How many of you watch T.V still?

reply to post by WhiteDevil013

Sorry to waste your time with my story, but this is just whats worked for me.

You are not wasting my time, i actually liked your story and was glad to hear it

While most of it is a spiritual, intellectual desert, there is still some worthwhile programming.

PBS's NOVA is still a good program but i do watch it a bit more skeptically now.
PBS's News Hours is nothing more than an extended version of network corporate propaganda, garbage. Their list of sponsors is a list of some of the worst corporations, including Monsanto. Of course NOVA has Exxon as one.

In point of fact US corporate 'news' got Iraq WMDs wrong, Marjah Afghanistan isn't even a village let alone a city of 80,000, & the ACORN video was a completely fabricated lie. They are factually wrong & their priorities are completely screwed up & unadult.

Foreign newscasts are good to have. They are often a little local 'myopic' [nothing compared to US corporate garbage though] & somewhat biased by their point of origin if you watch a couple of them the stereo effect leaves you with a semi-accurate perspective.

There is some network sci-fi now i like quite well. Fringe, Fast Forward & 'V' is pretty good too. They manage to entice my imagination.

PBS Frontline can be good, but sometimes it gets lost in 'virtuous' political correctness.

Most of the time our notion of 'virtuous' political correctness has no solid foundation in clinical nor aggregate data.
And so much of that sloppy, agenda pre-disposed semi-science goes on to promote it.

Political correctness as well as the old fashioned bigotry panders to what we want to believe rather than scrupulously adhering to what is factually evident & pointing out what is a bunch of pseudo-science & pseudo-morality/'decency'.

[edit on 30-4-2010 by slank]

reply to post by baddmove



i still watch tv but i have an excuse. i fractured my leg not to long ago and dont have much else to do except that and video games.

yes i do feel dumbed down a little but no choice as i have read almost all the books in my house.

but this thread makes me want to reconsider that.

thanks

reply to post by venetianguy


Ah yes, books, i love them too. sorry about your leg, hope you recover real soon.

reply to post by slank


I watch a lot of PBS and have noticed some of their sponsors are on the shady side. But, when your watching Nova and it's about monkeys, butterflies, scientific discoveries, you can't really be skeptical about Exxon's hand in it. You know what I mean?

As for the News Hour, while the topics discussed may be in line with the cable news networks, you can't deny that they quality of the conversation/debates and the material is much, much higher than the other networks. You will NEVER see people screaming at eachother, calling eachother names, people cutting off mics and kicking guests off the show. The anchor people and moderators always let each side have an equal say.

In response to others saying they watch TV but quality shows: I'm sure others would not call them quality shows but I know what you mean. I only watch, as I said, PBS, Lost, V (sometimes, I haven't really been able to get into it a whole lot), and other shows like that that might as well be a book only you get to SEE the action unfolding in front of you. I watch a lot of comedy because I love to have a good laugh and their rather harmless. I don't watch reality crap. I'm a sucker for so you think you can dance, but only because those people have real talent that has merit instead of being wasted with the intent of dumbing down the younger generation with meaningless, catchy songs (yes, I'm referring to American Idol, though oddly enough, I'm a Carrie Underwood fan. Never watched her on the show but she has a wonderful voice and some of her songs aren't mindless).

[edit on 30-4-2010 by nunya13]

Probably the most watched channels in our home is the Weather Channel and C-span. \

If we watch a movie, we noticed that now they show 5 minutes of the movie... then 5 minutes of commercials, then 5 minutes of the movie... etc. Years ago, it was 15 minutes vs 1 minute of commercials. Then I remember it going from 10 minutes of movie to 2 min commercials.

Recently, we realized they have synchronized the commercials to show at the same time on all channels. So no more flipping channels to miss commercials.

No, TV is on the way out of our house, it's just a matter of days. Tired of reruns, sitcoms, ever continuing dramas, and comedies aren't funny anymore.

Just to add, two things...
one is when I moved into my new place I didn't have a television...
the funny thing was despite the fact that most of my good friends are like-minded about T.V etc,
when I had them over I couldn't help noticing they seemed a little mmm I dunno uncomfortable...

This went on for a few weeks, until my best buddy said he had an old spare telly he was wondering if I'd like to have...
so I thought what the heck, I'll take it... basically stuck it on a corner cabinet as decoration really hehehe.

Suddenly people seemed more at ease when they visit, I figured out so many people grow up with the T.V as the main feature of the family living space they'd all been uneasy about where to sit? or look when they were in my lounge room...whether it was on or not!

Secondly, about the reason I dislike T.V so much...
this is based on my personal experience with the impact it has had on my life.

My ex and I fell into a routine some years ago, living together where both working 70hrs a week left little time for anything but coming home, falling into the nearest chair and watching T.V until bedtime, anywhere up to 35hrs a week!

So we had this program schedule that was a combination of Everybody loves Raymond, The Simpsons, Family Guy, Seinfeld, Just shoot Me, American Dad etc.

My point being, on hindsight I realized we were mimicking some of the silly couple conflicts we were viewing and it was creating tension without being consciously aware of where this 'programming' was originating from...

We cut the crap out of our lives together and remain close friends to this day!

reply to post by wagtail


Yep, i know what you mean, i actually have a t.v. in the living room but it is not hooked up and it does seem to make people feel more comfortable just because it is there. My wife watches the one in the family room which is her little place to get away from it all..

If I didn't work for the cable company and get a deal on tv services ($10 a month for EVERY channel) I wouldn't have it at all.

I didn't have it for about 18 months before I joined the company, and didn't miss it. As it is, I rarely watch tv actually on tv. I usually download anything I want to watch, and watch it commercial free, in hi def, on my tv, streamed right from my computer.

I have utorrent setup like a pvr to download the shows I want as soon as they become available.

I like dramas (especially the old ones), sci fi escapism shows, and the odd documentary. Can't stand ANY of the reality shows at all, or the so called "talent shows" out there.

And of course, the news is about the same as it was 20 years ago.

"There's an election in the UK and they're not sure who will win", "there's a large oil spill off the coast of the USA", "the Israelis are threatening to bomb their neighbors OR are being threatened BY their neighbours", "there's a new tax coming in that no one likes", "there's a riot somewhere because someone's sports team didn't win OR did win".

And given my last point, don't get me started on the mass distraction that is professional league sports (ANY sport).

Besides re-runs of Scrubs, hockey and football (European that is) I don't really have a use for it, but I do enjoy going to the movies when there is actually a good one out.

Mostly what I watch on tv are movies, and series like Stargate Universe, The Legend of the Seeker, Enterprise, Stargate SG-1, Lost, and V also (V is increadibly close to the empty promises being given by a certain person, and administration in power who are only taking more control over us, just like the Vs do/did in the old series and the new one.). But for news I don't watch tv.

[edit on 1-5-2010 by ElectricUniverse]

:LOL: I watch very little TV would you believe? Yeah, it's amazing what you see on TV today. Mind-numbing commercials, gosh I hate how long and annoying they are! What do they want to do brain wash us? I don't like reality shows and they just copy copy copy each other, and all that drama that networks insert in their programs that mimic reality shows haha! Drivel. I like learning networks, period

I got hooked on the History channel as it is my most watched channel now. I don't really like to watch anything else these days other than The Simpsons and The History Channel. The only shows I really watch are,

History channel: I like to watch "Modern Marvels", "Pickers", any program to do with how things work or "Mystery stuff" IE: "Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking" and some History of the world. I am not to into the new Sliced series. So pointless and wasteful IMHO. Anything goes if I get hooked on it.

Discovery channel, Adult swim and The "Animation Domination" on FOX where my fave show is The Simpsons.

Other than that... TV feels like a sludge pump. There, I said it! haha

reply to post by simpsonizer


I'm just glad i found sites like hulu to be able to watch some good documentaries, there are some good sites on the internet that i have found to be able to watch good shows. I love nova and PBS has a decent website too..

I watched a lot of television as a teen, but I got rid of my cable about eight years ago and don't miss it. The commercials bother and annoy me, too frequent and too loud - occasionally they make my head hurt and so I don't really feel it was worth paying for. When I was a kid they used to hide the cultural metaprogramming inherent in television viewing, (nothing tinfoil, just things like 'women belong in the kitchen', 'women only use computers for domestic tasks', 'men drink beer and fish', 'men don't understand women' and other cultural generalizations), but now it doesn't seem like anyone bothers to hide it anymore.

Still watch movies, and sometimes television shows, but only after they've come out on DVD. I turn things on to listen to them while I go about my day, since even the radio is chock full of commercials and banter I don't care about.

Originally posted by sodakota
If we watch a movie, we noticed that now they show 5 minutes of the movie... then 5 minutes of commercials, then 5 minutes of the movie... etc. Years ago, it was 15 minutes vs 1 minute of commercials. Then I remember it going from 10 minutes of movie to 2 min commercials.

Recently, we realized they have synchronized the commercials to show at the same time on all channels. So no more flipping channels to miss commercials.

Another complaint that all of us here had...

Synchronized Commercial Breaks

FOX News, especially O'Reilly, would state to his guest(s) "We're up against a 'hard' break... ahem, sorry the computers take/make the break and there's nothing we can do..."

Pardon me all to hell and back, O'Reilly, since when do we take marching orders from a fuggin computer???

You're off my DVR, fool! Just stating that is foolish. The guy has the confidence and ego that his ratings warrant, yet, he's OK to take his orders from a computer. Wuss ... BAG!
/.rant.off/



Anyhow, After catching up on all the ATS articles is done...

Steps to enjoy content (without brain numbing commercials anymore.)

Get a 1TB+ External HD with USB2.0+ Port & Cable

Newegg.com for excellent prices (no I don't own stock I wish.)


Get a good DVD Player with a USB 2.0 Port.

We have a Panasonic P109 *I think* DVD player with front USB connector (that's the key though, get one with USB2.0 or better; 3.0 is coming; if not here already.)

Flash Drives work great too... any USB mass storage device that will hold a treasured video/pictures.

Formatted as FAT16/FAT32/NTFS (maybe Linux partitions)

Our player plays JPG pictures, AVI, RAW MPG & *I Think* WMV.
VCD/SVCD/DVD Has HDTV upscale to 1080P with HDMI Cable.

Player was $70 at Walmart (and many other sites.)


Load up the HD Drive or Flash Drive(s) with every movie known to man.
Or ... Off load the DVR. etc.

I've been converting our rare VHS -> DVD so that we can enjoy those grainy, video noised VHS tapes that have taken up sooo much shelf space.


Popcorn & Butter !!! (and towel.)


Essentially, We pulled the Dish Network in favor of our own media.

Since we aren't couch potatoes, we're proud that we won't be vegging to those groovie, mind numbing commercials mentioned in an earlier post.

Although it can be entertaining to watch others sponge up the drivel as it oozes out of the TV into their mooshie brains. Oh well.

Edit to add: Alex Jones Channel is now the channel of choice... Like him or not ...



A select video from earlier today...





[edit on 5·1·10 by DrMattMaddix]

watching tv hypnotises u in a light way its a tool 2 manipulate u, an keep u ignorant. nowadays most shows are total crap and really 4 dumb people i think .
i would stop watching if i could im kinds hooked i guess.. bu i totally agee that it makes u stupid like it think 4 u. its the nwo biggest tool and weapon cuz most poeple dont realize this good post my friend

would like 2 add that maybe with hd tv the hypnosis is stronger and more controlling wat do u guys think about that?

Only thing i watch on TV is the news, if i want to see a documentary or tv show i will just watch or download on the net.

reply to post by baddmove


I have disposed of my 27 inch tv with dvd player and vhs player. After viewing the 9/11 artificial broadcast I realized that nothing can be trusted on a network that has direct ties to AGW carbon issues, or defense spending etc. Thus my research began on the internet some months ago and I have found that Financial Forensic research seems to render the most succinct and accurate analysis of history of the last 100 some years. Perhaps after understanding the research of Field McConnell and Hawkins and the VACA network you too will see the value I have found in their research [snip] The audio interviews are a gold mine of information.



Removed link to personal blog

[edit on 1/5/10 by masqua]

Great thread! I removed the television from my room about 6 months ago, after systematically not watching it for 3 years...
I don't miss it a day, everything I want to see (and no, not just porn ) I watch on the internet. Movies on demand!
It's funny that I hear people say that the television makes them feel stupid. I've got the same feeling, and in my opinion it's worsened too lately. I mean, come on, our commercialbreaks aren't even as annoying as the American ones and still the TV irritates me without boundaries



[edit on 1-5-2010 by -Thom-]