Also local news....

I thought you'd approve. I've only had one failure so far. I worked with guy for years with the potential to be a HUGE B5 fan. All the signs are there. But he absolutely refuses to even try it. He won't even TiVo it. And I'm not the first person to try to win him over either. I've not given up hope yet, but I'm running out of ideas.

As for that "guy", he'll be discovered eventually. They always show their true colors at some point.

I've often thought the same thing. They should be very worried. I think it will be interesting to see how things eventually play out. But I think the genie is out of the bottle at this point. I'm curious to see how they'll try to get it back in.

And it's not just the commercials. I don't have the slightest clue what new shows are on now. The only way I'll know about a great new show now is to check in here.

After only two weeks with a DirecTiVo, my wife said the other night, "I love my TiVo". I'm sure she didn't realize how possessive that sounded, but I never imagined she would ever reach that point. Two weeks ago it was nothing more than a new toy for me to play with.

It's almost embarrassing to admit, but my TiVo has helped improve the quality time I get to spend with my kids now. I spent 45 minutes reading to my son last night and missing Survivor never once crossed my mind. In the past I would have had one eye on the clock so I could get Survivor watched off tape in time to record ER.

That's the other thing keeping me from the networks. A couple years ago Discovery was where my wife got to watch her stupid "animal shows". Now Discovery owns my Mondays. TLC has some great shows, Travel Channel has great shows, etc. The "other" channels are probably winning by at least 3-1 at this point on number of hours watched (though she hasn't convinced me that Animal Planet is preferable to Home Shopping Network yet ).

Me too, but it might just be my elaborate way to avoid actually doing any homework.

• Quoth Lateralus42 •<HR SIZE=1>Im curious what you think makes up 20 good hours of network TV... <HR SIZE=1>

Off the top of my head:

Alias
Karen Sisco
NYPD Blue
Without a Trace
Cold Case
American Dreams
Ed
The West Wing
The Lyon's Den
Law & Order
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
L.A. Dragnet
Angel
Everwood
Gilmore girls
Las Vegas
8 Simple Rules ...
According to Jim
Grounded for Life
Life with Bonnie
The Simpsons
Malcolm in the Middle
King of the Hill
The Practice
Threat Matrix
The Amazing Race
Joan of Arcadia
King of Queens
Scrubs
The Bernie Mac Show
The Late Show with David Letterman
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
...

das

Well, off the top of my head, here are all the shows I watch:

Joan of Arcadia
The Handler
Boston Public
LA Dragnet
Cold Case
Enterprise
Las Vegas
Skin (only 1 episode so far, but I liked it)
Smallville
Angel
Ed
Jake 2.0
Karen Sisco
Survivor
CSI
Without a Trace
Jamie Kennedy Experiment
What I Like About You
Run of the House
Scrubs
Coupling
Grounded for Life
Boomtown *on hiatus apparently
Amazing Race *when applicable
Tru Calling *yet to air so this is tentative
Stan Hooper *yet to air so this is tentative

Actually, my estimate was pretty good, that adds up to 22 hours with 3 hours of it not currently airing). These are all network shows I watch on a regular basis and try to never miss an episode. While I admit some of these aren't really high-class television (like the WB sitcoms, Skin, Boston Public, etc), they aren't all crap. And I don't even watch a number of shows that others consider some of the best (Law and Orders, Simpsons, Alias, 24, etc). So what exactly is crap about all those network shows? I find them all highly enjoyable.

There are other cable series's I enjoy as well:
Monk
Dead Zone
Xtreme Elimination
Road Rules/Road Rules Challenge
Joe Schmo
Dead Like Me
Carnivale

And BTW, I'm 30, so I fit into the 18-34 profile.

Between school, work, sports, DVD's, house hold chores, walking the dog, homework, studying, cooking, spending time with my wife and child, videogames, going out to dinner, going out to the movies,working out, sleep, and just living my life in general. I don't have time or energyfor wasting my life watching other people's lives on reality TV. The crap the networks put on is nobody's reality, it is just pre-packaged reality. I don't care how big 'Lil Bow wow's 'crib' is. I don't care if Shannon Daugherty slapped 7 reporter's in front of E!'s cameras, or who was seen going home with Marilyn Manson from a nightclub in LA. I could care less about who wins American Idol, seeing as how I won't buy the CD. Other than a handful of good shows which I make time for (24, The Simpsons, The Shield, King of Queens, Scrubs, CSI some Dicovery shows) and a few I watch while I spend time with the wife (Friends, George Lopez, Trading Spaces) I usually just ignore most TV. My wife however can watch all kinds of stuff and she loves re-runs of Friends and Will and Grace endlessly (I am guilty of this - while I cook dinner I watch Seinfeld every night) Unfortunately if the buzz for a show before it comes out is not good or if word of mouth on a show is not good, I won't tune in. Being 28, I fall into the male 18-34 demographic. I put a premium on my time spent.

I have to agree with just about everyone here. There's really not much going on with the Networks ( meaning Fox though I do love the Simpsons, CBS, ABC, and NBC). I don't want to CSI clones, Friends clones, and these so-called "reality" shows. I've had enough of it. How many sitcoms about people and their gay friends are they going to try?

As it is my current favorites;
South Park
The Classic Man Show
Cowboy Bebop
Most Extreme Elimination Challenge
Stripperella

...are all on cable outfits. As are my local sports teams. I watch these programs because they are DIFFERENT than whats on the Networks. I understand that on cable you can get away with more but it just seems that there's better stuff on cable than the Networks in terms of quality.

I don't think they are ever going to get these viewers back. There are too many choices now. Video games, the internet, cable, DVD's, all of that is competition that the networks never had to deal with before. Personally I'd rather play SOCOM for an hour and a half than watch "Who Wants To Marry A Kleglinian?".

Honestly, we are living in a great age for TV where so many cable networks have shows that are on par with, or better than Network stuff. Sure there are the top 10 which are typically primetime network, but weries like Monk, Dead Zone, and that stupid addictive Boomerang Network, are slowly eroding the Networks.