Men watching less TV

[EUOL]

Something about this article in the NY Times (you have to register to read it) gave me a good, devious chuckle.  It is a report about how men are watching less and less TV--especially men in the 'prime' demographic of 18-24.

For those of you who don't want to register, here's a clip:

"The television industry was shaken last October when the ratings from Nielsen Media Research showed that a huge part of a highly prized slice of the American population was watching less television. As the fall TV season began, viewership among men from 18 to 34 fell 12 percent compared with the year before, Nielsen reported. And for the youngest group of adult men, those 18 to 24, the decline was a steeper 20 percent."

They cite a lot of reasons, internet and games being the biggest.  I, personally, am happy about this.  TV is an outdated medium.  It expects us to conform to its demands of timing and had limited programming.  Plus, it's just not stimulating or interesting enough, not when compared to more interactive content.

Viva la revolution!

[Spriggan]

there's a free article on gamespot about this

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/03/05/news_6090756.html

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

alll of this makes me feel less freakish that I can't watch Television because I'm can't get any reception and am unwilling to pay for cable.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

It doesnt hurt that Broadcast TV sucks

[fuzzyoctopus]

And that television shows get more and more inane every season.

If we had to pay for our cable, we wouldn't have it. (it's part of the apt contract, we're not stealing it.) The only shows I would be willing to pay money to watch are Dead Like Me and Carnivale, which are made by Showtime and HBO respectively.  And I'm never going to pay the money for those on top of basic cable.

Do you think they'll set up a system someday in the future like Itunes, where you can pay for individual TV shows?

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

They had it in the DC area in the late 80's, but the tech failed miserably and I think a lot of Cable Co.'s got burned.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

That would be ideal. Seems like you could do it with cable or sattelite service pretty easy.

[fuzzyoctopus]

Also seems like with technology being more prevalent now, it might work better - people might use it more.  Dunno.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

yeah, but you know how buisnessmen get.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

we'll see. As it is there are only two shows I watch and/or feel like I"m missing. And I'll just get the DVDs as I go.

[Tage]

Woah, someone else watches Dead Like Me? I thought no one knew about that show. Isn't it great though?

Anyway, I've come to the point where I hardly watch any TV at all. I like me some Daily Show, and occasionally I'll catch the 8pm Conan rerun on comedy central. That's about it though.

[fuzzyoctopus]

It is great, because it's so different and original.  I love George.

[Tage]

Did Dan and I ever tell you about how we practically wrote a TV pilot for Dead Like Me a couple years before it came out? Man, now I really wish we'd have finished it. Just goes to show, we should be in showbiz.

[42]

Well, the vast majority of TV programming is geared towards women. In fact, I'm appalled at the programming that is made of men. Spike TV's programming in insanely idiotic. In fact, last I heard, the stations that had the largest male viewership were ESPN, Cartoon Network and Comedy Central.

I think I watch a lot of TV, but it's mostly just background noise as do other things. Course, I find myself watching a lot of the same stuff over and over again because I'm just not interested in soap operas, personal stories, make-overs and reality TV that has come to dominate most TV programming.

What I really want is something where I can choose my own programming. Yet, TiVo is out of my budget.

[GorgonlaVacaTremendo]

Yeah.  I found that compared to my friends with cable I watch an insanely small amount of televison.  I used to watch a lot, but now I only watch it on sunday nights.  I a seeming to loose my feel for playing a lot of video games too (mostly because they are out of my budget).  In light of this I can only assume that there has to be another trivial mean of entertainment for when my generation is running the world.  Perhaps TV on the internet, where you can choose your shows?