A couple of things today got me thinking about how much TV I watch. Over at MamaPop, they’re taking a poll to find out what show their readers want them to recap. I read the list – fully intending to vote on one of them – but then I realized that I don’t watch any of the shows they listed.
Then a little while ago, I saw that my lovely BlogHer roomie Angie wrote a post on Aiming Low about what shows to DVR this fall. Again, none of them are shows that I watch (and I don’t really have any intent of watching the new ones she mentioned).
So, it got me thinking… What do I watch on TV? And the list is pretty short.
* Dave and I have shows that we DVR and watch together during dinner: The Daily Show, The Soup, or Tosh.0. (Although, really? I think Tosh might need to be a “not while you’re eating and definitely not while the kid is awake” show.)
* Project Runway (which I’ve watched since season 1).
* I usually DVR shows like “Clean House” or “Hoarders” for when I just want to veg out and watch a show that doesn’t require too much brain space.
* Umm… I think that’s it.
That’s weird, right? Don’t most people have like, I don’t know, a sitcom or a serialized drama or something that they enjoy watching? And I don’t have any? I mean, I used to watch Lost, but now that’s over, so… yeah.
I think there’s a couple of problems here working against me. First, I’ve basically had no attention span since 2006. Apparently when I got pregnant with Catie, I also acquired A.D.D. at the same time. I know some people call that “pregnancy brain,” but with me, it never went away. Pregnancy did lots of weird things to me. Like, I can’t stand to wear earrings anymore either. (I don’t know why, they made me nauseated during my first trimester – something about the idea of poking that thing through a hole in my ear made me want to barf – and now, since I wear them almost never, they make my ears hurt and ache on the rare occasions I do wear them. It’s weird, I know.)
Wait, what was I talking about? Oh right, my attention span. (See? A.D.D.!) I could probably count on one hand the number of movies I’ve watched from start to finish in the last year. It’s just nearly impossible for me to sit still and follow a plot for two hours. So the idea of watching a serialized show where you’re expected to commit to following a particular plotline week after week? No. I just don’t think I can do it.
The second reason that I don’t watch TV much anymore – and I think this is probably the bigger reason – is that my prime TV viewing time is at night, after Catie goes to bed. And usually, by the time I finally get her to sleep, all I want is an hour or so of blissful silence before I go to bed myself. I’ve hit my noise tolerance limit for the day, I don’t want the chatter on TV, I just want… QUIET.
Is that so weird? Do y’all have a bunch of shows that you watch, or do you (to quote Depeche Mode) enjoy the silence?
TO DVR? It’s not even a question for me. I live and die with my DVR!!! During normal television show seasons I have a list of probably 20 shows that are recorded. From Reality TV to sitcoms to Dramas. There are only a few that I sit down and watch live, or sometimes 30 minutes in so I can fast forward commercials, the others are watched usually the next day or over the weekend.
I have issues!
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@AmazingGreis, Ok fair enough, BUT, before I had a kid, I think I was the same way. (Ok, maybe not 20 shows, but I had at least 1 or 2 every night of the week.) So, I don’t know. Wait and see what happens to your attention span whenever that day comes for you!
Naturally as you might guess, I barely use our DVR. I may have 3 or 4 things on there I requested kept and they are sports and music related. Which is pretty much all I watch. Like you, I have a very short list of must see network shows. This is my list, I will glance at some of the wife’s “crap” TV, but these are shows I enjoy.
Modern Family
Big Bang Theory (Sheldon really grew on me)
The Office (watching since BBC version)
30 Rock
Since Lost ended, I watch no dramas. The only dramas I really ever got into was West Wing and Sopranos along with Lost.
I just keep up with the rest because of you know who! 😉
Hockeymandad´s last blog post ..Get Your Nerd On
@Hockeymandad, Yeah, I’m with you on the dramas. I also watched ER and Six Feet Under, but it’s all stuff that’s been over for a while.
Oh wait! I do like “Big Love.” But that’s on hiatus right now.
I’ve seen Modern Family once or twice, and I thought it was amusing, but I didn’t commit to it. Never bothered with Big Bang or 30 Rock, and I *hated* the BBC version of The Office (that Ricky Gervais style of “let’s see how horribly awkward I can make this” comedy makes me want to hide under the couch; I do like him when he’s just being himself & talking, though), so I never tried with the US version.
We were talking last night if we should even continue to get cable. We watch so little tv. We watch a lot of tv and movies via Netflix. But I do love me some Glee, Big Bang Theory, HIMYM and Chuck. People have lots of ways to get entertainment now so tv will probably lose out to more and more people as time goes on. I do have several friends who don’t have a tv that still manage to watch all sorts of shows.
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@Linda, That’s true. I had some downtime at work a couple months ago and ended up watching the entire first season of “Parenthood” on hulu.com. (It was really good!) (Also: perk of working from home!) But yeah, I think technology is definitely going to change the whole dynamic there of how we get our TV.
I have a few drama’s I love. But most of my DVR theses days? Food Network shows. The girls and I love them. Like you, i just have no attention span these days.
Oh and How I Met your Mother and Big Bang Theory. I DVR all of them. When I’m in a bad place, they make me laugh my ass off. Plus 24 minutes is all sitcoms are, right? If you fast forward commercials?
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@Issa, I think sitcoms are something like 18 minutes without commercials. Heh. But yeah, I hear you.
I can’t watch the Food Network, though. Watching someone prepare food makes me constantly hungry. (Which is funny, since it’s the opposite of how I felt about it when I was pregnant. That was more like, “change the f’ing channel before I puke!” I couldn’t even stand to commercials that had pictures of food in them.)
I would be tempted to ditch Time Warner cable all together and just use Hulu, Netflix, AppleTV etc. It’s kind of expensive for what we actually use it for.
That’s a big step though – No Project Runway, No Dexter!
@Dave, Yeah. We’re not canceling cable. Because without it, that means no Hoarders/Clean House, no Daily Show/Tosh.0/The Soup, and no Nick Jr/PBS Sprout for Catie.
@Cindy W, Like I said, I do love me some Time Warner Cable!!
:oD
HOW DO I EVEN KNOW YOU?
My season pass list is full all the time.
I’m flabbergasted at you.
Angie [A Whole Lot of Nothing]´s last blog post ..It’s pretty much like Christmas- but without all of that baby Jesus stuff
@Angie [A Whole Lot of Nothing], I’m sorry! I’m just telling the truth!
Besides, at least I watch The Soup, so I get to see all of the funniest clips of the various shows that I don’t watch.
We DVR all kinds of stuff. And then never watch it. I DVR Scrubs, which is the best show of all DVR Top Gear, watch maybe one a month. DVR Pop-Up Video (how sad, I know, but I lurve it) and haven’t watched in since maternity leave over a year ago. DVR Racchel Maddow because I have a girl crush on her, but watch about once a month.
All we ever watch is Food Network or kid shows. And I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate Dora. Hate. Her.