Netflix, et al are ruining the way we watch TV

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  • tyrsnbdr
    tyrsnbdr Posts: 234 Member
    Yahoo runs ads (I mean articles) on cable companies trying to get back customers. I have yet to see these changes.

    http://homes.yahoo.com/news/Winning-back-cord-cutters-225436831.html
  • wolverine66
    wolverine66 Posts: 3,780 Member
    no. it isn't ruining it.

    Yes it is.

    Nope.

    Those "Event" episodes were rare anyway. You pull 2 80's references none from the 90's and 1 from this decade.

    But people still watch TV "together." Just look at this board. You have a thread for The Walking Dead, we have had threads for Breaking Bad,, Sons of Anarchy and justified (etc, etc). There is something special about keeping up with these series as they happen and have the ability to discuss each episode.

    Yes, anyone can go zip through the season when it's released in 6 months so people are catching up that way but it's usually to do just that - catch up - so they can talk about it with their friends week to week.
  • Serenitytoo
    Serenitytoo Posts: 449 Member
    We have weekly potlucks for walking dead with several friends. So there are some things we watch as they happen, but it is a rareity now. I love my PVR. I can sit down and watch my shows when it is convenient for me... not when the network says I have to watch it. Netflix allows me to sometimes catch up on shows I missed the first time round. Although I am in Canada so our netflix doesn't have near the same number of choices as those of you in the US.
  • thephilm1
    thephilm1 Posts: 4 Member
    Ruining? Quite the opposite.
    I can cook dinner, and enjoy that with my family, and on our own time we can watch whatever we want.
    We don't have to watch commercials. We can watch whatever show we want on our schedule, and no longer be stuck at home waiting for a show to come on.
    We can have marathons if we want... having group gatherings to watch a season (or a finale) at any time.
    No spoilers for other shows.
    No need to actually having to be home if I wanted to watch a show.

    Anyways, doesn't this free up our time to spend time with people without the computer, phone, or TV being on? So that we don't have to worry about "missing" our show? Go outside while it's still light out and be together, not huddled around a TV?

    I for one, and excited to think of the good ol' days in ten years looking back, and realizing it wasn't about a tv show, but was about what we did together as friends and family.
  • workout_ninja
    workout_ninja Posts: 524 Member
    Everyone I know gathered round the TV to watch the Christmas Special of Doctor Who
  • suncluster
    suncluster Posts: 539 Member
    I grew up in a house that was a slave to TV. It was always on. Yes, we gathered around it to watch different shows, including Star Trek during dinner. This time is not what family memories should be about. I rather focus on the time we spent together talking with the tv off.

    I still watch tv and I love my netflix subscription. . I even invite friends over to watch certain shows. But ultimately I invite friends over for the social interaction not the tv itself. The tv is just the catalyst
  • nickowastaken
    nickowastaken Posts: 751 Member
    TV sucks.

    The end.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,951 Member
    and Comcast is ruining the way we internet.

    So it is, so it shall be. The toobz cannot be controlled!
  • krist3ng
    krist3ng Posts: 259 Member
    Netflix is helping TV shows, in a way. I read somewhere that Breaking Bad's viewership skyrocketed when Netflix added the show, because people were binge-watching and then caught up for new seasons, which they watched live. Netflix gives an entry point for new viewers. As for its original programming, well, that's a different animal.

    There's still watercooler-talk about niche, acclaimed shows like Mad Men and Community (and Walking Dead, etc). And thanks to Netflix, I was able to catch up on some shows, like Arrow and Supernatural (and BB, back in the day) and become a regular, commercial-fast-forwarding cable watcher.
  • ARDuBaie
    ARDuBaie Posts: 379 Member
    I like Netflix because you don't have to put up with commercials. Plan and simple. Way too many commercials are shown during television shows.
  • ClaudiaTheNice
    ClaudiaTheNice Posts: 74
    Changing, and slowly at that (even netflix own shows are based on old TV formats).
  • wewon
    wewon Posts: 838 Member
    If your life's big moments are memories shared around a TV anticipating a show then its time to start reevaluating your priorities.
  • Cameron_1969
    Cameron_1969 Posts: 2,857 Member
    It's horrible!. .Before you know it we'll be back to discussing BOOKS!. . (oh the humanity). .
  • Rerun201
    Rerun201 Posts: 125 Member
    TV is ruining how we used to watch TV. As can be evidenced here, people are very tired of having to wade through 22 minutes of advertising per hour on network television. Cable televisions has adopted the same ratio.

    I can tolerate the shows intros prior to each episode on Netflix. Oddly enough, If I watch Archer on Netflix through my Kindle Fire, it automatically starts the next episode unless I stop it, taking me through 3 episodes non-stop. Of course, with Archer, the intro is after the first couple minutes of comedy.

    Network TV, in its current iteration, does suck. Netflix, Amazon Instant Video and other services give us options so it doesn't have to suck as much. I'm looking forward (or backward, depending on how you look at it) to the day when "un"-reality TV shows are no longer a prime source of entertainment.

    The Kardashians, Paris and Nicole, Dog and Beth, and a host of others can take a flying leap through a rolling doughnut for all I care. Cops was all right for the first few seasons, but even that gets old. I'd rather watch Match Game reruns over those folks.
  • HeelsAndBoxingGloves
    HeelsAndBoxingGloves Posts: 916 Member
    My fiance and I and our roommates watch shows together. We all sit down every week for Walking Dead and we have our shows on Netflix that we all enjoy and watch together too. And who wants to watch commercials!
  • DirrtyH
    DirrtyH Posts: 664 Member
    If it wasn't for sports, I would watch all my shows on Netflix.

    Netflx showed the Super Bowl a week before Fox aired it.

    Huh? That's a pretty serious conspiracy theory.
  • sillygoosie
    sillygoosie Posts: 1,109 Member
    It's horrible!. .Before you know it we'll be back to discussing BOOKS!. . (oh the humanity). .

    I discuss books all the time. SHAMEFUL
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
    It's horrible!. .Before you know it we'll be back to discussing BOOKS!. . (oh the humanity). .

    Only if we all wait until it's out in paperback, and then read it all as one nation (apparently).
  • sheenarama
    sheenarama Posts: 733 Member
    This may make me sound old but the VCR started it.

    But you still had to wait to for the show to air. You weren't ahead of everyone. You were probably behind.

    Now, someone could be finished with the entire 2nd season of House of Cards while others may just be starting. They can't talk about it because it may spoil it for someone.

    I love having marathons of Netflix. I watched the second season of House of Cards this weekend. I don't spoil anything for anyone nor does it bother me to wait to discuss it.

    But it does bother me that Sherlock gets played in England before I get to watch it!!!!!

    tumblr_n0tany1Dal1rzik3go1_500.gif
  • SexKittenlovesitrough
    SexKittenlovesitrough Posts: 486
    i personally think it's making things better...

    I don't watch a lot of TV. It's very very very low on my priority list.

    And most of the shows I do/would watch are on when i'm at the gym, or various after work activities.

    Netflix etc, allows me to watch those shows regardless of whether I missed them when they were on primetime...

    We don't need TV to bond as a family. We have the gym to do that.

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