Welcome back to TV or Not TV where I really don’t think I need a television any more.
Let’s face it folks, content delivery is the name of the game for just about any broadcast medium. You have to get it to the people. It used to be in the wonderful world of television you were able to manipulate the masses by forcing them to bend to your will and make them sit somewhere at a certain time of your choosing if they wanted to be entertained. If you wanted to watch it you had to be at the right place at the right time and on the right channel. There was no getting around it.
The home video tape revolution started to offset this a little so that people could try to record the shows that they couldn’t be for or, in my house, it would record one channel for us while we were watching another. The TV enthusiast would also use the video tape system to capture the things they were actually watching as well so that they could view it again and again, or share it with friends. These were the beginning of good times, but they were often wrought with frustration as a channel change being missed or a tape not replaced would ruin the whole set up. It wasn’t perfect but it worked.
The DVR was the really the great evolution in home video recording and it is one that has changed many facets of the way that television advertising is done and ratings are determined. Most DVR’s allow you to convenienty skip over the commercials in far less time than a video tape allowed us, and as such more commercials and product placements are placed within the show itself to ensure that we are seeing their products (last season of the SciFi show Eureka‘s synergistic advertising of Degree deoderant is a shining example).
Best of all the DVR captured the television we were recording in to some type of digital format that a dilligent user might find the way to extract and convert so they could conveniently remove the commercials and start sharing the show with their friends. Heck, even if you didn’t have a stand alone DVR there are so many ways to turn a stand alone computer into a DVR that it is no surprise how many shows were becoming available on the Internet in certain circles. The shows were getting out there and you didn’t have to rely on cousin Tony in Newark sending you his VHS tape to catch up on the show you missed.
Each of these steps has taken the broadcast networks to the natural evolution: delivery of their shows via the Internet to personal computing and mobile devices. If you think about it, as I’m sure they did, they didn’t really have any choice. If the video industry learned one important thing from the music industry it was that you can’t fight the Internet. If there was any way to curtail the illegal distribution of their product it was to embrace the Internet and start delivering it themselves, on their terms, with some ad revenue helping fund the cost. Change the old school thinking and make sure that you still control how people see what you want them to see.
So as I sit here reflecting on all of this, and after having caught up on some of my shows either from my laptop via the Internet or my iPhone during my commute I have to ask, “Do I really need a televisoin any more?”
Thankfully I do have a TV and if you are reading this you must have one too so let’s take a look at the scraps that are out there for us to try to enjoy.
MONDAY
SCIFI – 8:00 AM: Before Bryan Fuller created Pushing Daisies (and after Wonderfalls) he created the quirky dark comedy Dead Like Me. Since the Direct-To-DVD movie Dead Like Me: Life After Death is released tomorrow this is a great time to introduce yourself to this very entertaining show.
TLC – 9:00 AM: Get your Roloff on with a marathon day of Little People, Big World.
ABC FAMILY – 2:00 PM: If my prodding has made you think about watching The Secret Life of the American Teenager (or if you have nothing better to watch during the national holiday) you can now watch it for 7 straight hours.
TUESDAY
FOX – 8:00 PM: The first 12 of the top 36 performers take the stage tonight on American Idol. Will one be the next Kelly Clarkson or Taylor Hicks (how many of you just said “Taylor Who?”)
NBC – 8:00 PM: Tonight the contestants on The Biggest Loser have to work out without the benefits of a gym. To me that reads as trying to lose weight without dropping pounds.
TBS – 10:30 PM: This syndicated airing of The Office was directed by Joss Whedon and is one that I highly recommend.
WEDNESDAY
FOX – 8:00 PM: The first three of the final 12 are chosen tonight on American Idol. That leaves 9 hopefuls out in the cold. If you want to make it a drinking game take a shot every time someone cries.
FMC – 9:00 PM: There was a movie that started a slew of Gene Wilder / Richard Pryor movies. It was called Silver Streak. Watch it.
ABC – 9:00 PM: Well I didn’t get my Black Rock fix last week on LOST but my mind was as entertained as it was blown away. This season so far is television greatness. I hope you aren’t missing it.
THURSDAY
NBC – 8:00 PM: Danny Glover guess stars on My Name is Earl as someone claiming to be Crab Man‘s dad. Isn’t he getting too old for this $h!t?
CW – 8:00 PM: If you didn’t see the Smallville episode Identity the first time it aired than you really missed out.
FRIDAY
USA – 8:00 PM: The season is coming to a close for Monk. Didn’t it just get back on?
FOX – 9:00 PM: Tonight’s episode of Dollhouse has Echo being a counterpart to an outdoors man. Nothing says sexy like chicks with bows and aarows.
USA – 9:00 PM: Wait, this is the season finale of Psych as well? What, are we watching the BBC and we only get six episodes of a show per season?
SATURDAY
ABC FAMILY – 8:00 PM: Witness the cultural greatness of the original Grease followed by the stunningly awkward Grease 2.
CARTOON NETOWRK – 8:00 PM: If you didn’t pick up Justice League: The New Frontier on DVD than you can enjoy it tonight free of charge.
OXYGEN – 8:00 PM: Some might say the ultimate stay-in date movie is Sleepless in Seattle. Who am I to argue?
SUNDAY
ABC – 8:30 PM E/5:30 PM P: Wolverine is hosting the Oscars and almost all of the networks have thrown in the towel about airing anything worthwhile.
CBS – 8:00 PM: The Amazing Race 14 doesn’t fear the Oscars.
ABC FAMILY – 7:00 PM: So this is weird. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is followed by Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. At least they didn’t try to stick Mark Wahlberg before Charlton Heston with Planet of the Apes.
– Will Wilkins is glad you decided to read this.
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