Anybody else wish a miserable death on broadcast television?

[NickT]

Also if things did change, there would most likely still be a network station-esque group.

[Morrison_Lad]

Another thing that needs to be considered here is bandwidth. ISPs are already starting to throttle people who use a lot and data caps have been rumored for a while now. If people make a mass exodus from broadcast TV to Internet, someone's going to find a way to charge you a lot for the privilege.

Yep. Excellent point.

[saintsaucey]

Which sucks when you have multiple people using mutiple computers or devices to watch netflix/hulu/play games

[Morrison_Lad]

Which sucks when you have multiple people using mutiple computers or devices to watch netflix/hulu/play games

Luckily, I'm able to use my AppleTV for Netflix most of the time. And I've watched an episode or movie, even, on iPad up at the coffee shop.

[stealthwise]

We lost a year of Mad Men due to interference, HIMYM is ending (and sporting highest ratings ever; seriously, Community's big problem is the network it's on because I have yet to find a HIMYM watcher who doesn't adore Community), P&R is ending, 30 Rock is ending, Cougar Town is ALSO coming back under weird/dubious circumstances with its showrunner replaced.

You know, though, Mad Men isn't suffering at all for its hiatus, I think they've come back more energized and focused after last season. HIMYM isn't ending yet, it's still got at least one more season to go, and after about 180 episodes, needs to start circling the landing pad on the whole "mother" thing (really). Community is unfortunate, but really, given the ratings probably is lucky they even got to finish this season, let alone another one. 30 Rock is getting tired and likely jumped the shark halfway through last season, as funny as it is.

Cougartown still has Bill Lawrence on board in a more amiable relationship than Harmon, it sounds, so there's a chance it could work on TBS.

It's not all gloom and doom, although I will admit I can't think of many shows that I'm that interested in outside of the ones you listed here.

[stealthwise]

Sidenote: If you really love a show and want to show your support, then buy a Season Pass on iTunes. Not sure how much money the networks get (likely none), but at least it's a way to vote with your wallet and support a show you love. I'm considering cancelling cable altogether and just buying passes to the several shows I'm into right now.

[CutterMike]

If broadcast television is crap and people are watching it anyway, what makes you think that ending broadcast TV and moving everyone to online viewing is going to IMPROVE the quality of the programming?

If everyone that WANTS to watch their fake reality shows is forcibly moved to online viewing, they are STILL going to want to watch their fake-reality shows; they are NOT going to suddenly blink their eyes and say, "Why, good heavens! I could be watching Masterpiece TheaTAH instead of this twaddle! Whatever was I THINKING?".

They're just not.

And if the fake reality shows and the "Judge Whatzisface" shows and the "Stupid People Tricks" shows STILL draw in the viewers and STILL cost less to make than quality scripted shows* then -- guess what? -- those will STILL be the most prominently made, promoted, and viewed programs available.

So what would you have accomplished by moving broadcast viewers online?

At best, nothing. At worst, by crowding the "marketplace" with the same crap that was previously broadcast, you would have made it HARDER for small online programs and services to get the traction that they need to survive.

...Unless, of course, you MEAN to squeeze out the people like my father, who never COULD get used to "A/B" switch boxes, "TV/AUX" on the CABLE remote, before picking up the VCR remote and pressing "PLAY" in order to watch a movie. And my father wasn't stupid! But he was in his 70s and retired and when he wanted to watch a movie, then he wanted to watch a gorram MOVIE, not fiddle with all this crap. There are STILL a lot of people who "don't want to fiddle with all this crap" and who see computers and online stuff as part of the "All This Crap" that they don't want to fiddle with.

SURE, if people already have, or can afford to buy, computers, TVs with HDMI inputs, and all of the tech that a lot of us take for granted, and can configure it themselves or get someone to configure it FOR them, then watching TV online would probably be more convenient for them in the long run. If they DON'T have those things, however -- if they're, say, living on Social Security and not able to buy a new TV and have the Geek Squad set it up, then when broadcast TV goes dark they are, essentially, even MORE isolated from society than they are now.


* The unspoken assumptions in the "Destroy All Broadcast TV" theory can be broken down as follows:

1 -- What *I* want to watch is QUALITEH Programming.

2 -- If the stuff that I DON'T want to watch -- that twaddle on TV for the (shudder) MASSES -- were to disappear, then all of that money could be put to making more Qualiteh Programming.

3 --What do you MEAN, you don't like the programs that I like...? Don't you like QUALITEH?!!?"

...Because we ALL think that the shows we like are great and when they go off the air before we want them to it's ALWAYS because the rabble didn't appreciate QUALITEH.

Once we can get past the idea that what WE like is ACTUALLY quality programming (and, hey... I can admit that not everything that I enjoy could actually be categorized as "high-quality" -- I liked "Enterprise", after all!), then we can admit that maybe sometimes the market was right and it actually WAS time for that particular teacup to die.

...and get ON with our lives.

[Morrison_Lad]

Here you go, Patrick: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...ref=technology

[Jim Schnobrich]

CutterMike, NickT, and C.B. have all had the most appropriate responses to the flawed premise of this thread. Changing the method of delivery is not going to alleviate the issues you are having with television - lots of people watching shows you don't like and the shows you do like getting cancelled because they aren't popular enough.

[Kingsmythe]

No,sorry. I agree there's a lot of bad stuff on TV these days, but some really good stuff too.

I really love Person of Interest. Also like Mentalist a lot. There are some otehr good ones, too.

I do not with the death of broadcast TV, I actually enjoy a small amount of it.