Who Watches TV On A TV Any More?


About three months ago, I caught an episode of Gossip Girl just to see what all the hype was about. Well, that’s not quite the truth. I only get a few channels with my rabbit ears so I thought I’d give the show a try. I haven’t watched it since but it is strange how this one episode completely changed my television viewing experience.

The show didn’t win me over by any means. Yet, one piece of dialogue stuck with me well after the episode was over.

One of the characters was complaining about her mom’s new boyfriend. Apparently her mother is a bit of a pushover for the men in her life and adopted new house rules on his request. As such she now has a curfew and a few other chores or duties that she had not had before.

I remember her friend telling her, “What’s he gonna do next, take away your TV?”

and then he said this memorable line that just echoed in my head.

“Who watches TV on a TV any more, anyway?”

What a great line. Before I watched this episode, I knew that television shows were available online. I also knew that my internet wasn’t quite fast enough to watch videos on. I was happy enough with my three channels that I could tune in with my rabbit ears.

Since then, though, I have upgraded to a faster internet service and have been streaming television shows and even downloading some. It makes sense financially. I don’t have to pay for cable. I can get channels for free with my rabbit ears and any show that I can’t tune in, I can manage to find online.

The best thing about watching television online is that you can get it on demand. You don’t have to wait for a show to come on at a specific time. You also get to watch it without commercials, depending on where you find it that is.

I must say, this has completely changed the way I see TV. And to think, all it took was one line of dialogue to open me up to a new digital world.


4 responses to “Who Watches TV On A TV Any More?”

  1. Oh brother…I feel for you..three channels and rabbit ears…I wish I could go back to peasant vision (as we call it around here) like Baba had on the farm. Hell, I can’t even go back to regular cable. And satellite is even getting to be not enough. As I have said before…a five hundred channel universe? I vote for more! But I also download shows because I want to watch them at my leisure at three in the am when I am usually awake so I could survive if the satellite went down.

  2. Hi Calvin,

    I know that most people who read my blog probably don’t have “peasant vision” – nice term by the way. I do it for financial reasons right now. I can’t give up the Internet though so watching shows online is the perfect solution.

  3. At the risk of sounding like a geezer, I’ll add that there’s nothing currently on TV that I WANT to see.

    You can have your American Idol, CSI and 24 – I’ll be happily watching The Bob Newhart Show or Buck Rogers via Netflix.

    I was tired of reality shows after the first Real World circa 1992.

  4. Hi Gilligan,

    I don’t like any of the new shows you mentioned there either. I am picky with what I watch.

    That being said, there are some really good shows on right now. I like Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Being Erica, Little Mosque on the Prairie, The Hour, and Heroes.