Alyse Hutchins

TV Viewing:

Wednesday 11.05.08
8:30pm to 3:30am



I can remember I time when I would come home from school and watch hours on end of television, absolutely frustrated when my mother made me get up and clean something or interrupted my precious relaxation time—because life is so hard in middle school. I suppose the most significant alteration to my viewing habits happened when I graduated high school and moved out from under my parent’s roof and didn’t have cable for a year, as well as other periods hence. Ever since I suppose, television just doesn’t interest me. There are plenty of shows I have, or I’d love to become engrossed in—i.e. Lost, Dawson’s Creek, One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl, Grey’s Anatomy, Family Guy, Gilmore Girls, Desperate Housewives—and these particular shows I either own the box set, DVR them, or rent them online; and watch them at my own convenience without pesky commercials. Generally, the only television I watch on an actually TV at its specific broadcast time is Nick at Night, really late—usually Fresh Prince and Roseanne—when I’m having trouble sleeping at night; and even then when the first commercial comes on I usually turn my back to the TV and fall asleep. It’s horrible when I get to bed so late that Nick at Night has become Nick Junior. I watched Stylista on the CW and The Island Reunion on MTV for the first time. Only watched about fifteen minutes—wasn’t that interesting. I actually had to force myself to watch things the entire fifteen minutes. I did however, watch some stand-up on Comedy Central by Bill Maher that was absolutely hilarious, glad I caught that one. So inso-facto, this was very atypical from my normal viewing (or lack thereof) habits.

Specifically today, all the TV I watched was at my house on an actually TV, at its regular broadcast time, and by myself. But often I watch football games on Saturday and Sunday at a restaurant with a group of people. Or with my best friend at her house, and then it’s her daughter that chooses to watch eighteen consecutive episodes of Dora the Explorer. Like I said before, I frequently watch a series on box set. I watched all fours seasons of Lost for the first time over the summer and I don’t think I slept for a month just because I couldn’t stop watching long enough. And, I do occasionally watch a series by streaming them online, usually Ugly Betty or Desperate House Wives from the station’s website.

I most definitely had trouble watching a single show for fifteen minutes at a time. I think it had a lot to do with the fact that I just have basic cable so I don’t have the option to scroll through the guide and see what else is on without changing the channel—and heaven forbid I miss something on another channel. And I despise commercials. I’m not sure if I trust the accuracy of the Nielsen Journal as a method to record particular viewing trends. I hypothesize that when people get the chance to view in a list the crap that they choose to watch on TV, they might be tempted to alter the legitimacy of their journal. For instance, if I noticed I watched five hours of Dancing With the Stars and the Real World, I might be tempted to say that I watched some news and Discovery Channel in there somewhere, when realistically I did not. Or particular shows that people might not actually want to admit to watching—sex talk shows or woman’s basketball. I think the things we choose to watch, to a certain extent, reflects the type of person we are—or possibly just how much free time we have on our hands—and some people might not be comfortable with the realization that they don’t even know what channel the History Channel is on.