April 18, 2006

• What a coincidence. My cable will be disconected that week. I watch only 2 hours per week and Bittorrent is perfectly capable to fill those hours.
• Sorry. No can do. Hockey playoffs. Should have been last week.
• Does it count if I Tivo all my shows and spend May 1 in a vegetative state on the couch?
• Excellent topic: Bittorrent vs. Television - Compare and Contrast. Actually, I'd be more interested to stick to "traditional" television (definition available at finer minds near you) as it (a) affects society or (b) affects individuals. Everyone will no doubt read each and every comment from the 2004, 2005 threads and note that the "I mostly stick to the computer" people avoid the slapfighting between the TV-Controls-You crowd and I'm-Impervious-to-TV crowd. Be that as it may, wouldn't everyone agree that the emergence of television as a popular medium has utterly transformed the cultural landscape of (insert your country of residence here)? On preview: you Tivo people be quiet. ;)
• Hehe rocket :)
• Ain't got no TV. The Internet is the opiate of my masses.
• I would gladly turn off the TV, but it would lead to divorce.
• You know, I agree with this project and all -- but the only thing that'll stop me from sucking the teat of my cathode-ray-tubed mother is death. Sorry. Flesh is weak and all that.
• I turned off my shitty American TV about 15 years ago. However, lately due to the magic of BitTorrent, I watch a ton of shitty Japanese TV. At least I can pretend I'm 日本語勉強.
• No TV in the house. We watch 45minutes of childrens DVDs every night (this week we're focusing on Bambi) thanks to Netflix and an iBookG4. My addiction is reading Tea blogs and I've recently have become re-attached to MoFi. oh, and about 20hrs of studying every week.
• I'm not turning off doodly-squat. They can bite me.
• Owned no TV since late 2002. But the wife did go out and buy one (then returned it) for the 2004 summer olympics. A quick perusal of the channels confirmed that I hadn't missed a bit. (Uh, lying in vats of centipedes? Riiiiiiight.)
• What, not even a pretense of an argument then? C'mon you "pry the TV from my cold dead hands" people, this is an instrument of mass deception! An abominable destroyer of worlds! The most insidious of all modernity's ills! A cultural hydrogen bomb of wrong! No? Just fetal position abasement eh? The crazy-old-cat-lady, resigned-alcoholic, gulag-dwelling-Soviet-writer defeatist servitude? C'maaaan - one of you has got to be new enough and haven't read the past threads to make the chest-thumping pronouncement that TV holds no sway over a human mind! Not that arguing 1+1=.07 will be of interest, but somebody's gotta say it, right? heh heh. Okay, okay, i'm going back to the cave. Just came in town to pick up a few things.
• this is an instrument of mass deception! An abominable destroyer of worlds! The most insidious of all modernity's ills! A cultural hydrogen bomb of wrong! Not CSI!
• I flick on the telly most evenings. Even if I don't watch it in a focused manner or am online or doing something at the same time - I like the noise. I don't have cable or satellite so I pretty much only watch Japanese tv. It is good for studying - mainly because nearly all programs have Japanese subtitles and it helps with understanding. There are some interesting programs here and there - and I'm not ashamed to say that I do watch it quite regularly. What I like about Japanese TV is that it is so home-spun. Inventive sets which always have some movement happening... bright colours... and some of the scenarios are quite amusing. Not much of it is of the "wacky extreme" variety which is the general belief outside of Japan. In fact those types of programs have become rarer and rarer of late. I found Australian TV to be a bit tedious when I was back though - although it was summer time. I have only bit-torrented for some old programs I am unable to get on DVD here (which is - gee all of them). I haven't gotten into any western series for some time. Never seen an episode of CSI or any of that ilk. TV here is pretty much a big part of the culture, which I could probably rave on about for ages... but shan't cause one of my fav programs is about to come on....
• Why Don't You? or to give it it's full title, Why Don't You Just Switch Off Your Television Set and Go and Do Something Less Boring Instead? theme tune (.rm format) more here: Possibly the only television programme ever which advised its viewers not to watch television... and here:

  This series' full title Why Don't You Just Switch Off Your Television Set and Go and Do Something Less Boring Instead? (Radio Times originally billed it as Wdyjsoytsagadslbi?) often met with confusion but reflected an attitude held since the dawn of the BBC children's service, that children for television should be rationed and provide stimulation and ideas for time spent away from the TV. At the time of Why Don't You's early 1970s launch, television was not the 24-hour multichannel experience it is today.

• i must not use apostrophes for the possessive of "it" i must not use apostrophes for the possessive of "it" i must not use apostrophes for the possessive of "it" i must not use apostrophes for the possessive of "it" i must not use apostrophes for the possessive of "it" i must not use apostrophes for the possessive of "it" i must not use apostrophes for the possessive of "it" i must not use apostrophes for the possessive of "it"
• Have you seen "ギャルサー", Fujiki Naohito plays an American cowboy who parachutes into Shibuya where he meets a group of Para Para (dancing) gals and teaches them some life lessons. And there are some Japanese speaking Indians too. It's frickin weird, in a bad bad way.
• I'm always put off by how self-righteous people get about this. Always tied up with medium snobbery. Kid A spends 4 hours a day watching TV. Kid B spends 4 hours a day reading books. Kid B is a special little angel! Such a good kid! So healthy! Meanwhile, Kid A might be watching intricately plotted dramas, nature and history programs, while Kid B is reading the Left Behind series. There are hundreds of channels out there, and with bittorrents/on-demands/DVRs there's actually a lot of quality stuff. I don't mean to get all Steven Johnson, but first they come for your TV, and then they come for your video games. Screw them.
• Addendum, just for fun, how does orococo comment sound now: Owned no books since late 2002. [...] A quick perusal of the bookstore confirmed that I hadn't missed a bit. (Uh, chicken soup for the teenage soul? Riiiiiiight.)
• Ah no I would run screaming from a program like that. I watch some variety shows, and some comedy. The only series I like a bit at the moment is ブスの瞳恋してる (which translates literally as "I'm in love with the Ugly Hitomi") starring SMAP's Goro Inagaki and Tomoko Murikami. In a TV world which tries to reinforce that only the beautiful slim people matter, this (albeit in a sappy drippy way) tries to balance it out by having the supposedly handsome Goro-character trying to boost her self confidence by telling her she is fabulous just the way she is. Possibly it is not well executed - but at least it's an attempt.
• TV, radio, books, and the internet all have some quality offerings along with tons of utter crap. The medium is not the message.
• We got rid of our TV over a year ago, which is great, altho I do occasionally miss those CSI and Law-n-Order:SVU reruns on cable....mmmmm, cop shows... /drool
• The medium is not the message. Can be.
• The problem with TV is that it owns your soul. Seriously guys, I've been to their meetings. But all kidding aside, I've noticed that based on the sample population of all the people I've ever talked to, people tend to be boring in direct proportion to the amount of TV they watch. Then again, if you watch a lot of TV you might not even notice, or your frame of reference might be different. I interact with people whose idea of sparking conversation consists of repeating bits and pieces of every decent TV show they have watched recently. I'm sorry, but that's just lame. So if you watch a lot of TV you might be having fun, but you might be dragging the rest of us down like an iron life vest. Fun sucker.
• GramMa wants to cane until bloody the people who will recite endlessly and with great detail the plot of a TV show or movie. And as mentioned before, I once threw a cowboy boot through our television screen. TV, one of the many things we could live without.
• MonkeyFilter: once threw a cowboy boot through our television screen. *adjusts so it's level, stands back, admires*
• Mmm, TV...numbs the pain...
• TUM!! so does bourbon, so does bourbon...
• At least they weren't foolish enough to schedule it during may sweeps.
• I think TV Turnoff Week has a certain shock value to some people, but I would prefer a Media Literacy Week. Somebody go do that. Thanks old boy, that's swell. Ta, PB
• Sorry, Boston Legal is on that week. There, pete, you can commence with feeling all superior while you spend your time trolling the Internet.
• In many ways, TV is the great missed intellectual and sociological opportunity of the twentieth century. What could have been a medium of enlightment and education became, almost from its earliest days, a repository (supossitory?) of dreck. OR When it comes to TV the medium is the message. TV is the most passive of mediums which transforms the most intelligent of programs into mindnumbing pablum, a result of its noninteractive nature coupled with flickering images that combine to induce a drool inducing state of ennui. OR I really, really, really, miss "You Can't Do That On Television". I always did have a crush on Moose.
• um is a new episode of "lost" on that week?
• oh!! I'd forgotten about "You Can't Do That On Television" what a great show (and yes, Moose...)
• I have a better idea:
• There, pete, you can commence with feeling all superior while you spend your time trolling the Internet. Maybe I will Milhouse, maybe I will . . . I guess I'm still just mystified by people's relationship to television as a thing, the physical set as well as the culture. Does it fit the definition of religion? re·li·gion ( P ) Pronunciation Key (r-ljn) n. 1. a)Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe. _b) A personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship. 2. The life or condition of a person in a religious order. 3. A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader. 4. A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion. I'd say it fits #4, so strictly speaking, yes. bbzzzZZZZzzzzztttt!!
• We already cut our TV time back to the minimum allowable in our household. Monday: Desperate Housewives Tuesday: House, Boston Legal Wednesday: Lost Thursday: Nothing. We actually have conversations browse the internet. Or read comics. Friday: Cutting It The weekend: Nothing. Weekend TV is crap. I can make no further commitment.
• I have always deeply hearted that photo of flashboy. It's like he's a suave crimefighting stud. In brown pinstripes. You need a catchphrase.
• There's a TV show called House? Is it based on the movie with William Katt? I might start watching TV if so.
• Hey pete Stir the pot much?
• Oh, I thought that was a Dr. Who screencap.
• Yeah, it'd be hard not to watch House now that they're FINALLY showing new episodes!
• I don't watch TV.
• Fuck that noise; I do as I please. I hate pompous "events" like this. It's like, 'substitute my values for yours'. Right. Blow me. *puts on baby seal bashing hat, lights a cigar, pees on the flag*
• Blow you? I'm pretty good and so I charge a lot. Wash in this basin of pink water, please.
• Excellent! I'll bring stacks of ducats. Or, should you prefer, this fabulous damp flag :)
• I have had this debate many many times before and have nothing to add. but re: this The medium is not the message. the more I think about it, the more "the medium is the message" is one of the dumber and just plain wrong things I have ever heard, although man do a lot of people get a lot of pleasure out of repeating it. Actually, I think the medium is the medium. And the message is the message. For example, if I watch "Schindler's List" on NBC, is the message a) "the holocaust was horrible, but some people involved were able to preserve their humanity," or b) "television." 'Cause I get more "a."
• I think it's more c) "buy Tide, Ford, and Miller!"
• Put more wordy, it's c) 'people who think "the holocaust was horrible, but some people involved were able to preserve their humanity" use Tide, Ford, and Miller. If you want to be a person that thinks "the holocaust was horrible, but some people involved were able to preserve their humanity", you need to buy Tide, Ford, and Miller.'
• Schindler's shopping list: buy Tide, Ford, and Miller?
• Per malphigian's Steven Johnson reference, here's an article he wrote (I think it's an excerpt from his book) called Watching TV Makes You Smarter. He has an argument, but I don't know if I buy that watching good TV is as good for stimulating the mind as reading a good book.
• Television is an incredible watershed technology. That we use it for what we do is amazing at the very least. TV Turnoff week may be silly and/or hokey, but it's the only event that specifically mentions TV. With the pervasiveness of the technology/culture, it's interesting that a tiny little nonprofit .org site is the only thing calling out TV in terms of anything. I hate pompous "events" like this. It's like, 'substitute my values for yours'. Right. Blow me. Aww yeah, that's the stuff. Stir the pot much? Shh.
• Oh come on. There's plenty of debate about the worth of broadcast journalism and the effects of violence and sex on television. Besides which, television gets a whole week to get pissed on, versus one day for consumer-driven consumption (Buy Nothing Day) and pollution (Earth Day). Don't know about you, but I think the latter two might just be more worthy of a largely symbolic event meant to spur discussion but will ultimately affect little change. People who decry television for its apparent zombifying qualities strike me as in a similar category to people who go to the library to study because they can't stop IMing people on the computer, or people who leave their children in closets because they're too busy playing Everquest. Exercise some fucking self-control, do everything in moderation, and stop blaming television as though it forced you to stop being active and interact with your community. Television is a symptom of isolation, not a cause. And people who decry television for its apparent lack of cultural worth, I guess, have decided that a 50-year-old medium is worth writing off entirely. When Godard, Truffault et al started critically examining the fruits of Hollywood in the 60s, it seemed like an odd thing to do at the time, and now they are revered. Newspapers and handbills used to be little more than thinly-veiled propaganda driven purely by private interests, and now people are outraged whenever the New York Times or the Washington Post print inaccuracies because they are seen as serving the public interest—despite their continuing status as privately owned businesses. You say television is crap? I say you're both right and wrong; who's to say M*A*S*H or Law and Order won't one day be considered in the same light as Pamela or Battleship Potemkin?
• Put more wordy, it's c) 'people who think "the holocaust was horrible, but some people involved were able to preserve their humanity" use Tide, Ford, and Miller. If you want to be a person that thinks "the holocaust was horrible, but some people involved were able to preserve their humanity", you need to buy Tide, Ford, and Miller.' My TV doesn't judge me like that. The commercials are nothing more than an alternative to paying for the movie directly. In that regard, I'm glad they're there.
• As I see it, TV becomes a problem when you habitually sit and drink it in for 4-6 hours a day. At that level, it becomes an immersive experience which is not only fake (as opposed to going out and living your own life), but gives you a skewed view of the world. TV is bright, and flashy, and dramatic, and one is constantly being urged to buy new things. However, there are a lot of good shows on TV. Imagine a life with no Battlestar Galactica (2005), no Dr. Who (2005), no Lost or Sopranos or Family Guy or Futurama or Six Feet Under! These are good shows, and they deserve to be watched. Many people (including myself) have solved this dilemma by turning off the TV proper, then hunting down and watching selected shows (via DVD, torrents, or Tivo). I went this route about four years ago, and I couldn't be happier. So I can't say "I don't watch TV," and I can't say "I watch TV." But I'm glad to see that there are plenty of other people who have gone the route of "watching TV shows but not watching TV." If they made a week for that, I'd cheer.
• My TV doesn't judge me like that. The commercials are nothing more than an alternative to paying for the movie directly. In that regard, I'm glad they're there. Nothing more? You have comercials on your TV, and not one of those comerials has ever tried to get you to buy any product ever!?! WOW YOU ARE SO LUCKY. Can I come over to your house to watch TV?
• Sarcasm hurts.
• You can have my remote when you pry it from my cold, bourbon-sodden dead hands.
• So. There's no reason to turn off the set if you don't want to. And no reason not to turn it off if that's what you want. Is that a fair recap?
• YOU ARE ALL BRAINWASHED IMBECILES SUCKING AT THE TEAT OF CORPORATE AMERICA. Oops, sorry - wrong thread.
• hehe, thanks path. That probably is a fair recap of the thread, and that's usually what happens (see 2005, 2004). However, the point I try to make is simply to acknowledge the awesome transformation that this particular piece of technology has put the entire world through. Good, bad, or neither, anyone remotely associated with a city or town of today has been affected by it in some way shape or form. At that level, it becomes an immersive experience Agreed, but also a newborn baby who has just come into the world is affected by it. The doctors, nurses, parents, etc. are all swimming in a culture utterly dominated by television whether they watch it or not. What if the doctors, nurses and parents individually don't watch TV at all? Is the baby still born into a "television culture"? Sure. Is an 'American Idol' onesie in the future for the kid? All I'm saying is that it's the most powerful cultural force (backed by a relatively simple technology - as opposed to say, the reign of the Ceasars as a cultural force) - in history. That's the discussion point I'd like to make. Whether you're a drooling idiot or paragon of self-sufficiency for regularly watching CSI is only relevant in that it's an active part of that cultural force. Still, it is fascinating that we can have intense multi-layered discussion about the death penalty, or Christianity, or the war in Iraq even, with earnest attempts at valid points being made on each side . . . yet talk about "turn off the TV because it's a huge influence" and inevitably some people wig instantly. Try turning off the TV at a party - you'll be lynched. I would further contend that those discussions about the death penalty, Christianity, etc. are very much affected and in many senses controlled by what's going on in that "television culture". It's much more fragmented now with cable, Tivo, teh Intarwebs and all that but it's still a factor. Studying early (1950's - 1960's) TV culture is a little "cleaner" in that regard, but the counterpoint is that in 1950, people didn't watch 7 hours a day. (Or have the tv on - in fact why have the tv on if you're not watching, that's a new idea.) My TV doesn't judge me like that Well, TV doesn't do anything, does it?
• NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! They always do this. I hardly watch any TV but am always glued to the last week of the snooker world championships, which always falls during the last week of April...
• *puts on baby seal bashing hat, lights a cigar, pees on the flag* Moneyjane, I love you. I may accidentally call you Cookie Mueller from time to time, but I really do love you.
• If the Werzog deems it necessary, your TV will be turned off by his sheer force of will.
• Can I come over to your house to watch TV? Sure, if you don't mind watching hockey. And bring some cool, refreshing Molson Canadian.

• Try turning off the TV at a party - you'll be lynched.

  try turning on the tvs at a party - may have surprising results
• D'jever notice when the TV's on with a group of people around (perhaps at a party), the conversation tends to go in cycles of being active during the TV show, and to die out during the commercials? That's what $30,000 / min. versus $500,000 per minute content will get you.
• Having grown up during the era when radio was king, I guess I don't find tv as iconic as some do. People listened to the "air waves" to about the same extent as people watch the "tube" now, there was about the same mix of programming qualilty, and commercials came along about every 15 minutes. (Though, I do think that there was less programming directed at children.) I seem to remember that focusing on listening was at least as riveting as on the visuals is with tv. Both media share the ability to bring the world into your home, for good or bad. The change from dressing up to go out to a play, dance, card game, sports event, and so on, made entertainment a casual thing rather than a special event. Also, the event didn't have to be local - you can see that as a broadening of horizons, or the introduction of bland sameness into society, depending on your proclivities. Certainly, both make current events much more current. Let me ask you a couple of questions. Would it be harder for you to turn your cell phone or your tv off for a week? And, do those of you who don't watch tv use cell phones?
• less programming directed at children I saw some children's programming recently and it was unbelievable how crass and manipulative it was. (program and ads) The FCC is truly willingly evil on that front. Still though path, with radio you had to come up with the pictures yourself. That's at least something. Also, with TV there are only 20 minutes of content for every 30 minute show, plus the huge disparity of dollars-per-content between the show and the advertising. I'd switch off the cell - but might keep it around for emergencies.
• I'm a strange case. I actually get paid to write about TV (occasionally) but I have been matter-of-factly phasing out the tube over the last month. I pay for a couple hundred cable channels (in a rasonably priced package with cable internet that I can deduct 50% from my taxes) and have a PC-based DVR with a desktop 19-inch LCD screen I can view from anywhere in my teeny studio apartment. It's what I considered the optimal TV setup, but I've just stopped using it... I noticed about a month ago that I was deleting more than I was watching - and I still had Christmas DVDs I hadn't watched (including the unaired episodes of "Firefly"). Now, I have 3 weeks backlog of "Scrubs" and "Doctor Who" (the only two currently running of my all-time faves); I've cancelled all Season Passes of shows I consider 'guilty pleasures' because they just take up disk space; I have over a week's worth of "Olbermann's Countown" waiting (It's a NEWS show, dammit!) and I haven't even bothered to 'turn on' the TV since Sunday. And I'm going to have two or three pieces to write for the "May Sweeps" (although most of my likely subjects are shows I've already seen a lot of and I can do much of my TV research on the Web). But I seem to have totally phased out the Tube. What's with that? Should I change my antidepressive meds or just hang tight until AFTER Turnoff Week? BTW, path, I've never been much of a cell phone user; I don't LIKE the idea of being 'always reachable' no matter where I go. I have a $29 pre-paid TracFone with 9 months and 1000 minutes on it and I'm using about 10 minutes a WEEK. (And I use it more than the minimum-service wired phone in my teeny apartment) For the same reason, I don't do IM. Period. Yet, I'm online 10-12 hours a day and have been enjoying web-based video ever since I got the cable internet service (but I'm not that engaged with anything longer than 5 minutes). Strange. That's all - just strange.
• Turn Off The Internets Week *twitches*
• Shit, Ram, we're senioirs. We're too old for that kinda shit, man. Let's give 'em a good scare, though.
• rocket88 wrote: "Sorry. No can do. Hockey playoffs. Should have been last week." Damn straight. Go Wings! As for the rest of yas... well, here's my take: Turn Off Your TV Week is a nice idea but misses the point. To far too many people, Turn On The TV equates to Turn Off Your Brain. This, my friends and erstwhile acquaintances, is the problem. We have an amazing amount of TV but very little that is really of any value. What we need - rather than a demand to limit viewing - is to demand that our publicly-owned airwaves carry programming that is of value. Children's programming need not solely consist of Sesame Street and then 23 hours of poorly animated commercial dreck. There needs to be some sort of quality control (cue Jurassic 5 here) in our broadcasts. Quality control of course does NOT and SHOULD not imply censorship: There are plenty of shows like The Sopranos (which I still have yet to see, by way of full disclosure here, but I digress) that contain violence, profanity, et cetera and are still considered quality television because they make people think. We as a culture (and here I use the Royal We [which is different from the Royal Wee, but that's another topic], to imply Western Civilization as a whole, and also tangentially include any Eastern Civilization that is silly enough to follow our weird round-eyed devil cultural decisions) are apparently afraid to think [if you're still following my logic here I applaud you, Sir or Madam or Person of Indeterminate or Alternate Gender]. That's right, I said we are afraid to think. We would much rather have our softly glowing glass teat think for us. Why should we try to think for ourselves, when dreck such as American Idol tells us what our pop stars should look and sound like, or when dreck such as the 24 hour news channels tells us what is and what is not newsworthy? So, the TV isn't the problem. We, the consumers, we are the problem, because we keep swallowing the pablum and allow our Powers that Be to keep the good shows for late-night cable. The Daily Show should not be an aberration, folks, it should be one of many insightful and informative shows of similar entertainment value. We are smart enough to come up with better shows than the current bullshit crop of Reality TV, we just apparently aren't smart enough to keep them on the air when they do accidentally get by a network executive long enough to generate a pilot. And with that I leave you for now to discuss amongst yourselves my words of wisdom, or, alternatively, to dismiss me out of hand as a nutcase. If you prefer a third option may I suggest ignoring my screed entirely? Either that, or... Oh, fuck it, just go watch TV or something. Good TV, mind you! And don't sit so close, it will ruin your eyes.
• But, my learned frogs, isn't that a reasonable goal for TV turnoff week? To improve television for the 51 weeks we do swim in it?
• Probably, Mssr. petebest. It is an admirable goal indeed. However, in terms of advertising lost, turning off the telly point blank across the board does not let the Network Executives know that we disapprove of the pablum, because it punishes shows both good and bad. Turning off the TV during shows you detest - handing them a nice fat Nielsen ratings hit in the process - would do far more good. TVTO Week, if successful as-is, would just prompt The Man to replace the coming week's new shows with re-runs, as if they didn't already do that at the drop of a hat to begin with. On the other hand, a selective "Turn Off TV During Shitty Programming Year-Round" initiative would probably have a much larger positive impact on the quality of our broadcasts. (Needs a better acronym though.) The downside is that 24-7 quality TV would mean we all get fat and die. Fuck - we can't win. I say nuke 'em from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.
• Is TYTO Week really intended to send that message to tv executives? It always seemed an attempt to "liberate" people from what is seen as an addiction.
• Sure, if you don't mind watching hockey. And bring some cool, refreshing Molson Canadian. I'm down for the hockey, but I can't bring a competitor's beer. On the other hand, a selective "Turn Off TV During Shitty Programming Year-Round" initiative would probably have a much larger positive impact on the quality of our broadcasts. I've been on that initiative for years. It's had a positive effect, since there are a lot more quality programs on TV than when I started. You're welcome for that, btw.
• I don't watch shitty TV. I watch vanishingly few commercials. I don't use the TV as audiovisual wallpaper. It's a medium for thought quite as valid as any other.
• Mr.K - How positive will the effect be? I think that ratings are derived from tv diaries passed out to randomly selected individuals, then the results are extended to the population at large. If you haven't been given a Nielson diary to complete, I'm not sure that your choice will be seen, except as some sort of average of the diarists. "They" don't know what we're watching as individuals. I suppose we could have some effect if huge write-in campaigns were initiated, but are you interested enough in tv to go to the effort? And, Wolof, of course you're right about it being valid as a medium for thought. My guess is that most of us here are not passive viewers of just whatever program turns up, so the theme of earlier "turn off your tv" threads got some bounce back between those whe were ok with what they did watch, and those who assumed that we watched whatever came along. I once had a tv which would allow me to put stations in the order I wanted them in my queue rather than taking the order set by the cable provider. That was heaven! I really resent having to go through several hundred channels of infomercials, Spanish language channels (this is California,) multiple sports channels showing the same thing, or "off the air," and all the other dretritus before finding something I'd really like to watch. And, maybe that's the real issue? At least if you're on cable.
• "They" don't know what we're watching as individuals fwiw i believe tivo and/or other digital video recording services keep track of that data, don't they?
• Try turning off the TV at a party - you'll be lynched. That's some damned boring parties! Maybe if you furnished some munchies, or booze, or hookers or something they wouldn't be so bored...
• Agreed.
• who has the tv on at a party??
• Celebrities. It's their version of showing home movies or vacation slides.
• You know what I hate? When people come up to me on the street and expect me to be just like the character I play. They're all, "So, is it an epidural hematoma?" And I'm all, "I'm not really a police detective, you know."
• Seeing how I work at a televsion station, I would personally love if Turn Off Your TV Week was enforced. Give all of us schmoes that provide quality programming to everyone else a little time off. Course, if people didn't have television for a week, it might be hard to draw them back in once it was turned back on. And we couldn't have that...
• don't worry, SpishCo: EVERYBODY Loves Raymond
• Well, if I have to... but can I do it with your peener and Hawthorne pushing?
• Damn, I usually make a concerted effort to watch as much TV as possible during Turnoff Week(Mainly to spite the Anti-Cathodist League), but completely forgot to this time.
• Who are you in concert with?
• For Toddlers, a World Laden with Advertising "A lot of times I find that I buy it," she says, "and it's stuff that they don't even like." MMm children's advertising. Is there a more noble calling?
• Pete, tv's been loaded with toddler advertising since there was tv, pretty much. Cereals and toys, to start. One of my favorite black and white moments was the Soupy Sales debacle. Soupy hosted a kids show which both kids and adults loved, and, maybe it wasn't really a comment on advertising at the time, but it sure could have been.
• Study backs parents who say "No TV on a school-night" Brainy science-types say to turn off the tv.
• Time Magazine: "Bizarre" Study Links TV, Autism This article . . it . . wow. DO NOT BLASPHEME OUR GOD THE TV!
• A study published Thursday found that about 18 percent of U.S. men age 20 and up suffer from erectile dysfunction -- and the condition is strongly linked to a sedentary lifestyle of little physical exercise, poor diet and lots of television. Oh, that's below the belt.
• Obviously these people do not subscribe to the same late-night satellite stations that I do.
• Reading books is pretty sedentary, too. As is sitting in front of a computer talking to dogs and ex-Beatles drummers.
• Books don't hypnotize children, interrupt the narrative at regular intervals to pitch products, or set the schedule of the viewer, though. You Tivo people sit back down. We'll get to you later.
• True, but we were discussing erections (or lack of them). Sedentary is bad, and TV was singled out although it's only one contributor to sedentarianism. I've often thought of making TVs powered by generators on stationary bikes, treadmills, or rowing machines. That way, if you're an out of shape slob you miss the end of all your shows.
• I personally have never had an erection while on a stationary bike. But the rowing machine idea is interesting.
• I think it has more to do with the lack of engagement though. Books are mentally stimulating in a way that television can be but rarely is. Besides, before RTD got old and rich enough to get those extended satellite channels he was an avid reader. And not just for the articles, if y'know what I'm sayin' wink wink nudge.

• Books don't hypnotize children, interrupt the narrative at regular intervals to pitch products, or set the schedule of the viewer, though.

  Harry offered the pack of Marlboro to Ron. "Smoke?", he asked. "Cheers Harry! I've been gasping for a fag all day!" Ron passed the can of Red Bull to his left hand and plucked a smoothly satisfying Marlboro King Size with his right. Excerpt from the next Harry Potter book, which won't be available until the summer because J.K. Rowling wants you to read boring school books during term time.