Saturday, March 16, 2013

On (Not) Watching Television

I've been following along recently with a number of discussions of the ending of Season 3 of Downton Abbey, mostly out of amusement at how passionately some people are reacting to what happened.  I'm not a participant in these discussions, because I have never seen a single episode of Downton Abbey (which is apparently somewhat unusual for someone in my demographic, which can be loosely classified as "Over-Educated Intellectual Snob").  The last television series I watched with anything like regularity was The Practice, which was on ABC for 8 years (1997-2004).  I actually didn't make it through the first year, because ABC moved it around, and I had trouble keeping up with what day and time it was on.  And I didn't want to tape it (yes, it was long enough ago that people used VCRs to record shows they wanted to watch, not DVRs or streaming or on-demand...).  Before that, I couldn't say what I watched with any regularity.  Maybe the Mystery! Sherlock Holmes series with Jeremy Brett between 1984 and 1994?  Since those programs, I have completely missed out on reality TV...and on everything else...although oddly enough we have expanded basic cable (basic is included in our HOA fee, and we buy the expanded tier so my wife can watch the Food Network and I can watch baseball...does baseball count as "reality TV"?). 

I don't feel particularly "superior" to anyone because of this; I guess I would rather read, and rather not be tethered to a schedule (although on-demand makes that unnecessary).  Just musing on how much of an outsider in on-going conversations I tend to be (and to feel), and it can often be awkward.  (But not awkward enough to make me do anything about it.)