April 26, 2007

• You can have my The Apprentice when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.
• If I don't get my daily dose of Diagnosis Murder then someone dies for real!
• I don't watch anything regularly, but if I couldn't mong out in front of a documentary about either the war or tigers, or even Nazi tigers, now and again, I would be disappointed. Fascinating I'm sure...
• Dang! Nobody reminded me to turn it back on after last time.
• Same as every other year Hockey playoffs. 'nuff said.
• Yeah, I would say they should move the turnoff week to a week where there's not that much on TV, but . . y'know.
• This thread is such a turnoff. Sorry, couldn't resist.
• I have a VCR, so this is OK. Kit you obviously have Discovery...
• Pete, how dare you take the batteries out of my remote. Now what the hell am I supposed to do?
• I'm sorry, but Heroes just came back on. I have to know what happens.
• I don't even know why I have a TV. oh wait, I know...I'm married. what will we have in common without one? who will do the talking if not for the TV? TURNOFF week? what kind of marriage killing idea is this?
• There are some talento dipping asparagus and hot dogs into a chocolate fondue on telly right now. Not sure if I can do without that kind of stimulating research and discovery for a week.
• Prior protestations: not a chance of my missing the last episodes of Angel. I only watch one show a week, but I will watch that show. (2004) Fine, but I'm turning it back on for Sci-Fi Friday. They'll pry my Stargate collection out of my cold, dead hands. (2005) Mythbusters, though. That show kicks ass. (2005) Also, Dr. Who is on tonight. (2005) Meh, I dunno. Lost is on tonight. (2005) Sorry, Boston Legal is on that week. (2006) um is a new episode of "lost" on that week? (2006) Yeah, it'd be hard not to watch House now that they're FINALLY showing new episodes! (2006) 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... (2006)
• It does seem like, for us Yanks anyway, that the turnoff week falls at a very inauspicious time, when shows are gearing up for May sweeps and showing new episodes after long hiatuseseses.
• I'm with mct... I *have* to know what happens on Heroes. But I'll admit that TV is my drug of choice. I don't really drink, don't smoke, and don't ingest anything else. Just sweet, sweet tv.
• The New Scientist covered this topic last week. Interesting facts in the editorial: "Meta-analysis shows that the statistical correlation between exposure to media violence and aggression is not quite as strong as that linking smoking to an increased risk of lung cancer. It is, however, double the strength of the correlation between passive smoking and lung cancer, twice as strong as the link between condom use and reduction in risk of catching HIV, about three times the strength of the idea that calcium increases bone strength, and more than three times as strong as the correlation between time spent doing homework and academic achievement." There is also a more detailed article
• Sorry, the detailed article is behind a paywall . . . I subscribe, so I didn't realise it.
• I can't turn off my tv or computer. if i did, i wouldnt be able to whine about how evil mass media is. i dont tihnk i could possibly make it a week without that.
• TV culture allows things like the Iraq war to happen. While the technology should theoretically should prevent illegal, unethical wars due to greater access to information, it in fact creates the climate for allowing it by spinning false information and marginalizing opposition points-of-view.
• The technology doesn't do any of those things. The people controlling the media content do, and always have, even before TV existed.
• The technology allows for it, rather. The faster, broader, more immediate dissemination of information from all points of view. But point taken.
• Turning on the TV seems to be an exercise in futility these days. Oh look, another episode of CSI or Law and Order. Or how about some stupid formulaic reality show? We rarely bother with the idiot box anymore. While soap-opera shows like Lost, Heroes, etc. seem like good shows, I don't have the patience for them. Ya miss an episode or two, and you have no idea what is going on. Too much investment in time, and I can't be bothered scheduling my life around TV. I have a hard enough time making sure I don't miss Battlestar Galactica when that is on. Of course, if we weren't too cheap to pay for more than basic cable, our options might be better . . .
• So if we pay for TV, what's with the advertisements?
• We'd pay a heck of a lot more without 'em.
• I'd just like to take the opportunity to announce that I don't have a TV. Clearly, this is a reflection of my superior character, and I think we can all agree that up 'til now I've not been NEARLY so condescending as I might have been with regard to you pitiable bunch of couch potatoes. I'd say more, but it would interfere with my plans to spend the next six hours scouring the Internet for tiny videos of people falling off skateboards, and amusingly captioned pictures of cats.
• I recommend trying to find Secretary on one of the cable channels for TV Turn-on Week. If not, default to Cinemax, of course.
• So if we pay for TV, what's with the advertisements? Exactly why I refuse to pay for more than basic cable. That, and the deep loathing I have for Rogers Cable. But Mrs. Fimbulvetr won't let us go cable free, and the landlady won't let us have a dish, so that is that.
• So if we pay for TV, what's with the advertisements? My old gripe. While a few, mainly the film ones still are ad-free, every other one is filled with ad crap. Still, even while I try every year as subscription renewal comes up, can't summon the will to kill the dish. Even while I watch just a few of all those channels, 2 hours a day, tops. But, I can't... Discovery, NHK, BBC, Film&Arts... *sigh*
• I'll do this one better: I'm turning off my cable and my high-speed. Disconnecting. Off. Done. ('Cause I'm moving. Soon as I unpack the crap we're turning on our service again.)
• Have fun moving! I am also a Heroes addict. And Lost. But since I download the episodes, I'll willingly turn off the TV. :P
• I will not conform to your silly non-conformist events. Besides, it's raining.
• TV!? What the hell is TV??
• "So if we pay for TV, what's with the advertisements?" What you're paying for is access to more stations than you could get with that antenna that used to be on everyone's roof, or with the rabbit ears that used to be built into every tv. Seems to me we got about 4 channels that weren't snowy because they were too far away in my rural spot, back in the day. You could get maybe 10 in cities. (Now I feel old. Oh, yeah, I am, I keep forgetting) On the other hand, it's too bad I can't tell them which channels to send me with the basic offer. I once had a tv that allowed me to program the order of cable channels, so I didn't have to click through those that I don't care about - mostly QVC-types, infomercials, music I don't listen to, etc. And, yeah, I know there's a "favorites" button that will help, but I'd have to be more interested in tv in general to even think about figuring out how to use it. Well, I did say I was old.
• Maybe off thread, but can anyone explain why the hell they call the most nefarious crap on TV for "reality shows"? I mean, where is the reality? Everything is planned, choreographed, engineered and scripted to such an extent that the outcome is sickeningly predictable. Everything in these so-called reality shows is about backstabbing,lying, cheating, buzz-saw elbows and me-me-me! Is that the reality we live in? Is that why they call them "reality shows"? I am so sick and tired of them, that I do not even see the first episode of a new series when it comes up - I dont need to! I know exactly what will transpire during the coming weeks! A bloody waste of time!
• Everything in these so-called reality shows is about backstabbing,lying, cheating, buzz-saw elbows and me-me-me! As opposed to real reality, which is comprised primarily of hearts, flowers, kisses from koala bears, firm yet enticing ass pats, and selfless devotion to the welfare of others :)
• Now that I've gotten in the season finale of 30 Rock, i could actually consider TV Turnoff Week. Consider.
• MonkeyFilter: is about backstabbing,lying, cheating, buzz-saw elbows and me-me-me! MonkeyFilter: comprised primarily of hearts, flowers, kisses from koala bears, firm yet enticing ass pats, and selfless devotion to the welfare of others Pick your reality, people!! yes, those shows suck Mmmmm, went out in the sun and the wind this evening, will do the 'puter thing, shower, and head to bed. Not missing any TV at all in the summer.
• They're called 'reality shows' because, sometimes, the tears, the humilliation, the pain, the suffering of those inbvolved is real. And seemingly that's what the audiences want. Around here, many of those shows have as an important factor amongst the participants some pressing need for some ill relative or some pathetic situation; viewers are encouraged to call (to 1-900 lines, of course) to 'help' someone not to win a dishwasher or a vacation, but an operation or money for a wedding. And then see the others contestants' dreams get crushed. Yes, when people get tired of actor's tears, they need to real thing. Actually, a week without *any* TV consumption is quite feasible in my case; no net connection, well, I've been in net/messageboards fasts lately due to, eh, external reasons but had to bend to email, otherwise, clients (both at day job and freelance ones) tend to worry and call and get antsy and stuff. Silly people.
• I often go for days without TV and two or three-day stretches without internet. I get into a big job around the house or a good book, or we go visit family or just spend time together doing family stuff. As it is, the kids get to watch little to no TV (maybe 2 hours a week, Saturday morning cartoons mostly), and after the kids go to bed we sit down and blob out maybe for five hours a week by the time we watch what we like to watch. Most stuff is pre-recorded so we skip all the ads. We have a PS2 that we rarely play and neither of us are big on computer games. I'm having a minor crisis of conscience at the moment because four-year-old kid #1 is getting interested in using the computer and I know he's a) capable and b) expected to learn to use IT equipment as part of the preschool and primary school curricula. However, I don't know if I really want another computer geek in the house. He can already work a cellphone and a digital camera. A couple of weeks ago he wanted to send his grandparents an email and wanted to know how to spell "dot co dot nz" to put in the address field. I don't even know how he knew he needed that. His daycare uses Skype on laptops to contact kids' relatives in other countries as a sort of penpal system which is really cool. Do the benefits outweigh the detriments of having kids sitting around at laptops?
• > TV culture allows things like the Iraq war to happen. TV culture also allows things like LiveAid to happen. The financial response to the famines in Ethiopia in the 1980s would have been much lower in the absence of television footage that showed the extent of the suffering. Paraphrasing a point that's already been made: It's not the medium that we should take issue with, it's the content. This leads, perhaps inevitably, to paternalism or statism or elitism because improving the content (a value-ridden idea) would necessitate that someone takes decisions on what can be broadcast. There's already some control (you can't say crap on the radio, for an old example), but many content producers fight these restrictions. Freedom of expression, artistic or otherwise, has increased over recent decades as a result. Given the choice between free expression plus lots of inane content versus a strictly controlled but higher quality broadcast "product", I think I'd have to choose the former.
• I had a telemarketer call me yesterday, calling for some 'DOVE' organization pushing for stronger V-chips or something, as "parents can't always monitor what their kids are watching". She had the nerve to call during a new episode of The Office. Piss off, lady. You watch your own damn kids, and let me watch whatever the hell I want. Like this new episode, going on right now.
• expected to learn to use IT equipment as part of the preschool and primary school curricula. Wow that's jarring for some reason.
• My TV has been off for the past 5 years. This'll be easy. :-P
• *sneaks in, turns on VoL's TV, sneaks away laughing*
• Cool, Vertex! You can not watch TV for the both of us!
• Cheater!
• Is Monkeybashi supposed to be going around turning on the membership?
• Not deliberately, but I have been known to have that effect on people.
• As it is, the kids get to watch little to no TV I have to say that's really impressive, especially with two very busy parents. A lot of people have tvs doing regular babysitter duty these days.
• Well, one of the things that makes us busy people is the time we put into being a family. Sometimes it's nice to snuggle in bed on a Saturday morning and veg out with kids' TV but most days we come up with something to do together. Doesn't leave much time for telly.
• Where have all the viewers gone? In TV's worst spring in recent memory, a startling number of Americans drifted away from television the past two months: More than 2.5 million fewer people were watching ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox than at the same time last year, statistics show. Well I'm not surprised if it was the worst.