Hello, my name is Whitney and I am addicted to television.
When I realized that the new fall season was set to begin last week, I rushed to my computer and compiled a list of 14 must-see shows. The list included the show’s title, network, regular day and time it airs and the date of the season premiere.
I know, I know.
I have a problem.
With the invention of the Digital Video Recorder (DVR),
I watch more television than ever before. There’s just one snag to my lovely plan of recording my favorite TV shows via a DVR – I just moved back to San Luis Obispo and don’t have cable in my new house. Yet.
So I’ve had to rely on the Internet to get my TV fix.
While I prefer to watch ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” or NBC’s “Heroes” on my trusty 19-inch television set, I must instead view these gems on a tiny pop-up window on my laptop.
Apparently, I’m not alone. College students prefer to watch TV on traditional sets rather than computers, cell phones or MP3 players, according to a recent CTAM Pulse study.
Watching TV on my laptop in bed can be quite comfortable, but I have to wait for it to reboot and my wireless Internet to connect before I can search the Web for any show.
I miss the days when I could simply grab the remote, turn on the TV and select my recorded shows in the menu bar.
Many television networks have caught on to the trend of posting full episodes on the Web, so I can usually find what I’m looking for.
However, some shows are a little more difficult to locate than others. For example, it took me a whole 10 minutes to find Fox’s new show “Kitchen Nightmares” online when it would have only taken seconds to locate on a DVR.
Some shows are not even featured online, such as Bravo’s “Top Chef.” So I can just forget about watching those intense Quickfire Challenges.
And by the time the episode is up and running on the Web, chances are good that I have already heard or read about the most exciting scene(s).
The upside to watching free episodes online is that I don’t have to pay an absurd amount of money each month to watch an obscene amount of TV.
I miss cable TV, but I don’t miss the extra costs. Last year, my cable bill (including internet) averaged about $90 per month. With luxury comes expenses, and I loved my cable. So, I gladly paid the fees (and called my cable company each month trying to reduce my bill).
I plan on renewing my cable services some time this month.
I can’t wait to watch ABC’s “Ugly Betty” and NBC’s “30 Rock” on my television set. Until then, I will continue to watch my favorite shows online. It’s better than nothing, right?