Anyone else sort of quit watching TV because it's boring?

[Vort]

I rarely watch TV. When I do, it's mostly to watch something my wife has started watching (some Law & Order-type show, or Cold Case, or the one with the spy who was cut off and his 40-something girlfriend) or with the kids (cartoons like Fairly Oddparents or the new Avatar sequel). I will always watch BYU football games and General Conference, but other than that, I just get bored by TV. I used to watch The Ultimate Fighter, but the guys involved are so annoying and the show exudes such reality-TV gloppiness that I just don't find it worth my time any more. (Plus, watching guys try to beat each other to a pulp is highly entertaining but probably not what my spirit craves.)

A couple of years before I was born, TV was described as a vast wasteland. Even as TV writing has sharpened considerably, the shows themselves have become thematically ever more depraved and filled with spiritual sewage. So some combination of offense and boredom is at play here. I was raised on watching television literally hours per day, but I often go a week at a time wtihout watching it now.

Anyone else find themselves so utterly disgusted and/or bored with television that they don't watch much of it any more?

[beefche]

Nope. I find lots on TV that I enjoy--from a purely entertainment standpoint to an educational one.

[log2]

Even as TV writing has sharpened considerably, the shows themselves have become thematically ever more depraved and filled with spiritual sewage. So some combination of offense and boredom is at play here.

Tru dat. I get free cable, including the premiums, and I only turn the tv on maybe once a month. Anything I like to watch I catch on Hulu, as indicated on my "favorite shows" thread.

I want spiritually nourishing stuff, really, and unfortunately the BYU channel is extremely boring to me, so that's the end of that.

I also have found that most movies aren't worth watching even the first time, let alone multiple times, because of a combination of offensive elements, or sheer vacuity.

[Guest]

The type of TV I watch has definitely changed. Most of what we watch now is on a PBS channel. I have to admit that a lot of that is probably due to the fact that since the digital changeover, we can't get much else in. The rabbit ears just aren't cutting it. What other shows I do watch are online.

[annewandering]

We run the diy kind of channels most of the day. lots of useful information. I watch Person of Interest because I like the lead actor and because I miss Lost. Otherwise I sort through the older shows on Netflix to see if there is anything. Lots of garbage but a few interesting shows.

[JudoMinja]

There are shows that I enjoy, as can be seen from my answer to the "Favorite TV Shows" thread, but I don't really "watch TV" at all. As in, I don't have cable or even an antenna, and I don't "tune in" at any particular time to watch anything. If I'm at my parents place when one of their favorite shows comes on, I'll sit and watch it with them, but I can go weeks at a time without ever watching any TV. And I don't watch it online with Netflix or Hulu or anything like that either. So, when I have a particular show I find myself enjoying, I'll either watch it with my parents or get the dvd's to pop it in whenever the mood strikes me. Like watching a movie.

Part of it is for the reasons you voiced. I get bored with it and generally just don't like most of the shows that they make. Even some of the shows I do like, I consider "guilty pleasures", because they don't really strike me as "clean". I'll sometimes entirely cut-out a show I used to like if/when an episode is just so raunchy that I can't understand how it made it to public television.

I would love to see some shows with some of the same clean values as older shows like Full House, Family Matters, and Home Improvement made with the advanced scripting, acting, effects, and etc of today. But even if they did- I probably wouldn't watch TV all that regularly. I'd do the same with those shows as the ones I currently like, because I feel like there are much better things to take up my time than gluing myself to the TV for an hour or so on a daily basis. Even my computer rarely gets turned on when I'm at home- most of the time I spend on here is while I'm at work and bored from the lack of attention it takes to run the copy machines.

[BenRaines]

Food Network, Food Network, Food Network. Educational TV for me.

Ben Raines

[FunkyTown]

I haven't had a television for... 4 years?

I buy DVDs like Chuck, but don't miss television at all.

[Vort]

I haven't had a television for... 4 years?

I buy DVDs like Chuck, but don't miss television at all.

Do you just sleep with the DVDs under your pillow?

[MorningStar]

We only watch Netflix now. The digital convertor box didn't work well at all, except for the religious and Spanish channels.

[jerome1232]

I would enjoy a few shows now and then, but as a full time student, with a full time job, and a family, I just can't justify the time spent. I can barely justify the time I'm not spending on my hw atm

When I do catch a show it's through netflix, I'm actually canceling my cable, we don't use it. The only way I would get it again is if I could subscribe to like 4 or 5 channels that I actually want and pay for that content only.

[Dravin]

Nope. I find lots on TV that I enjoy--from a purely entertainment standpoint to an educational one.

Speaking of the latter, Frozen Planet was a neat miniseries.

Do you just sleep with the DVDs under your pillow?

[whisper]Psspt... I hear some of them new fangled computer things can play DVDs. [/whisper]

[Hala401]

I rarely watch TV. When I do, it's mostly to watch something my wife has started watching (some Law & Order-type show, or Cold Case, or the one with the spy who was cut off and his 40-something girlfriend) or with the kids (cartoons like Fairly Oddparents or the new Avatar sequel). I will always watch BYU football games and General Conference, but other than that, I just get bored by TV. I used to watch The Ultimate Fighter, but the guys involved are so annoying and the show exudes such reality-TV gloppiness that I just don't find it worth my time any more. (Plus, watching guys try to beat each other to a pulp is highly entertaining but probably not what my spirit craves.)

A couple of years before I was born, TV was described as a vast wasteland. Even as TV writing has sharpened considerably, the shows themselves have become thematically ever more depraved and filled with spiritual sewage. So some combination of offense and boredom is at play here. I was raised on watching television literally hours per day, but I often go a week at a time wtihout watching it now.

Anyone else find themselves so utterly disgusted and/or bored with television that they don't watch much of it any more?

I no longer even own a TV. Once in a while when I house sit, people have these wall sized TV's with a jazillian channels, and for a brief moment in time I succumb to the temptation. Wow, what a way to make brain into mush! And, really I have too much to do riding bike, shopping, house cleaning, and helping others.

It is especially frustrating to find that ad time and program time are so overbalanced.

[Jennarator]

Pretty much just netfix for us. Yes, TV is boring. I watched a bit while on Maternity leave, but it was boring.

[applepansy]

I used to enjoy Dancing with the Stars but now the costumes are looking more and more like they shop in the lingerie department and I'm sooooo tired of the guys taking their shirts off. So I only watched one episode to see how Gladys Knight was doing.

Castle is predictable. I like Dresden Files but they only did one season and even though the language was clean and it was about wizards it was getting predictable.

I also used to watch Grey's Anatamy and Private Practice but I got tired of watching adultery portrayed as the "right thing to do" Sheesh!!! No wonder the younger generations don't understand morality.

I like House but I haven't watch the last two seasons. I enjoyed Fringe but I don't even know if they have continued or stopped.

so... yeah... don't watch much TV. I think of it this way: If I can't watch a program with my 4yo grandson then its not worth watching. Which leaves us with PBS Kids. We just don't watch much TV anymore, except my 27 yo son who vegges and zones out in front of the TV. Maybe I can break the TVs without anyone knowing its me?

[Iggy]

When I left my first hubby I left him with the 23" screen tv and the 4 foot satelitte dish/receiver and the monthly $$ bill. That was in 1999.

I couldn't afford another TV after that. Then I found that my life was way less stressful, less tense without the TV. I also felt that my spiritual self was freer - no more sprirtually numbing sit-coms and commercial ads bombarding me and dulling my soul.

New Husband really wanted to get cable/satelitte TV, but I persevered, and we watch Netflix both on line and the DVD's we order. Also hubby has bookmarked certain shows through the major networks and we watch those. The bonus is they are commercial free. Also if a program gets too foul (language and story line) we turn it off and find something else.

Our neighbors (young family) pay for satelitte tv along with internet and they really only watch Discovery, and two or three other educational programs. We watch Discovery via Netflix- and the three educational programs they watch we can get for free. They are not current shows- generally they are a week behind to one month behind - but who cares! We are saving nearly $100.00 a month by NOT having it.

I don't watch TV because it is boring, I don't watch it because there is just too much filth, foul language and sprirtually degrading topics. From the commercials to the programs- too much evil. Drives the Holy Ghost from you.

[Maureen]

...Anyone else find themselves so utterly disgusted and/or bored with television that they don't watch much of it any more?

Not me, I am very much entertained by TV. There are some shows more interesting than others but I find TV watching as somewhat therapeutic.

Vort, you might be more interested in educational TV, like Nova (PBS) - you can't go wrong with Nova. :)

M.

[Vort]

Not me, I am very much entertained by TV. There are some shows more interesting than others but I find TV watching as somewhat therapeutic.

Vort, you might be more interested in educational TV, like Nova (PBS) - you can't go wrong with Nova. :)

I occasionally watch science channel-type stuff. I watched one program that talked about cosmology, with really beautiful special effects. I couldn't make it through the first half-hour, though, because their explanations were so oversimplified and -- dare I say it? -- stupid. Any fifth-grader who likes Wikipedia could have made corrections to it. Bleah.

Once every few months I will stumble over a lecture on UW's channel. They are often very interesting, especially when it's a lecture from the CS department or the medical school. But that's pretty rare.

[dahlia]

I generally keep FoxNews on most of the day while I'm working, but I often turn down the sound so I can listen to Limbaugh online. After the news, mostly I watch nature shows, true crime, history/military stuff, and home diy/decorating/house hunting stuff. I enjoy Robert Irvine's 'Restaurant Impossible' and the cooking challenge shows. I find a lot on satellite TV that is worth watching, but very little on free broadcast TV that is worth my time.

Now that I've discovered the joys of Hulu, I've been watching all the Dragnet shows and am starting on Kojak. It's easy to have them running in the background as I work at the computer.

If I had little kids, there's not much I'd let them watch on regular TV, but there are some great shows available if you're willing to pay for satellite or cable.

[Vort]

[whisper]Psspt... I hear some of them new fangled computer things can play DVDs. [/whisper]

Oh, I see. "I don't own a TV. Rather, I rip the DVDs onto my iPod and watch them on a 2" screen."

Or perhaps, "I don't own a TV. Rather, I have a 35" hi-def computer monitor that I use for my video viewing."

Hey, it would work for me!

[Windseeker]

^ Just netflix too. I pick a series and watch it. Sometimes the oocasional documentary.

[log2]

Castle is predictable.

No it isn't! They're finally going to admit their love to each other this time, and they'll live happily ever after! You'll see!

[HEthePrimate]

Right now I'm not watching much TV at all. Mosty I watch DVDs. That way I have some say of what's on (limited by what the library happens to have on the shelf), and WHEN it's on. Last night I watched "X-Men: First Class."

Some seasons have interesting shows, so at those times I'll watch TV more often. Other seasons are, like you say, boring. I think they've gone overboard with the crime shows, for example. Sure, one or two are fun, but how many "Law and Order" shows do we need? Also, I despise certain types of reality shows, like the ones where people are voting each other off the island, or pitting ten women against each other to win the heart of one man. I HATE those shows! They seem purposely designed to bring out the worst in people, and I can't stand to watch people make complete fools of themselves like that. Daytime TV is an utter wasteland, too.

I wish I could receive the local PBS station. If for no other reason than to watch the occasional nature show (I love animals) or other science program. Even though its broadcast tower is not far from where I live, my home seems to be in a "dead spot." Maybe the signal is blocked by buildings. (?)

Edited May 3, 2012 by HEthePrimate

[pam]

Except during football season my tv only has one channel. HGTV.

Beyond that I don't think I could even tell you what are the current tv shows out there. I do like to catch an occasional Criminal Minds or CSI rerun. But now I think I've seen all of them.

I did have to kind of wean myself off from watching Criminal Minds via my computer. I was shorting out the keyboard with all my drool. :)

[Dravin]

I was shorting out the keyboard with all my drool. :)

Think fast!