Binge Watching TV - Not. Enough. Time.

I have been a TV addict my entire life. I love TV. Always have. Always will. I was raised in the era of three networks. When all three networks aired programs aimed at all audiences and families watched TV together.  I miss it.

Today's TV is well in the words of HBO, Not TV. It's not. Its made for the internet, for streaming, for cable. You have to subscribe to services or channels to get programs that you may like, There's Netflix and Hulu and Amazon and HBOGO and all the major networks have their own streaming services as well. And not just to re-a-r their broadcast shows. CBS recently announced that they are producing a new Star Trek series...for their streaming service. Not for their network! WHAT!?

I have Netflix which I subscribed to when it was strictly a DVD rental service. It was awesome...at the time. Order your DVD rentals online and they come in the mail. Great! Modern technology is awesome! That was so 2010. I have Amazon Prime because I subscribed for the free shipping, now I get TV shows and movies. And now they have original programming too! And good programs! I have DirecTV, Amazon Prime and Netflix. Do I need Hulu too? Its too much money. And my DirecTV bill keeps going up. I cut back on the number of channels after year one to get the price down and now its gone up again. Do I dump DirecTV? Do I dump cable altogether and just subscribe to streaming services? And then get an antenna and watch regular good old-fashioned free broadcast?

I admit that Is till like to watch shows on the major networks when they air or at the very least record them and watch as soon as possible.

But now, there is so much to watch or to catch up on shows that I might not have been on board with from the beginning but now I want to sample. Right now this is my list. I need to finish Aziz Ansari's show Master of None, Transparent, then I have to watch season 6 of Parenthood which was just released on Netflix. I want to watch Fargo and The Americans. And Mozart in the Jungle Season Two was just released on Amazon this week. Plus there's the regular shows I watch every week. The Good Wife, How To Get Away With Murder, CBS Thursday night comedies, ABC Wednesday night comedies, The Amazing Race, Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl. The new NBC comedies look decent, Superstore and Telenovela. I'm always into HGTV shows, thats my weekend background noise.

Oh! And I currently have a free three months of HBO so I have recently watched all four season of Veep, The recent season of The Comeback, the full run of Looking and I am now into Getting On. What else? What else? I have to watch them all. There's so much good stuff out there. What next? Feed me Krelbourne. Feed me now!

Oh! And I forgot I've been watching the 1970 episodes of The Doctors. Two episodes a day from NBC's 1970 daytime soap opera. In Living Color on NBC. Stay tuned for Another World. In Color. (They leave in the original intros and outros. It's awesome!)

I think I may have a problem

Do I Watch Too Much TV?

In a previous post, I talked about my love for and longing of the old days of TV. Its true but I am also addicted to modern TV. I am a serial binge watcher. When did this happen and why do I obsess over it?  I start a show, I have to finish it off. Although I must say that at the same time, I find its a nice way to catch up on shows I've never seen.

And with the Netflix and Amazon Prime model, just watch it all at once. And watch I do. Usually in an entire weekend...or maybe I'll stretch it out over a week. But there's so much of it! How can I possibly?  I don't know, but I do. Right after 30 Rock came to an end, I went on Netflix and started at the beginning and watched every single episode over the next couple of weeks. All seven seasons chronologically.

How do I do this? I have no life. I am a sad lonely man. I work all day, come home and turn on the TV and watch,. I spend my lunch breaks on my iPad watching shows on Netflix. The last show I watched was Louie. All episodes available. Shows that I'm not watching on TV, but I'm curious about and I don't want to jump in on in the middle, I go back to the first season on Netflix (or Amazon Prime) and watch. Once, Parenthood, Drop Dead Diva. Don't judge me! I know it s a "chick show". Its still enjoyable.

My taste is eclectic. I mean Louie, Once, Parenthood, Drop Dead Diva, 30 Rock, add to that Orange is the New Black, Transparent, House of Cards, Mozart in the Jungle, Parks and Recreation (I was a couple seasons late to that party). And any Showtime, HBO show., I'm currently bingeing Veep and Episodes. And then there's the stuff I DVR, ABC Wednesday night comedy, CBS Thursday night comedies, DC TV shows (Arrow, The Flash and Supergirl). I may stop at their new Legends of Tomorrow. Sunday nights, well I guess Sunday nights are just The Good Wife. But a couple years ago it included The Amazing Race and Mad Men and Desperate Housewives and Downton Abbey. Oh! And Thursdays now also include How To Get Away With Murder but that one is getting so convoluted I may have to breakup with that one.

OK, Seriously who am I? Binge watching? Breaking up with a TV show? Streaming? iPad? Just a few years ago, none of these words were even in my vocabulary and I only used Netflix to rent DVDs. Hell! Remember how Netflix almost went under a few years back because they transitioning from DVD rental only to DVD or online rentals? And now...look at them!

And if I run out of shows on my DVR or a new show to stream, I watch HGTV. Its always on. Or I pop in a DVD from one of my old TV shows.

Is my life ruled by my TV? Do I need to get out of the house more? Am I boring because I don't know how to talk about anything else? Do you even care?  Do I even care? For the answer to these and other questions, tune in to the next episode of my blog.