What entertains you?
Asked by
Trillian (
21153
)
May 21st, 2012
After four years without a television in my home, I recently got a television and satellite tv. I am appalled at the ridiculous of many of the shows that are advertised.
They seem to have just a few common threads -food, sex, pretentiousness, violence, conflict and people behaving badly or stupidly.
Now, the Smithsonian channel has some interesting programming, and I would be a hypocrite if I didn’t admit (with my head hung in shame) that I am completely hooked on The Borgias and Game of Thrones, both of which have plenty of silliness, gratuitous sex and violence and blatant “keep you watching” ploys.
I shake my head in wonder at the rest. I can’t imagine who is entertained by watching other people eat. Or the whole WWF (or whatever the initials are, they seem to keep changing), NASCAR, really any of the reality shows, and even lots of the crime solving stuff. Now lots of it is that it makes me insane listening to someone tell a story in the past tense but speak in present tense. But much of it is so ridiculously drawn out, they don’t get to the point before the commercial, then they spend the first five minutes after the commercial recapping everything, I have to shut it off or have a meltdown!
I must conclude that television is not for me. I have my high speed internet and my books, and an occasional night out if I want company.
Can anyone tell me about entertaining programming and the appeal? I frequently feel like an outsider, because obviously other people like it. What am I missing here?
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16 Answers
Internet forums like this
Historical stuff on the internet (www.historicaerials.com is awesome)
Reading library books
Playing sports.
I don’t have time for much else
My favorite shows:
Big Bang Theory. A 30 minute sit-com which is witty and corny all at once. The humor is much like what you would find on fluther with references to star trek.
Mike and Molly another sit-com. The main characters are overweight and met in overeaters anonymous. The writing is really funny, centerng around their families.
Morning Joe and This Week with George Stephanopolous if you like politics. Morning Joe is a 3 hour morning program that has guests on for 20+ minutes, and they have real conversations rather than 5 minutes of screaming and touting the part line. Some of that happens, but it is very limited. No need to watch the entire three hours, they do repeat some stuff if you watch the whole thing. The last hour is usually a waste.
I like Undercover Boss for a reality type show. A CEO or owner or someone else high in a company goes undercover to work with employees, and really gets an idea of what it is like outside of the ivory coporate tower in their company.
Fringe. A sci-fi drama, but it needs to be seen from the beginning, so you would have to go back and watch the prior seasons.
I don’t have cable and probably never will for obvious reasons, but I only like nature and space shows. I also watch Real Time with Bill Maher for the humor, and a TV series only if I think it is good, which is rare.
I tried to watch Dexter to see what everyone liked, but I easily tired of it.
”@Charles The link doesn’t work,”
It works for me. Try a different browser. I think you need Flash installed? It’s a great site you can look at historical imagery going back to the 1930s and compare it to today using the “Compare” tool. If you are at work, maybe your boss has restrictions or something. Try it at home.
It works now, thx. I thought I saw half of a parens, it’s gone now. I was going to copy & paste, but anyway, thank you, I’m off tomorrow & Wednesday, I check it out then.
I watch almost no “regular” tv shows. I watch (or DVR) Antiques Roadshow, this other serial documentary with Henry Louis Gates, where they research celebrities’ ancestry, documentaries on HBO, Sundance, PBS.
On internet, I FB, Fluther, and look at blog sites for creative, crafts, history, culture. I like scrapbooking, paper crafts, fabric crafts, and Pinterest.
I like magazines, same topics as the blogs, also The New Yorker and the New York Times Magazine.
I like to read but don’t read as many books as I would like to. I am in a book group that meets once a month at a library.
My daughter is very entertaining. She’s funny without meaning to be. She’s almost 5.
I agree with you, most tv shows are very boring most of the time. Game of Thrones, Mad Men, Deadwood, Eastbound & Down, Venture Bros, the Daily Show, Jeopardy, Antiques Roadshow ^^ and a few others are really good. A lot of others like Dexter, Doctor Who, Shameless, and Misfits are good in parts and have great stories but are boring for large stretches – and then there’s the vast sea of repetitive drivel in sitcoms and reality shows. I’ll still watch some of those, like Roseanne, MASH, Project Runway, and Law & Order, but I know while I’m watching that I’m just wasting time, and I have I be pretty stoned to not get restless.
In general, I think nature is much more entertaining than tv.
I only watch a few TV shows, because most of them either bore me to tears, or annoy the crap out of me with the stupidity.
I am easily amused by anything having to do with Monty Python or Mr. Bean. I am entertained by quite a few different movies, books, and general day to day whatnot. I also like watching America’s Funniest Home Videos because I am amused by watching people have strange skateboarding accidents and people falling over. :D
Watching pornos I gear up my dick up up and away…superman
There’s not much on TV that I would be upset about missing. We PVR Game of Thrones but I’ve read the series and although the tv show is well done…the books are still better.
My one guilty pleasure show is the Real Housewives of OC and Vancouver. I find those women interesting in their outlook on life. Yes, some (or most) are pretty shallow but the interplay between them is amusing to me.
I’ve just started watching a show on HBO, “Girls”. I’m really impressed with the main character (who writes and directs this show as well).
I get very verklempt at shows like The Locater or Find My Family types. I’ve always found family ties to be very important. To see people who have been cut off from their families for one reason or another and then years and years later reunited often brings me to tears.
History, Science/discovery, Nature, Archaeology, Travel, some series type shows like American Horror Story, Walking Dead, Sherlock, Alcatraz. I notice as I age, I’m open to more “light fare” entertainment.
On TV? Comedy, sport, comedy, some nature shit, oh…..& comedy.
Frasier
Somewhere Street
Judge Judy
Mad Men
I am also entertained by music, books and watching the clouds sail by.
I discovered the Gilmore Girls. I was surprised to find it excellent.
Arwen can entertain bilbo of course…
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