this is why i don’t watch tv
by sophie
At my flat we don’t have a TV. We don’t need it. We have internet and we can stream videos or download movies.
However, at my parents house, my dad is too cheap to get off dial-up internet once we’ve gone over our limit. Thus, internet barely loads and I end up watching TV.
The great thing about streaming videos is that there are no ads, and I only watch what I actually want to watch. The terrible thing about New Zealand TV in particular is that there are absolutely no good programmes or movies, because NZTV has no funding.
Therefore, I end up watching:
Daddy Day Care. Shown about this time every single year.
And a documentary about Susan Boyle. Who knew she was such an eccentric nobody before her fame? I have to say, I’m a bit of a sucker for the ‘unemployed person is actually a magnificent singer and becomes massively famous’ narrative.
And this is why I should not watch TV.
violet sunday studio 
Here are a few of the programmes that have been on in the UK over the past year that I found worth watching:
Frozen Planet (life in the Arctic and Antarctic)
Earthflight (birds seen flying from a bird’s view point)
Good films (Pan’s Labyrinth comes to mind)
Good thrillers (the first series in the Danish series ‘The Killing’)
Once I have seen any one of those, I prefer to turn the TV off so we can talk about the programme, and I can enjoy and reflect on what I have just seen.
The danger is that the TV requires to be fed with junk in order to survive. That’s not so surprising –
I recall Clive James mentioning a survey of Australian children who had been asked what kind of children’s TV they would like.
They were pretty wise – they said the TV companies should get rid of all the ‘made for kids’ programmes and just show Nature programmes.
Nature documentaries can be amazing. David Attenborough is always a classic and Brian Cox’s Wonders of the Universe is wonderful.
Susan Boyle is a complete fruit loop – she has a lovely voice though! TV in the UK is fairly rubbish too but I still end up watching the same old DVD’s or reading! Thanks for liking my photo post. Come back again.
On the doco I watched she seemed very reclusive and all the townspeople were mean to her before she was famous! Rough. Films are always a good alternative.
Thanks for liking my post today. The occasional coffee was my downfall today. From now on, I will try order teas! I like this post. Very true about NZ telly, but I’m glad to see Outrageous Fortune back on :)
ha ha I don’t even try to not drink coffee. And I drink tea as well. Yes Outrageous Fortune is good, I still haven’t seen all the seasons of it.
Very funny
Thanks for stopping by my blog today
thanks!
I don’t remember NZ TV. Too long ago for me!! I don’t watch TV much either.
not much to remember really!
I do watch TV but I wish I didn’t lol. I try to limit myself to just two hours a night, I gotta get in my prime time shows!
watching things online is way better. No ads!
we do not have cable tv and we do not watch it either-trash!
agreed.
That happens too, but at least over Christmas back in the UK the BBC will probably show a lot of films – even if I have them on TV I’m a complete sucker!
Ah the BBC. That must be nice. You can only get BBC in NZ if you have sky, which is like paid cable tv. My parents don’t have it.
I do actually own a TV, but it took me a while after I moved in to work out how it works, and seeing as you watch 5 minutes of TV 15 minutes of ads and then repeat (or so it seems) I just don’t bother usually. However when I go to my parents house for Christmas… The TV will be on and I’ll wander past “oh this looks interesting… hey! Where did the last 3 hours go!?” routine.
Yeah it’s the parent’s house that tricks you! except for me it’s not “oh this looks interesting.” It’s more like ‘oh this looks crap,’ and yet I still get sucked in….