Viewer shifts unnerve industry (TV ratings going DOWN!)

[shawn703]

When Nielsen Media Research, which monitors television audiences, reported that hordes of young men unexpectedly tuned out of traditional TV programming this fall, advertisers demanded answers.

What they got, instead, was finger-pointing--more like you'd find in a partisan debate on Capitol Hill.

Media buyers blamed the networks for lousy programs. The networks blamed Nielsen for a lack of proper sampling. Nielsen held up its hands and said its methodology hadn't changed.

In all, males between the ages of 18 and 34, which is the male group most coveted by advertisers because of its immense spending power, watched 6 percent less television in this fall's season, through November, compared with last year. Prime-time ratings for men in the age group were worse, down 7.7 percent


more...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2027&e=5&u=/chitrib_ts/20040102/ts_chicagotrib/viewershiftsunnerveindustry

[shawn703]

1. I'll be the first to admit as a member of that demographic

That I am guilty of watching more DVD's, playing more video games, and using a TiVo. I hardly ever watch TV anymore, especially live - I even get my news exclusively from the Internet now. Only thing I'll watch are sports and some HBO series.

[cosmicdot]

17. I essentially tuned it out a long time ago,but, when OJ went 24/7/12/365

... engaging a country for over one full year ... that did it ... I didn't watch any of it, one of the biggest distractors thrown at us ... does anyone know fully what happened outside the trial time period?

Did any good legislation get passed?

Sunday, June 12, 1994 - October 3, 1995

thank goodness for the Internet ... I needed a source for current events without the limited, narrow, biased TV screen ...

Thanks, Al Gore, for the re-route ... you've helped me reconnect ... the virtual world opens up so much ... cosmicdot is here ... participating in one of the most interesting websites in the world ... DU will make the history books ... and, that will be a great story to tell your grandchildren/nephews/nieces/friends ... you were part of it.

There is such a rich heritage and culture out here which those who control TV and TV programming "specialists" and/or "associates" (what an easy job - we'll show the Christmas Story for 24 hours ... cool ... ) can draw from ...

The Arts and Entertainment libraries are teeming with so much to work with for some creative, culture-seeking, educational group of people ... what a positive change that alone would do to the stress-anxiety facilitor TV and the society hungry for quality ... we should be creating quality-for-prosperity work ... anyone can be a BBC copycat ... another case of corporate america out of touch with human needs and wants.

Today's American TV is equivalent to driving-thru McDonalds.

[worldgonekrazy]

45. Yeah I've all but stopped watching the "idiot box"

I'm quite glad to see that this may be a developing trend in society. We would be a much more critical and healthy society without being brainwashed by consumerism and corporate news.

[loudnclear]

67. FOX, CNN, MSNBC drove me away.. Sirius is my speed now.

sattelite radio is the new wave. Uninterrupted music, foreign news, etc. No Rush, no Hannity, no TV. I can be anywhere in the house sinc emy speakers are hooked up everywhere. $12.95 per month...it's worth it, especially for traveling through the south where it's Rush and Hannity on almost every friggin station for six hours a day. You're damn right TV is on the downward spirial. All those idiot sitcoms and reality shows are driving a lot of people away. There is very little to inspire critical thinking or any kind of itellctual stimulation. When I watch, I watch C-Span, Discovery, PBS, and the History channel, and Court TV.

[Born Free]

74. Many good programs, just need to weed them out with a TiVO

"That I am guilty of watching more DVD's, playing more video games, and using a TiVo. I hardly ever watch TV anymore, especially live - I even get my news exclusively from the Internet now. Only thing I'll watch are sports and some HBO series."


The TiVo (we have the Dtivo) allows one to find the shows that interest you while skipping the shows that don't. I watch more on TV now then I ever did but spend less time doing it as the TiVo always has the show I like waiting for me. I tell people that it changes the way you view TV and all they can say is it's just a glorified vcr. BTW, I have the showtracking on (privacy off) so they can report what shows I am watching, at first I thought this was a bad thing but later I decided it was better to share with DTV what shows we like best. Many of these people only care about making money, so if a show is liked, regardless of what it is about, they will promote it. Even Murdock, as much as we like to hate him, chose money over politics when it came to China, he changed his tune to keep the money flowing from China.

[RandomKoolzip]

2. Jeez, could it be because TV SUUUUCCCKKKS?!?!?

Or that most of us are too damn busy working 16-hour days to give a shit about TV?

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

3. Could it be.... "REALITY" TV????

Programming on the networks has become awful.

[chaumont58]

4. I think it is that(reality TV)

I confess to having never watched even a minute of Survivor or Joe Millionaire, or any of them. I think the creative fiction has moved to the small networks like the WB.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

7. I'm with you. Have never watched anything that would fall into the genre.

[annagull]

5. Didn't Ryan and Trista's wedding have the boys glued

to their tvs? The tv executives had better realize that the cheap- to-produce reality ship has sailed.

[Kbick]

8. "Nip/Tuck" and the "Shield"

The two best shows last year were, "Nip/Tuck" and the "Shield" both on F/X channel!

Both shows were turned down by broadcast tv.

[ConcernedCanuk]

6. Personally, NEWS is what I don't watch much of anymore - I use the Net

.
.
. . I use the internet to get a "balanced" version, scoping out newspapers from all over the world.

Our Canuk news is not as bad as the Murikkkan channels, but it still has it's limits.

We know how bad it is to call a Moron a Moron when he lives next door.

TV is for entertainment now, it's "informative" function gone WAY down if one expects realism.

[Nevernose]

9. They're surprised, after all the crap thay've shoveled down our throats?

The sitcom is DEAD. One more episode of "friends"...another show whose entire premise is that one of the main characters is gay or black...another show by a stand-up comic...

Another episode of Sluts in the City...

Another frigging police drama...

Another reality show in which 8 physically perfect people whore themselves for money...

Another hour of astoundingly shallow "news" coverage...

Another day of unoriginal, insipid, lowest-common-denominator television...

Rick Berman even managed to fuck up Star Trek...

Until they give us something a little different, I'll stick to my internet and my books (and the occasional episode of SpongeBob Squarepants), thank you very much.

[kysrsoze]

32. OMG - this is exactly the problem - just HORRIBLE bandwagon programming

The biggest problem in TV, movies, music, etc., is the industries' constant copying off each other. One band sounds new and interesting and there are soon a half-dozen who sound almost exactly alike. The same thing has now happened with interior design shows. I liked Trading Spaces/Changing rooms and now there are at least 4 to 5 design shows on at any given time. Most what they design is absolute crap too. I won't even go into how awful the whole reality show bandwagon is - it all speaks for itself. Basically everyone wants to outdo the others without taking any risk of drawing an intellectual crowd. The only men's channel out there is Spike TV and it absolutely blows.


I'm especially ticked about how absolutely terrible current sitcoms are. They appeal to the most base sense of humor out there. I NEVER laugh at any of the ABC comedies. They're just painfully unfunny, like According to Jim. I feel insulted watching something so stupid, and all the joke are thrown out there with almost a hint that "this is the point where you're supposed to give a big belly laugh."


These are the channels/shows I still watch:

The Simpsons
Seinfeld
Spongebob Squarepants
Carnivale (think it got cancelled or something)
The Brak Show
Blind Date
Science Channel, National Geographic and Discovery Times
Tech TV: Unscrewed, Screen Savers and X-Play
The Shield
Queer Eye was novel, but it's now getting old too.
Newlyweds is kind of funny too.

[CivilRightsNow]

39. Carnivale did not get cancelled

The season simply ended.

[Nevernose]

41. Tell me about it

I recorded the first 11 episodes (it wasn't a great show, but it was original), then got drunk and forgot about the season ender. I'm still trying to think of a plausible way I can blame HBO.

[shawn703]

44. Do you have OnDemand?

I think it may still be on HBO OnDemand... it's free where I am, though I hear it may not be free all over the country.

[Khephra]

55. Carnivale was picked up for a second season

.

[JPace]

10. They have increased advertising interruption time

so much that it really detracts from
any pleasure in watching a program.
It is getting easier to walk away
from the t.v., even during a program
and just not come back.

Their greed has maxed us out and it
is likely that men can walk away
easier than women.

[truth2power]

14. Funny you should mention that.

about increasing advertising interruption time. I've noticed for some time that if I'm flipping through the channels (I don't have cable, so there aren't that many)that most often I hit a commercial.

This says to me that commercial interruptions, as a percentage of the entire show, would seem to be approching 50/50. I know there aren't 15 minutes of commercials in a 30 minute show, but darn close enough to increase the probability of hitting one while channel surfing.

Also, I've weaned myself from the "sabbath gasbags" and nearly all other so-called "news" programs. I, too, get virtually all my news, other than local, from the internet. Who wants to turn on Dateline or 20/20 or such to hear about some murder in a town you never heard of?

The enitre planet is in meltdown, and all we get is some tripe about bachelorettes and watching people gagging while trying to eat reindeer testicles. We have gone totally insane. And they wonder why people don't watch? Bwahahahaha.

BTW, I'm an older female, and they lost me a long time ago.

[Nile]

76. I do not have cable either.

And have noticed the same thing for quite some time. Out of the ten or so channels it is not unusual to hit a commercial on every one of them while flipping through.

[Lorien]

23. Men can walk away easier than

women? Well, THIS woman walked away years ago! No cable here; just the occational veiwing on PBS -Bill Moyers "NOW", Nature and antiques roadshow. Netflix is cheaper and more worthwhile. But living life is even better!

[TeeYiYi]

54. I'm with you Jen6 . . .

If it doesn't broadcast through my television's rabbit ears it doesn't get watched.

As for the rabbit ears, I get 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16, 30, 58 and sometimes 48 with crystal clear reception. That's more than enough variety for me. Like you, I watch PBS on 7 and 11 most of the time anyway.

I'll confess, I wouldn't mind access to Showtime, IFC and the Sundance Channel but I can always visit friends with satellite in a pinch. :7

TYY

[JPace]

57. C-Span is good.

[TeeYiYi]

72. True . . .

. . . good call. I watch C-SPAN on the internet but I would love to have it on my television. :hi:

TYY

[mrdmk]

49. You can thank Reagan for that

Reagan deregulated prime time 6pm - 11pm by way of the FCC. Commercial TV was allowed to show only four commercials every fifteen minutes. Reagan did away with that and bingo, viewer ship has gone down ever since then.

Home entertainment is probably the major problem for commercial TV. I do not remember the last time I watch ABC, NBC, CBS or Fox. Mostly science or history and a good movie late at night, then when a commercial comes on I switch the channel. The advertisers also could be a problem here because they will run an ad into the ground (i.e. ad nausea) throughout the night well into the season. Who needs this when watch a movie on demand, hang out with friends, play the latest computer game or hang ten on the Internet.



on edit: I forgot about Fox, can you imagine!

[LiberalFighter]

62. It does seem that way...

That would mean more commercials too.

The broadcasters shouldn't be complaining cause they would be raking in more even if they charged less per minute.

[NashVegas]

11. The Entertainment Industry

Is fucked like every other business enterprise in the US where people with "me, too" degrees (in this case, marketing, broadcast tech & communications, theatre arts, etc) get hired and promoted. All this shit can be learned on the job.

[abelenkpe]

68. Oh I dunno

I have worked with many very talented and educated artists in the entertainment industry. If it was run by artists and not by executives there could be a lot more quality viewing material out there. I worked for Warner Bros. for five years and my boss (the executive of our animation division) went to college for three out of four years and studied....geography. She 'worked' her way up to an executive position after starting as a receptionist. Her ideas were always so lame it was embarrassing, yet none of the artists...(we're talking guys who had worked in the biz for years with greats like Maurice Noble, Richard Williams, etc.) could get anything done unless it was approved by her and the marketing division first. She was the main motivating force behind editing all the violence out of the old Warner Classic cartoons like Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Eventually the Execs at Warners figured out a clever scheme to send all the work overseas and avoid dealing with those pesky artists altogether and now they are all out of work too. Kinda difficult to justify a $500,000 dollar a year job (or more) managing no one. Oh there is still a small feature department at Warners, but they do a film and then lay everyone off except for a few individuals (a skeleton crew.) But what was once a huge thriving animation department in the 90's is now just a shadow of what it once was. I did enjoy working there, though, it was an education, but on to better things! So, basically what I'm saying is the major problem with the entertainment industry is that everything is run by marketing. Not entertainers. It's as back wards and crazy as having medical decisions made by accountants and insurers and not by doctors, or say a government run by corporations instead of public servants.

You are right. TV sucks. The only thing I ever watch is sports, mainly Lakers games and the Packers...sometimes tennis. I got sick of being insulted and lied to a long time ago. Of course, I'm a woman so the industry doesn't really care if I watch anyway. Bastards.

Thank God (and Gore) for the internet. :)

[northzax]

12. Gee, I'm shocked

when you gear all your programming to young women, you are suprised that men tune out? Reality TV is aimed at women, mostly, the big suprises (queer eye, etc) are all geared to women, sitcoms are geared towards women or families (not the same thing, btw) I can't come up with a show that has debuted since "24" that is geared to attracting male viewers. These days, men portrayed on network TV are either gay (see: Will and Grace and the aformentioned queer eye), idiots (everything on CBS) or unnatractive personalities (ditto CBS) TV took young men for granted for the past decade, and now they have nothing in the tank. I don't watch much except sports and the Simpsons anymore...

[area51]

71. Jake

I thought the series "Jake 2.0" was aimed @ guys.

[Jack Rabbit]

13. Jack Rabbit urges Americans to kill their television sets

Network prime time entertainment has sucked for forty years. Somehow, against all odds, it only gets worse.

That leaves news, sports, and public broadcasting.

Maybe I'm just getting old, but sports isn't as much fun to watch as it used to be. The athletes act like they're just putting in a day at the office at a job that they don't find particularly rewarding, except for the paycheck.

Public broadcasting more and more resembles the commercial programming from which we were escaping when we turned to PBS in the first place. The only advantage is that the commercials aren't nearly as obnoxious on PBS.

And then there's news, which for a quarter of a century now has been dedicated to not informing and even disinforming the American public. Every once in a while, I like to view the film Network to see how much more network news resembles Paddy Chayefsky's dark prophecies than it did the last time I watched it. The fact that Bush's justifications for the Iraq invasion have all proved to be lies and yet Americans still continue to support the war and, for the most part, believe the lies is a damning indictment of American journalism, print and broadcast. Edwin R. Murrow must be revolving in his grave.

[Mr.Green93]

16. fun sports

I watched the Gravity Games on NBC those kids were amazing.

[T Bone]

70. Blow up the TV

"Blow up the TV
Throw away the papers
Move to the Country
Build you a home
Have a lot of children
Feed 'em on peaches
They'll all find Jesus on their own."

--John Prine

I forget the name of the song, but the lyrics always stayed with me.

[rucky]

15. It's Because we're all watching Stripperella on Spike TV

yeah, that's it. They really have our demographic pinned down over at Spike.

[TacticalPeek]

18. The vast wasteland is now also an echo chamber.

...

But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in front of your television
set when your station goes on the air and stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper,
profit and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you--and keep your eyes glued to that set until
the station signs off. I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland.

You will see a procession of game shows, violence, audience-participation shows, formula
comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism,
murder, western badmen, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence and
cartoons. And, endlessly, commercials--many screaming, cajoling and offending. And most of
all, boredom. True, you will see a few things you will enjoy. But they will be very, very few. And
if you think I exaggerate, try it.

...

Newton Minnow, chairman FCC
May 9, 1961
speech to the National Association of Broadcasters

http://www.quoteworld.org/docs/nmvas328.php

:(

[maggrwaggr]

19. pretty simple. Their shows target women

You think guys are watching "The Bachlor?"

Or ER?

Or any of this shit? It's women women women.

I didn't think they cared for the male audience except for sports.

If they want men, they should come up with a nice raunchy sitcom

[JNelson6563]

20. I'm a woman and I have no interest in that slop

and neither do the women I know.

Julie

[October]

47. Women, women, women? Where?

Well, as a female, I don't watch any of those shows, but I wouldn't watch "raunchy" sitcoms either. (I suffered through enough of those cheesy T&A fests during the 70s and 80s.) To each his own I guess.

Obviously someone is watching them, but who? Generation Xers?

Anyway, these so-called womens' sitcoms you're screaming about usually feature advertising using scantilly-clad women falling out of their shirts hawking Coors beer, cars, etc. Advertising is seriously not targeting women.

They try to reach the coveted 18-34 year-old males. They're not even TRYING to reach females. (Hence the gazillion movies, commercials, sitcoms with beautiful YOUNG women and very average OLDER guys.)

Personally, I watch football; read a lot; surf the Internet; watch HBO series; and rent films or go to the theatre. There's so much more to life than network TV.

[abelenkpe]

81. entertainment industry does not care about women

I can tell you that much from experience. The networks gear all their programming to males between 14-28 and figure that women will watch what the men in their life watch. (Just as politicians believe that women will vote the way the men in their life vote.) Truly. Every movie, every TV show. Each network will have a few token shows that they claim are marketed towards women, but they will demean them simultaneously calling them 'chick flicks' or putting them on during notoriously bad time slots and such in an effort to maintain the numbers that support the attitude of the status quo: that success is always aimed toward a young male audience. I'm confused how anyone would consider a show like 'the Bachelor' for a female audience. All that show is designed to do is to reinforce the attitude that women are all money grubbing back stabbing superficial dependents ready to humiliate themselves for a man. That the more beautiful a woman is the more duplicitous they are. That for all their success and education all they truly want is to be married. Not that marriage is a bad thing. The truth is that women and men get and stay married for far different reasons, usually things like mutual respect and shared goals along with a healthy dose of passion. Those shows are designed to make men mistrust and objectify women. They demean women on a large scale. Personally I find the very concept disgusting and insulting. But maybe that's just me.

You may feel that TV is not geared towards men because more and more shows feature males who appear to be harmless buffoons or powerless in their life situation. This is a very PC trend right now in the entertainment business. The fact is that writers have their hands tied by marketing interests and therefore find it difficult to write a male character that is anything between Archie Bunker and Homer Simpson. It's difficult to write a male character that is not in some way powerless in his life situation (unless he is a superhero) because drama imitates life and the majority of people do not have control over their life. Men and women must work to feed and clothe themselves and frequently work demeaning and unsatisfying jobs in order to survive and to care for their families. So the thinking is that they receive enjoyment watching others suffer as they do. That is why TV sucks right now...because for most life kinda sucks right now. You are correct to feel that TV shows demean men (the same way that I feel the Bachelor demeans women.) It does. By portraying men as powerless it is easier to manipulate and market products to the target audience: men ages 14-28. As each show is punctuated by ads that declare you will rule the road by owning such and such car, or you will be powerful in your daily life by taking such and such pill the television simultaneously puts you down and offers you a product to cure what ails you.

The real cure is to turn the TV off.

[RUexperienced]

21. When I got satellite TV, they asked if I wanted local channels

for only $5.99 extra per month.

I said, "No way! That's why I am getting satellite!"

Enough of the 'reality' shows.

[SOS]

22. The networks present the public

with teenagers eating maggots for prize money and then they wonder why people tune out...

[Born_a_Democrat]

24. Only thing I watch on "TV"...The Simpsons

and it's not even on one of the "Big Three"...I watch it on reruns on WB...hardly ever watch Fox for it.

[bemildred]

25. There are better alternatives than the unwatchable slop

on TV. Event with 500 channels to surf through it is unwatchable.
Then there are the constant and annoying interruptions of the
unwatchable slop with commercial messages, that is when you can
tell the difference.

[guajira]

26. I'm a News-Junkie and constantly channel surf to get news/analysis

A few shows like Bill Moyers, Crossfire, Capital Gang, etc, can be interesting, also C-Span at times. O'Reilly sometimes has a melt-down on the air and that can be entertaining. An easy game is catching Fox "News" in lies, and then emailing them to let them know they're busted. Guess this is my form of video games!

[donco6]

27. I don't think I've ever watched a "reality" show.

I caught one section of a show that had some young guys and girls trying to eat bull testicles, and that was plenty for me. I was amazed that it was on a mainstream network - well, I was at the time, anyway.

I watch the Simpsons, South Park, Carnivale, and some things on the History channel and A&E. Oh, and I used to watch the delightful Farscape until they cancelled that.

Otherwise it's DVD movies once in a while.

500+ channels and nothing's on. Sigh.

[CivilRightsNow]

42. As a 25 year old female..

Who lives with her same age fiance... this is what we typically watch:

Him:
American Chopper
Monster House
Monster Garage


Me:
Trading Spaces
House Hunters
The Food Network (I gotta admit, I love Martha :)
Newlyweds and Rich Girls a couple times a month



We watch most of the above together, but these are the ones with equal interest to both of us:
Lots of Basketball
Various shows on the History Channel
That 70s show
Simpsons
South Park
Space Ghost
Brak Show
(Ill just put late night cartoon network instead of listing them all)
Carnivale
The Sopranos
6ft Under
FSTV documentaries

[absyntheNsugar]

28. Could it be our 60+ hour-a-week McJobs

keep us from watching TV?

Now that we're desperate and willing to work any job for any pay, and being our morgtages haven't changed, our kids still eat and our cars still burn gas...we need to work the extra hours just to make ends meet.

Idiot Cheap-Labor Conservatives - how long did they think this would go on before it bit them in the hinterlands?

[Cocoa]

29. there was a GREAT show on last night

best half-hour of TV I've ever seen in my life, a few lucky DUers caught it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=51593#52338

[glitch]

78. I'd like to see that in syndication nt

[impeach the gop]

30. POWER TO THE PEOPLE

Quite Riot had song, "We're not gonna take it" Cant remember the rest, but I must admit, I bonded with that song. Where are they today? Anyway. Excelent theme song for the new year of People Power!

[goforit]

51. YES!!!..Is this a REAL Poll or what ?....People power = Consumer RULES

:bounce::party::bounce:
:party::bounce::party:

[impeach the gop]

31. Cspan and internet www.knon.org

are the light of my tv. I don't listen to radio either. Thank God
I have CD's enough to keep my toe tapping. Also, we have KNON.org here 89.3 web cast, community radio station that dj's bring their own cd's from home, they are volunteers, they live off pledge drives to stay on air. Someone donated an ac so they wouldn't burn alive in their little shack. They have super roper redneck review for texas home grown music, they have about 8 hrs a day and night blues, kick ass, they have twian show on sunday couple hours, they got the headbangers late for kids, cajun on Monday nite at 8pm, my favorite, tejano daily, and Acorn and workers beat, and they have something for everyone. I recommend it. If you go to their web site, it gives you the schedule. I love it because you won't hear this good music ANYWHERE. It's the only station in the DFW area that it independent. These people are truly the Voice of the People.

www.knon.org

[midnight armadillo]

33. I know some people in the TV biz

What you see on TV hardly represents the amount of talent and creativity out there. I have several friends involved as agents/writers/actors out in La La land.

Apparently, the way the process works is something like this: agents/writers/etc get together with a show idea. They pitch it to a network. A pilot is made. It gets accepted provided it satisfies a small group of fat old white men, who check out what their rivals are doing.

There it is. The tunnel-visioned sheep running the TV networks kill most of the interesting stuff that gets proposed or to the pilot stage. It's riskier to do something new than to follow the herd, and also complicates marketing strategies and the desire to divide and conquer the wallets of the audience.

Of course, in risk there are greater profits and potential for success, but that's not the way things work. Go watch one of those HBO shows on weird foreign TV for a sample of the huge variety that's possible.

[renegade000]

34. i must say i did watch lots of TLC until

they turned it into the interior decorating channel...

die trading spaces, DIE!

:argh:

well now i feel better...
:D

[SoCalDem]

35. TLC was the REASON we got cable years ago

and it, like the rest of the formerly "independent" channels, has now been gobbled up and are little more than dumping grounds for old network shows and inane "specials"..

You can tell by what junk they show, who bought them:(

We have Dish now and it's a bit better than cable, but not by much.. The BBC that we have is mostly programming of their sitcoms and variety shows.. A few times a day we get a 30 minute news show, but I wish we could get their 24 hour news channel and CNN-I as well..

We are 'Murkins and we DEMAND to be "info-tained"..

[stickdog]

36. Could it be that "reality" shows & celebrity/true crime mags masquerading

as "News" don't really float our boat?

Nah.

It's probably just Nielsen's fault for underrepresenting trailer parks or something. Right?

[Rex]

37. Maybe it is because they have to work two jobs now

and don't have the time to watch as much TV.

[Terwilliger]

38. I'm encouraged by this

but it's also worth mentioning that there are plenty of alternative sources to certain television shows nowadays, and the explosion of Tivo and downloadable video makes traditional TV measurements skewed.

[dawn]

40. I'm female and I rarely watch network TV.

I get my news online.

I watch movies on HBO, but that's about it. I watch public television, mainly for the Globtrekker series, and I also like watching the Office on BBC America.

OK, we watch VH-1 classics for the cheesy 80s videos. My husband only watches sports.

But I can't remember the last time my husband and I watched a sitcom.

[TheWebHead]

43. I'm in the demo

I watch a lot of TV, but it's while I'm on the computer. With a 21in. 1600x1200 resolution monitor, I throw the TV Wonder display in the top right corner, most of the time muted on CNN... I'm not exactly a captive audience.

[NickB79]

46. We're too busy working part-time jobs or working longer hrs

At reduced pay at our original jobs to have time to sit down and watch any TV! And at the rate it's going, a lot of us will be pawning those TV's to come up with next month's rent.

Thank you Bush economic planning.

[shawn703]

48. A Liberal alternative to Fox News

Would get me to watch regular network TV again. I'll even sit through the commercials and buy sponsoring products who keep it going.

[ldf]

60. it they ever could get the "alleged" liberal network

off the ground i think they will be absolutely amazed at the response.

they will then see that there IS a market for progressive/liberal alternatives.

then maybe all would follow the lead, especially if it is a money-maker.

wouldn't it be so cool if rightwing tv became extinct?

[goforit]

50. Thank you Murdoch!!!.Bush campaign using radio? Gee wonder why?

No one is watching TV!!!!

This is the best news yet!!!

It is their karma well deserved!!!!

All the Bush and Christian Right controlled airways
is turning everyone off!!!!

Fascism may not work after all!!!!

Hoooray!!!!!

:bounce:

[kutastha]

52. I'm in the higher end of that age demographic

and I can say I probably haven't watched a network television show in its complete entirety in about five years (and that was the Simpsons). I was never really big into TV, but what really did it for me was something I noticed in the early nineties. I had a pretty large group of friends and we'd always hang out at this bachelor-pad of sorts. We'd all be sitting around talking and making conversations. And then, someone would turn on that TV and they'd all instantaneously shut up and stare at that box, slack-jawed. I'd leave.

The only reason I have a TV and a satellite is because I'm a die-hard Lakers fan transplanted to New England. Other than that it's the occasional college football game (go Trojans!), and even then I turn the sound off. I get more out of the games watching them than having someone tell me what I'm supposed to be seeing.

I did see a touch of this one show called Friends this year. Absolutely terrible, Three's Company with extra people. Everyone was shocked that I didn't know who was who.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

53. I watch little network TV because it's crap

The majority always was crap, but now it's rude, noisy, leering crap.

The last sitcom I watched was the first couple of years of Murphy Brown.

I'll watch Law and Order if I'm desperate, but I much prefer the British mystery series like Waking the Dead or Jonathan Creek to anything on U.S. TV. They're much more nuanced and morally ambiguous with more well-developed characters. However, I loathe Changing Rooms, Ground Force, and all the other home and garden shows, even if they are British homes and gardens. The Office is brilliant, though.

On PBS it's Nova, Bill Moyers, and the occasional special.

I watch HBO series, although I didn't like Sex and the City.

Ovation would be a great channel if it could acquire more than the same twenty programs.

I catch world events on News World International, and start the day with the utterly trivial Japanese news on the International Channel.

Otherwise, I enjoy catching movies, especially on Turner Classic Movies and the Sundance and Independent Film channels.

That's about it. I watch network TV so seldom that the cover stories on the supermarket tabloids no longer mean a thing to me.

[NashVegas]

79. I Stopped Watching Network TV When St. Elsewhere Got Canceled

If the network won't support good programming, why should anyone support the networks?

[TrueStory]

56. The Source

http://www.nielsenmedia.com/client_communications/Men18-34.pdf

[Zech Marquis]

58. network tlevision has been so god-awful

I like the Discovery Channel, TLC's Monster House, History Channel, Food Network, and ESPN. Sadly Faux has F1 and Soccer, so I watch that as well :puke: I get my news off the nt and the nightly 30 minute of BBC News at 11pm--thanks to UNC TV on my cabl.I rent movies and games fro my Xbox, currently playing GTA: Vice City on my Xbox :bounce: so i don't need or what the crap they shovel out on the networks one bit!

Now I DO need to watch VH1 some more--they actually show VIDEOS I like :bounce:

[w4rma]

59. Good. TV sucks right now. (n/t)

[number6]

61. flush your TV down the toilet ...

:hurts:

[LiberalFighter]

63. I'm over that age group but...

I find most of the traditional programming boring.

About the only thing I watch is the news and CSI on Thursday.

Otherwise I'm on the satellite with Stargate, Monk, Crossfire, one of the Showtime shows, lately I discovered I have NFL Network.

Monk started on USA before they finally put it on the regular network. That is part of the problem. The networks are not putting together the shows like that and good sitcoms.

Lately, it seems there are nites where there isn't anything worth watching even on the satellite.

Right now at least there are enough football games on this week. Now that the NFL regular season is over we have fewer games this weekend.

[banana republican]

64. spend most of my time

surfing the net & reading DU.

THe one thing I have noticed with getting digital cable is that instead of 30 channels of drivel I now have over 100 channels of drivel.

[scarface2004]

65. its not tv...it s a 'video monitor'!!

what assholes...we can watch whatever we want when we want as much as we want or just play gta III.

i can t wait till bad santa comes out on dvd!!

[Carolina]

66. mindless crap

is what the medium has devolved into. I used to watch TV news but after election 2000 with the awful (nonexistent) coverage of issues and fawning over W, I even turned that off. Colorful sets, streaming banners, pretty mouthpieces and vacuous celebrity infotainment do not equal journalism. The good sitcom has gone the way of the dodo bird and dinosaur, and though I like Law and Order, I loathe Fred Thompson, the actor turned repuke senator from Tennessee now returned to acting as the DA on that show! So I have even bid farewell to L&O. What's left? Zip, nada, zilch.

I am not in the demographic group described but hooray for all those young folks who see through the garbage and have turned it off! Hurt 'em in their frigging pocketbooks.

[The Zanti Regent]

69. Commercial TV is all GOP propaganda all the time!

Once upon a time, a certain gentleman named Fred Allen said that TV was "Chewing gum for the eyes". Now, thanks to Screwpert Murdoch, TV has turned into Ex-Lax for the Intellect.

I remember how the old Outer Limits show began, "THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOUR TELEVISION SET. WE ARE CONTROLLING TRANSMISSION". Thanks to Reagan and Colin Powell's Piece of Shit son, the Republicans control the Vertical. They control the Horizontal. The Republican Party manipulates all you see and hear.

Look at Fox, All propaganda all the time. Consider the X Files. All through that show was a common thread of distrusting the government.

I refuse to watch the propaganda. When I come home, I go to the Internet to read the real news, then I'll watch an old movie on cable.

[Buns_of_Fire]

73. This thread has given me an idea...

Since Nekkid Airlines ("We Have Nothing To Hide!" (tm)) is having some trouble getting FAA approval (something to do with the problem of Air Marshalls and where do they hide their guns in transit), I've just come up with a new idea: All Commercial TV!

No longer will viewers have to sit in discomfort waiting for the next potty break, because it's all one big potty break! Nothing but commercials -- old ones, new ones, ones for purple pills, ones for the lady who mimics Caine in Kung Fu while she mesermises her dog, ones for that guy that everyone has such a problem wondering what's "different" about him since he now takes Viagra and is walking through the office with a raging woody, The Thighmaster Hour, The Ron Popeil Show...

If you nail together two things that have never been nailed together before, some fool will buy it from you. -- George Carlin

[MikeG]

75. All I watch is "Ed" and the "West Wing" on NBC.

A lawyer with his office in a bowling alley and a Democratic president.

[Lost4words]

77. I hate the fricking box of corporate lies. n/t

[reprobate]

80. Do you still think TV is about entertainment?

TV has nothing to do with entertainment. The ONLY purpose in TV is to sell commercial time. Have you noticed that the commercials are more interesting than the programs? That is intended, so that the audience will take their breaks during the show, not the commercial.

[grasswire]

82. CNN

I pretty much monitor CNN most of the day until Hardball comes on. (I work at my computer in the same room; most of it goes past my ear until Inside Politics and Crossfire come on.) Then I may or may not watch Hardball, depending on the topic and whether Barnicle is hosting. Then I usually stay on MSNBC to have Keith Olbermann in the background during dinner prep. I like Anderson Cooper and occasionally catch his hour, sometimes catch the replay of newsnight with Aaron Brown.

The only network shows I watch are 24 and West Wing and an occasional sappy ER.

I should pay more attention to the TV guide in order to catch certain shows on the History Channel and A&E and Ovation, etc.

My daughter watches Food Network and HGTV.

If there were an antiques/collectibles network I'd watch it 24/7. It would be a nice alternative to being a news junkie.

[arikara]

83. Maybe if the advertisers move along, TV will have a chance to improve

Bill Lamar, U.S. marketing chief for McDonald's Corp., last summer shocked media executives when he said the company was shifting more of its media dollars into digital media as younger consumers spend more time online and less in front of the tube.
<snip>

I'm not in that demographic but I haven't watched it for years either. Occasionally Bill Moyers when I remember, and an occasional Third Watch rerun. I used to like the grand old shows like Dallas, St Elsewhere, earlier Star Treks... Now there's such gems as HOw to Marry a Millionaire and who really cares?

[kodi]

84. baha! tv programming is done by a bunch of moronic jerkoffs anyway

let them get real jobs instead of infecting the populus with drivel. i know a number of "hollywood" tv folks. they are parasites.

when i have the tv on its mostly (ken oberman excepting) either cspan or a dvd, the rest is such utter crap that its a waste of electricity.

why worry about the situation, it has been fucked up since the 30's when the feds gave way the airwaves for a song.