ESPN subscriber losses raise questions about the TV ecosystem

Re:ESPN subscriber losses raise questions about the TV ecosy... by mercer on Saturday December 10, 2016 @03:04AM (#13144664)

While I've been a huge fan of this 'golden age of TV', I can't help but wonder to which degree I'm fooling myself by spending hours on 'extremely high quality' television that ultimately still is primarily entertainment and doesn't 'improve' my life in any real way.

The Wire felt like it actually taught me something and made me think about society and my role in it. But to what extent are Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Game of Thrones, and Westworld basically same as daytime soap operas dressed up so they're palatable to 'discerning' consumers?

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, but I do find that many people, myself included, justify their TV habits by arguing that we're watching 'quality' TV instead of the usual daytime garbage.

(I've been reading Infinite Jest and recently read Wallace' "E Unibus Pluram"[1], so this has been on my mind.)

[1]: https://jsomers.net/DFW_TV.pdf

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Re:ESPN subscriber losses raise questions about the TV ecosy... by SixSigma on Saturday December 10, 2016 @09:01AM (#13145658)

A long time ago I came to the conclusion :

One day I will be old and unoccupied, work will be behind me, my capacity to produce will be reduced, I will be more inclined to consume. If TV programmes and films of today are any good they will still be around. I shall watch them then.

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Re:ESPN subscriber losses raise questions about the TV ecosy... by Baeocystin on Saturday December 10, 2016 @11:27PM (#13149596)

You know, this is exactly what my Dad did. He's in his late 80's now, and retired back in '92. He job kept him busy 24/7 for most of his career, and he never had the time to watch TV, when there were so many other, more important things to do.

Nowadays, he uses my Netflix account waaaay more than I do. And he's catching up on decades of shows, and quite enjoying himself. He just finished Season 3 of ST:TNG. It's been fun talking to him about episodes I watched back in the day, too.

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Re:ESPN subscriber losses raise questions about the TV ecosy... by krapht on Saturday December 10, 2016 @03:17AM (#13144696)

Does something have to have a pecuniary reward to be worthwhile? Stories have been told since the beginning of humanity, and I'm sorry if you see them as a waste of time.

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Re:ESPN subscriber losses raise questions about the TV ecosy... by wcummings on Saturday December 10, 2016 @12:26PM (#13146694)

Many soaps could probably be radio programs. They're visually simple and the stories are told in a straightforward way. Ditto for many sitcoms, which I generally enjoy, so this isn't as harsh an indictment as it sounds.

TV and movies are visual mediums, you can tell stories in more interesting ways. People might flatter themselves a little bit but that's not why these shows are popular IMHO.

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Re:ESPN subscriber losses raise questions about the TV ecosy... by k-mcgrady on Saturday December 10, 2016 @07:30AM (#13145372)

>> "ultimately still is primarily entertainment and doesn't 'improve' my life in any real way."

How is entertaining you not improving your life?

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Re:ESPN subscriber losses raise questions about the TV ecosy... by mercer on Saturday December 10, 2016 @07:48AM (#13145428)

I love getting junk food every once in a while. It 'improves' my life because I enjoy it. Eating a lot of it regularly would not.

I'm not judging anyone and I'm by no means saying that it's easy to discern how 'junk' a form of entertainment is. I'm just saying that I started wondering whether this quality food I'm having a lot of might just be cleverly dressed up junk food. Specifically in regards to 'quality' shows like GoT and Westworld.

I really don't mean that in a pretentious way. I watch stuff that most people would probably consider junk, so that would be hypocritical of me.

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