TV Shows on DVD
I know a few people who claim that they don't watch any television. None. They refuse to do this because they feel the majority of television is insulting to their intelligence, uninteresting, and is responsible for making people stupider. I don't really agree with their elitist take on how television is making those who watch it "stupider", but I do understand why they feel it has little to offer them.
Personally, I watch just enough television to stay relevant. I enjoy watching TV shows on DVD, which is a relatively new phenomenon. This whole trend started with Lost, which takes the so-called "story arc" format of a continuous running storyline between episodes. While Lost was certainly not the first show to have this format, it was the first big hit in the age of DVD that people of moderate intelligence latched onto.
Most of my friends have latched onto at least one story arc television show. The interesting thing about how this works is that you get sucked into the ongoing plot by renting the first season on DVD. You manage to get through the first season in a marathon sessions of three or four evenings, and, if it's well written, there's a doosey of a cliffhanger at the end of season one that makes you jump right into season two. (Lost did this beautifully by deftly introducing new conflict in its season one ending; the copycat Heroes did a terrible job because it only provided resolution.) And so, once hooked, you start following the show on broadcast television, at the near-comatose rate of one episode per week, the plotline polluted with commercials.
Lost could never have been as successful in an age without something like DVDs and a major distribution chain like Netflix. Releasing it back in the 1980s would have generated a small cult following, but there's no way it would have become the viral hit that it ended up becoming. Because it's available to almost anyone on DVD, anyone can take a friend's recommendation, rent it, and catch up, following the show right from the beginning. (If you try jumping in in the middle someplace, you're never going to figure it out.) And because Netflix isn't as constrained as your local Blockbuster was in stocking its VHS titles back in the 1990's, lots more people get a chance to get in on the story.
I don't watch stuff like The Biggest Loser, but it's funny to me to wonder if people ever discuss these shows the way people discuss Lost. Do people sit around the water cooler talking about the episode where The Biggest Loser stopped being interesting? Are there debates about when The Bachelor started to go downhill? Is it a point of heated contention in forums across the Internet exactly when American Idol stopped being meaningful and just became preachy and boring?
Naturally, they don't, because they never set the bar that high. And while the nerds that watch Lost aren't the most judgmental group of people by any measure, they do have a knack for taking their own expectations way too seriously.
Personally, I watch just enough television to stay relevant. I enjoy watching TV shows on DVD, which is a relatively new phenomenon. This whole trend started with Lost, which takes the so-called "story arc" format of a continuous running storyline between episodes. While Lost was certainly not the first show to have this format, it was the first big hit in the age of DVD that people of moderate intelligence latched onto.
Most of my friends have latched onto at least one story arc television show. The interesting thing about how this works is that you get sucked into the ongoing plot by renting the first season on DVD. You manage to get through the first season in a marathon sessions of three or four evenings, and, if it's well written, there's a doosey of a cliffhanger at the end of season one that makes you jump right into season two. (Lost did this beautifully by deftly introducing new conflict in its season one ending; the copycat Heroes did a terrible job because it only provided resolution.) And so, once hooked, you start following the show on broadcast television, at the near-comatose rate of one episode per week, the plotline polluted with commercials.
Lost could never have been as successful in an age without something like DVDs and a major distribution chain like Netflix. Releasing it back in the 1980s would have generated a small cult following, but there's no way it would have become the viral hit that it ended up becoming. Because it's available to almost anyone on DVD, anyone can take a friend's recommendation, rent it, and catch up, following the show right from the beginning. (If you try jumping in in the middle someplace, you're never going to figure it out.) And because Netflix isn't as constrained as your local Blockbuster was in stocking its VHS titles back in the 1990's, lots more people get a chance to get in on the story.
I don't watch stuff like The Biggest Loser, but it's funny to me to wonder if people ever discuss these shows the way people discuss Lost. Do people sit around the water cooler talking about the episode where The Biggest Loser stopped being interesting? Are there debates about when The Bachelor started to go downhill? Is it a point of heated contention in forums across the Internet exactly when American Idol stopped being meaningful and just became preachy and boring?
Naturally, they don't, because they never set the bar that high. And while the nerds that watch Lost aren't the most judgmental group of people by any measure, they do have a knack for taking their own expectations way too seriously.