The Golden Era of American Television

I watch a lot of television. Since the NFL season started, I've been watching roughly thirty hours a week. Yet I do not consider myself a “couch potato” and feel no guilt about how many hours I spend in front of the tube. I watch tv in a meticulous, organized fashion and everything I watch is quality programming. I do not channel surf and have not seen a MTV, VH1, or E! program in a long time.

The advent of tivo/DVR and DVDs have changed the way we can watch television. I can watch anything I want whenever I want and never watch commercials. I don’t watch anything live except for Sunday afternoon football games – but then always multiple games on multiple tvs – and the occasional event such as the presidential debates or other sports.

Every week I watch about ten hours of NFL football and another five of college football. During the week I watch NFL Live every day (20 minutes a day with DVR), NFL Primetime (40 mins) the fresh WSOP episodes (1.5 hours with DVR), Survivor (40 minutes), and The Office (20 minutes). I also watch every NFL game edited into a “Short Cut” of only the action. This adds an additional seven hours every week.

It doesn’t stop there. The best thing about modern television is these boxed DVD sets of television shows. You can watch full seasons of any show you want without commercials. You can wait to hear the buzz on shows, then decide if you want to take the plunge and watch a season. Lost is a show that got a lot of buzz and sounded like something I would enjoy, so eventually I bought the first season. Now I’ve watched the first three seasons, and they’ll surely get me for the last three.

I’ve watched the first season of both Arrested Development and Entourage and am considering digging deeper. The Wire, another show that’s gotten a ton of positive hype, is next on my list. For a rainy day, there’s always Prison Break, Californication, Weeds, Rome, Deadwood, and on and on. If I hear enough recommendations for something else, I’ll look into that.