End of television?

[Sierra Rose]

In our house, we have come to an end of a great and long cycle: we gave our TV to charity today since we never watch it anymore.

We watch movies on-line and a few shows here and there on line, get our news on-line too. We may be behind others who have already done this, but it does seem momentous to me after 50 years (in my case) of TV being a given in most households.

Nothing seems to catch or hold our attention that is being broadcast these days. So hasta la vista Mr. television. Heh heh.

Does this bode well for internet distribution?

[Elodie]

End of television?

Well, until there will have games console, I know there will already have a TV at my home

But I must say I don't look at the TV really much : only the morning, in order to have the informations while I have lunch. The rare moments where I try to look at TV... I prefer switch off it, because there are too stupid TV programs...

[Peter Wassink]

Good for you!
I gave up TV about 5 years ago and never missed it.

[ematecki]

I gave up TV when I went to university, that was in 1984...
I can't even watch a whole movie DVD at once !

[Paul Fierlinger]

I returned to TV when the world news got crazier than ever. I also find watching TV commercials useful (I still do that for a living) and found the proliferation and clutter of graphics and special effects useful to absorb if my commercials have to compete for attention with those. I find the whole new trend and concepts of most commercials (any spots; live action or animated) fascinating and not always so bad.

[Paul Fierlinger]

Here's an example of what I can learn from watching TV:
http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0 ... 05,00.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
This same information can apply to the creation of sound tracks in animated shorts.

[Sierra Rose]

Yes, interesting interview. (Which I watched on-line, heh heh).

My husband and I were just saying that one element we don't have now is the array of commercials. We are wondering if this will put us out of touch with our world. I actually think a lot of commercials are like little stories and some very enjoyable at that, but so far I'm not really feeling any cravings to re-enlist the satellite to see them.

We fell out of the habit of watching TV some time ago, only just now gave it away when we realized we were paying Direct TV for nothing. I bought a little MP3 player last year and now use our library service to download audio books. I must go through 4 or 5 of those a week. Very handy when one is doing the tedious part of animation or cooking or cleaning or even taking the dog out to pee. I don't like it when I'm hiking though as I love the sounds up in our hills.

[toonsisters]

As a poll in Germany discovered most people working for television or producing for television don't watch it themselves or even don't own a TV.
That makes me contemplative.
Somethings going wrong here.

[Paul Fierlinger]

John Steinbeck stopped reading novels when he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940. Beethoven continued composing after he completely lost his hearing, Ted Turner stopped racing boats when electronic gadgetry began to cost too much money and only the rich could win, and I predict that gays will stop marrying after it will become universally acceptable.

[toonsisters]

what a nonsense!

Beethoven did not became deaf by choice and although passing the public authorities is not easy by no concomitant tax benefits the legal homosexual partnership in Germany is becoming more and more popular.

You mix up different individual situations with the main drift of television as a medium produced by what we call here "education close people" for assumed "education distant people".

[Paul Fierlinger]

Beethoven did not became deaf by choice

My point is that creative people are productive inside their minds whether they choose to follow outside influences or not. It becomes a process like breathing or thinking or having a heartbeat. This happens when the process of creating becomes the end means. So watching television has nothing to do with the process of creating for television, watching TV, or not watching the sunset. One can choose to watch TV or not to watch TV independently of one's creative abilities. There are just times in our lives when we need to climb into a hole and shelter ourselves from the news of the world and then less contemplative and more socially active times return -- all this in natural cycles. To consider one phase superior to the other is what is nonsensical.

[toonsisters]

This happens when the process of creating becomes the end means.

In this case the artists should go and find a gallery, a museum or a festival. If you want to produce for a medium like television you should neither only regard your own artisic breath nor assume what others want to watch. The best television programs are made by people who care about what they want to watch themselves!

[Paul Fierlinger]

This happens when the process of creating becomes the end means.

In this case the artists should go and find a gallery, a museum or a festival. If you want to produce for a medium like television you should neither only regard your own artisic breath nor assume what others want to watch. The best television programs are made by people who care about what they want to watch themselves!

You should disregard others (red) but care only about yourself (blue).

[toonsisters]

There is a difference in what I want to produce as art and what I want to watch on television.
Isn't there for you?

[Paul Fierlinger]

There is a difference in what I want to produce as art and what I want to watch on television.
Isn't there for you?

Exactly! But television programming is a for profit public service (and that includes educational, public, or whatever you want to call so called non-commercial TV).

I think the whole issue is elsewhere; it's the repetition that gets at all of us. After I came out of a 5 or 6 year period of no TV I was enchanted by the variety of new and interesting concepts on TV ... before it became old hat again. The same experience applies when I travel and watch TV of other nations; I often think, This is so interesting -- why can't we have programs like these? Then I realize that I wouldn't want to watch this stuff day in and day out either.

The best TV I've ever watched have been INPUT screenings, a yearly conference of the best of world public TV. This non juried festival is held every year in a different country that intermixes with the screenings the best live performances that represents local culture. What a feast for the senses!! But that's a one week selection of the best of the best from all over the world!!! Not a single studio can keep up with that 24 hrs a day, 365 days a year.

The trick is to watch selectively at home, but that takes too much effort, so Sandra and I end up just watching the news... day in and day out; an all news household.