-fi serial. 
*Sweet Home* - Highly imaginative Korean horror series 
*Squid Game* - Takeshi's castle with a deadly twist
*All of us are dead* - effective zombie high school actioner
*The White Lotus* - dark satire set in a hotel


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## Mon0Zer0 (Apr 13, 2022)

*Outer Range* - lovecraftian / bradburyesque horror western featuring Josh Brolin


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## Mouse (Apr 16, 2022)

And this is why I watch YouTube. Why would anybody ever watch TV when you have this pure genius?


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## BAYLOR (Apr 16, 2022)

Mouse said:


> And this is why I watch YouTube. Why would anybody ever watch TV when you have this pure genius?



This would make a great Twilight Zone episode.


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## Justin Swanton (Apr 16, 2022)

I haven't had a TV in my home for years. Never missed it.


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## BAYLOR (Oct 24, 2022)

I See fewer thing worth watching.


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## Orcadian (Oct 24, 2022)

I last had a TV in 2003. I do not miss it at all. Very occasionally a friend will report seeing something that sounds exceptional and then I wish there were some way of buying streaming access to that one thing. I  particularly love powerful plays and period dramas, being a veteran of their golden age: roughtly 1960 - 1980. Most modern period dramas are hopeless as the dialogue, body language, etiquette & eye contact all reek of the 21st cetury.*  But the old ones are mostly superb, e.g. The Six Wives of Henry VIII  (Keith Michell), _Elizabeth R_ (Glenda Jackson),_ I, Claudius _(Derek Jacobi). I would so love re-runs of any of the long-running and challenging series _Play for Today, The Wednesday Play, Armchair Theatre._

* An exception is _Wolf Hall_, which I thought was beautifully crafted and performed.


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## LordOfWizards (Oct 24, 2022)

I saw a news feed on my phone that said today's movies mostly suck because children are writing them. 

We get free channels on our TV - most is rubbish, but I occasionally watch the news.


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## BAYLOR (Oct 24, 2022)

Orcadian said:


> I last had a TV in 2003. I do not miss it at all. Very occasionally a friend will report seeing something that sounds exceptional and then I wish there were some way of buying streaming access to that one thing. I  particularly love powerful plays and period dramas, being a veteran of their golden age: roughtly 1960 - 1980. Most modern period dramas are hopeless as the dialogue, body language, etiquette & eye contact all reek of the 21st cetury.*  But the old ones are mostly superb, e.g. The Six Wives of Henry VIII  (Keith Michell), _Elizabeth R_ (Glenda Jackson),_ I, Claudius _(Derek Jacobi). I would so love re-runs of any of the long-running and challenging series _Play for Today, The Wednesday Play, Armchair Theatre._
> 
> * An exception is _Wolf Hall_, which I thought was beautifully crafted and performed.



Up until roughly 2010 is when television began to lose me.


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## Vince W (Oct 24, 2022)

I just ditched my ties to regular television. I have a couple of streaming services left but they may follow soon. I have a tbr pile that could last me for a hundred years as it is.


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## Elckerlyc (Oct 25, 2022)

I don't think much has changed, really. Except ourselves. We age, the past decades we have seen lots of series or programs flying by on the screen and have become jaded, in various degrees. Also, our tastes and interests change. Or evolve, if you like.
We think there's not much watchable, let alone watch-worthy these day. There wasn't all that much great to watch in the olde days, but our bars were definitely lower.
I still watch TV; the News and associated programs. And sometimes live broadcasts which you don't get to see anywhere else.


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## Rodders (Oct 25, 2022)

I have to confess that I find the idea of losing the TV quite appealing. 

Too much content, now a-days, I think. There's a lot of stuff on my to watch list, but i generally don't have any urge to watch them. It was the same with DVD's remember? 100s on the shelf, yet nothing to watch.


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## Raincloud Man (Oct 25, 2022)

BAYLOR said:


> I watch television but , I find  myself watching less of it  and watching more dvd  of older tv shows.  Do you find yourself not following  favorite tv shows anymore  and do you find the latest tv offerings  to be less than appealing ?
> 
> 
> Thoughts ?


I haven't watched TV in over two decades, my reading list is long enough as is and I still need time to play video games after work.


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## AnyaKimlin (Oct 25, 2022)

I still enjoy TV - particularly in the autumn when most of my favourites have new episodes. 

But then I love the shows where you have clever people doing clever things that they are really talented at. I also enjoy a fun quiz show.


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