The Internet and How it is Changing My Family Entertainment

This is going to a series on some personal observations related to my own experience in how the internet is changing the way that this American family stays in touch and stays entertained. Over its several blog entries I am going to talk about movies, books, TV, daily life and communication media and how, the way I use it, I experience it, has changed over the last 6 or 7 years and where I think it might be going. Each part will deal with one established media outlet. Today we begin with television.

First, a quick summary. I am a member of the TV generation. My parents did not grow up with television but came to it from serial radio which they listened to on a nightly basis. They only got a television soon before or after I was born so I always had one in my life. I can remember watching afternoon serial children’s TV, Howdy Doody, Soupy Sales, I Love Lucy, Red Skelton and Ed Sullivan on Sunday nights. I was around for the sitcom explosion of the 60’s and 70’s and remember feeling it was important to watch the news at night – Walter Cronkite of course. Then came the sitcom explosion and a new technology, the VCR which allowed you to time shift programs, doing away with must see TV and replacing it with must tape TV. Much more recently, there came the DVR which did the same thing but on a hard drive rather than tapes, making it easier to store and record. Most recently we have the technology of on demand viewing and Netflix on line watching TV programs at your leisure. One final “techy” thing is streaming and downloading of TV from the internet.

So, where am I and my family at you ask? Well, having a child on the cutting edge of all this like MJ and CollegeBoy, offers significant advantages as the two of them have demonstrated and convinced us of a new way to be entertained. First off, a few months ago we stopped our cable TV service. We had a DVR and cable set up and mostly left the TV on for background distraction noise. MJ first got me to watch a sci-fi show called “Firefly” and CollegeBoy was chiming in with “Arrested Development” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”. What was different was that we downloaded the shows and watch whole seasons in consecutive order. This is a brilliant concept. Watching 2-3 shows in an evening in the time it takes to watch one on commercial TV. No commercials, stop when you like. Best of all, it maintains the continuity of the program with story plots and character twists, that are sometimes lost in the once a week viewing cycle. And, you never miss an episode! I must admit I am hooked. Since these humble beginnings we have downloaded several series – Weeds, Big Love, Leverage, Dexter, and the one I am viewing now, Eureka. This download thing is awesome.

Before you get any ideas however that this is some panacea of sorts, one point to know is that there are only a somewhat limited availability of programming this way. No day time TV, for example but longer running programming is there and waiting.

I must also admit that of the big three entertainments fields – TV, movies, and music, it is my best understanding that TV has “Got it” the best. All the major networks have shows available to be streamed on demand from their website although CBS is the most restrictive. Several other cable networks like USA and Comedy Central make most or all of their content available for streaming to the computer. This approach means some commercials but generally they are limited in number and time, much more so than commercial TV. This is developing right along with the smartphone phenomena and all that offers.

Finally, there are places to stream and watch live TV. I watch Yankee baseball almost every night. I see MSNBC every weeknight too. Mrsfabp watched American Idol this past season. Again, having kids on the edge of the technology helps a tremendous amount.

(In the next post I will do a quick review of the different TV series we are watching / have watched, before moving on to Books...)