Movies and TV

[Eamonn]

I think I must be getting old!!

I looked over the list of films that are on the Oscar nomination list and I think I've only seen one of them and it's a documentary!!

I do enjoy TV.

A night at home with me in my chair, a dog either side and Her Who Must Be Obeyed on the couch is just great. Sadly we don't get to do it very often.

I like to think that I'm a selective viewer. When I was young I watched whatever was on.

I'm not snooty or snobbish but I find American sit-coms to be very boring and not very funny, so I don't watch them. I quit watching when Roseanne or Roxanne Barr ?? came along.

I really hate to miss West Wing and I hate the idea that it will not be coming back after this season.

To me watching sports on TV is for the most part just a waste of time.

I do watch a fair amount of the programming that is on PBS. I used to send a donation when "Pledge" was only once or twice a year but now it seems every-time they have a program that I want to watch, they break it into nine parts and ask for money eleven times -So I showed them!!

I have heard that movie theaters are starting to feel the pinch, people are just not going like they used to.

I remember when I would go twice a week.

I do wonder if young people are not going to baseball games like they used to and are not going to the movies - Where are they going?

Sure the young people have X-Box and video games, but we had books.

I have never watched a real movie on a computer. I do as a rule wait until the movies I want to see go on sale and buy them then. A pal of mine just canceled all of her premium cable subscriptions and has gone with Netflix, but she says that after only a few months that there just isn't that many movies that she wants to see and $120.00 a year is a little steep. Of course when she does get something worth watching, after she has seen it she passes it on to me. So at least I'm doing well out of her Netflix.

Eamonn.

[t158sm]

A few ideas that come to mind of where the people are:

 

At home playing video games

At their local Wal-Mart

On the computer (just like us) LOL

 

[gwd-scouter]

The West Wing is in its last season??? I was disappointed when American Dreams was cancelled as it rang so true to my own childhood and teenage years, and now the West Wing. What will I do on Sunday nights? I know, post messages on the Scouter Forum!

[scoutingagain]

The best show currently on TV and the only one I acutally try and watch is "24 Hours". Just how many terrorist threats can one man thwart in a day?

 

SA

[funscout]

Since we don't have cable T.V. or sattelite, my family doesn't watch much T.V. We seldom go to movies, but if we do, it's always a matinee. Since I quit my full time job, we have to pinch pennies, but we do occasionally rent movies.

 

We take our kids to our local community center every Friday night for basketball, dodgeball or swimming. If we didn't do that, then the boys would just want to play video games. (They have to earn their own money for the games, or wait for birthdays or Christmas for new games.)

 

I only know of one other family who does not have sattelite or cable T.V. Are there any more of you out there?

[Lisabob]

Funscout - my sister's family does not have cable/satellite. They live in the middle of nowhere so cable isn't an option anyway. If it weren't for my cartoon-movies-and-sports crazed other half, I wouldn't have it either. (he thinks I'm nuts but at least he consented when I decreed that there would never, ever be a tv in the bedroom, so I guess I can live with things as they are)

 

It isn't that I hate TV or anything - though my son is not sure about that - but I grew up spending 10-14 weeks every summer and most weekends the rest of the year at camp without any TV at all (exceptions made for occasional olympics events) and I hardly ever missed it. Amazing what we can do with all that extra time.

 

Now when I suggest we turn it off for even a few days, let alone a week, the rest of my family wants me to get my head examined!

 

Oh well.

 

Lisa'bob

[GernBlansten]

I have had sat/cable for years. I am the primary viewer in the household. The kids don't watch much and the better half would rather read. I watch almost exclusively the History channel or Discovery, never network TV. But I do have to admit I will pick up HBO this month because one of my vices is the Sopranos. I have wireless headphones so I can enjoy my vice without disturbing the peaceful sanctity of the homestead.

[HopewellT8SM]

We are here in the middle of mega money suburbia. Cable tv bill among neighbors is 75 to 150 $ each month. We do not have cable or satilite.

We get the three major stations and PBS. Just fine with us. We have a teenage son and daughter.

They have thier Playstation, and we get 2-3 movies a month from Netflicks, mostly for the kids and my wife.

 

Then again I am SM. And I found out what BSA meant by "hour a weeK"..... an hour a week per scout.... I have 29.

 

HHS

[SemperParatus]

For the three years between college and getting married, I voluntarily gave up television all together. Didn't have one at all and avoided watching them when visiting friends and relatives. I also gave up newspapers and of course, the internet had not yet been invented by Al Gore. It really was a very peaceful time in my life. I basically worked, played and courted my wife.

 

I considered it an experiment at the time, and was surprised how little I missed watching and reading inane blather and the depressing portrayal of the news and imitated life. After getting married, I broke down and started watching TV again, but it has never really been of much interest to me.

 

Other than Seinfeld, I can't think of a decent television show since All In The Family.

[SR540Beaver]

I have a scouter buddy who doesn't have cable TV. His kids sure spend a lot of time at the neighbors house instead of home.

 

I am one of those people who does love TV. Not only do I have cable, but I have digital cable with HDTV an a DVR (think TIVO) an a big screen TV. I hear a lot of people who claim there is nothing good on TV anymore. I beg to differ. I think TV is at an all time high in quality. Is there junk out there? You bet. I look at it like a fruit stand. I pick thru it and pick the best and leave the rest at the market. There is a lot of reality TV junk out there, but I try to never miss Dancing with the Stars, Survivor or American Idol. I never miss 24, Stargate SG1 or Lost. If I have to be busy with other things, I record them on the DVR to view later. There are a number of other great shows that I try not to miss, but I don't get in a funk if I miss them. Any Law and Order show is usually top notch as is West Wing. Without a Trace and Cold Case seldom disappoint. Numbers is entertaining. On top of all of that, I watch a lot of stuff on the Discovery, History, Science, Military and National Geographic channels. Mythbusters an Dirty Jobs are fun. I used to watch a lot of CNN and FOX News until it starte to get a little to much like Jerry Springer, so I cut way back on people telling me what I should think.

 

Yep, I'm a TV junkie......and I still fin time for that 1 hour a week of scouting.

[evmori]

There was a really good show with Sir Paul at Apple Studio on PBS the other night!

[CalicoPenn]

I haven't had TV at my house since 2001, not even the networks. When I was at college, our television received 2 channels, one was the ABC affiliate (which worked out well - they showed McGuyver which I liked and syndicated reruns of Magnum, PI, which my roommate liked) and the PBS affiliate. Our antenna couldn't pick up the other channels and cable was still a good 5 years away from hitting town (and this was back in 1985!). Other than the shows we sat down to watch (McGyver or Magnum, or something on PBS assigned as a class project), we never really watched the TV, though it was on all the time - there was something soothing about having the background noises in the middle of the woods in the evening.

 

When I returned home to take care of my parents, cable was hooked up on every television in the house - my father was bedridden for the last 3 years of his life and television was a neccessity to keep him entertained. The only must see shows for me was Northern Exposure, but after Joel left, there was really no longer any point to watching that show anymore; and The Simpsons - and now I can get my Simpson's fix on DVD.

 

I've thought that television newscasts have been going down the tube (so to speak) for years - I was getting really annoyed watching "news reporters" bundling up in arctic quality parkas on 40 degree November days interviewing construction workers to find out just "how they keep warm in such cold weather". I always hoped that the reporter had to endure interviewing 45 construction workers wearing blue jeans and a sweatshirt telling them to go back home to San Diego or somewhere and get a life before finding that one person who said they put on a pair of long johns. After 9-11, TV news just got worse so it was time to go.

 

Now, I watch movies (I get about 15 a month from Netflix) sort of thematically/biographically - for instance, I've watched all the Akira Kurosawa movies, all the Charlie Chaplin movies, all the Alfred Hitchcock movies, and most of the Frederico Fellini movies, am working my way through the movies of Ingmar Bergman, Francois Truffault, Pedro Almodovar, Jean Renoir and Toshiro Mifune (Japanese Actor who starred in a number of Kurosawa movies). I read about double the number of books I used to (last year I read 113 books), have learned to play the Native American style flute, have learned to play the appalachian style dulcimer, am learning the hammered dulcimer, and of course spend time online.

 

CalicoPenn

[funscout]

Although my family doesn't watch much T.V., my father could rival SR540Beaver for T.V. addiction. He has T.V.s on in more than one room at a time, so as he walks from room to room, he doesn't miss anything. My parents have a rustic cabin in a very woodsy setting, and in order to get my Dad to spend more than a weekend at a time up there, my Mom bought him a sattelite dish. It's funny to watch them try to get a signal after the wind has moved the dish. Mom is in the cabin with a walkie talkie and Dad is down the hill, with a walkie talkie, at the beach adjusting the sattelite dish!

 

A few years ago my husband won a trip for 2 to Mexico, We temporarily got cable so my Dad wouldn't go crazy while he and Mom babysat the kids for a week.

[ScoutNut]

Broadcast channels only. No cable, satellite, HDTV, or any of that.

 

There are a few things that would interest me on paytv, but not much. It usually ends up on broadcast or dvd sooner or later.

 

 

[frankj]

We do not have TV, cable or satellite and have not had them for about 13 years. Our children have been 'deprived' of this since ages 2 and 4 respectively. We do watch videos or DVDs. Based on this sample size of 2, my conclusion is, it has been for the better in terms of schoolwork and other things. I highly recommend it.

 

With us, it was more a consumer choice than anything else. Regular TV reception in our area was poor to non-existent. Cable service prices were increasing, but content was not improving. We decided to forego it and after a while found out we didn't miss it. No one we know has done this.