DJariya

Just curious, seems like now with the massive glut of shows on TV, cable, streaming and such, it seems like "Water Cooler" talk, especially in this forum is pretty much dead.

I mean has streaming, DVRs basically killed any urgency to keep up with shows on a weekly basis? Are we all at a point of "I'll get to it when I get to it" and there's no urgency to watch stuff anymore?

I've noticed in this forum that no one is on the same time frame anymore for any kind of discussion. Weekly shows on TV...many here are weeks, months behind. High profile streaming shows like Punisher discussion is pretty much dead because no one is on the same time frame and for fear of spoiler won't read the threads. Walking Dead discussion is basically dead nowadays. Maybe Game of Thrones is still "must see" TV, but again not everyone seems to have the urgency to see it ASAP. Many popular serialized shows seem to have fallen off from discussion, theories and such.

I admit that I've fallen into this group where I simply can't keep up on a weekly basis anymore and fall a few episodes to months behind sometimes.

Maybe like 10-15 years ago or so, I used to have really fun and awesome discussions with friends and co-workers on the latest episodes of 24, Smallville, CSI and such.

Now, it's like....shhhh, I haven't started the season yet.....I'm 5 episodes behind. I waiting for the BD to come out in 6 months. Sometimes I have to look at the specific shows Facebook page to see anything remotely resembling a night of discussion of that night's episode.

Thoughts?

I'm thinking that life in general and other interests have killed "Must see" watercooler talk TV and now we're just in a casual watch society for TV entertainment watching at our own pace and not caring anymore about discussion.

Decker

If you follow Twitter, I imagine a lot of shows would be watch ASAP - my daughter couldn't even wait until the evening to watch that Black Mirror movie for fear of spoilers.

Me, the only thing I figure I HAVE to watch right away is Game of Thrones. That one is open season on spoilers by the next morning. There's a fair number of shows like Better Call Saul, Barry and True Detective that I want to watch as soon as they drop, but nothing else I feel like I have to.

DJariya

Yes, I'm on Twitter and follow many TV writers, producers and media reporters. So I have to be really careful about spoilers there.

Game of Thrones is still one of the more popular shows on cable, so there seems to be a little more urgency for people to see it ASAP.

But, I feel like many long-running and still relatively popular shows don't have that kind of urgency. I mean no one is going to this board anymore to talk about the latest episodes of Supernatural, Lucifer, Flash or Arrow the night they air. Gotham is barely getting any talk and it's the final season. Ray Donovan, Shameless have barely gotten any talk. The Bodyguard on Netflix was one of the most popular shows imported from the UK and I guess its barely made an impression here. Jack Ryan was IMO one of the best new shows on Amazon and it's only gotten a few pages of talk here. Bosch is a damn good cop thriller also on Amazon and it's going into season 5 and I feel it hasn't made a bigger impression here or I guess people just "haven't gotten around to it yet"

I know TV now in 2019 is super overwhelming and it's hard to prioritize. It is what it is, so guess it's the nature of the beast when there is too much on and not enough hours in the day.

Koby

I'm a single father raising a kid on his own, so I simply watch shows when I get the chance; which is almost always not during it's air time. It's usually a few days later, sometimes a few weeks later, depending on whether I'm invested in some other show I'm trying to get through or a game.

Like the Punisher took priority over my weeklies when it came out, etc.

But as for my weekly airing shows, none of them are something I MUST sit down and watch ASAP every week.

Bill Needle

I watch nothing live really, at minimum I let enough recording to accumulate that I can skip the commercials before I hit play. I do prioritize shows that are subject to spoiling the night of or at least the next day, such as Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, etc which are shows with an ongoing story and major events can happen in any given episode. This is especially true for more popular shows since more people are likely to discuss them and they are harder to avoid spoiling - especially when something big does happen.

Other than sporting events much of what I watch is either with the wife or kids so there are a few shows I wait on until we can get together to watch them. They have different tastes (I tend to side more with the kids) so it can take a while before we have overlapping free time. Shows I watch that are just for me I wait until I can watch them alone. I don't watch any procedural shows (or self-contained episode shows) other than maybe a comedy or two so I end up feeling like I need to catch-up the drop-in watcher with what is going on and that just annoys us both.

And I like having a couple of things in reserve on the DVR for the rare occasions that I can really sink into the couch and savor something.

IDrinkMolson

Cordcutter here.
We generally watch everything in date/time order. Currently, we're caught up through this last Monday with some Tuesday shows watched. I might watch a few shows slightly out of order on one app before switching to another app just so I don't have to switch back and forth more than I have to. So when we start falling weeks behind, we'll still only watch 1 episode if there's more than one to watch.

My wife has a few "must" watch shows that we watch together that she doesn't want to wait for. So we usually watch them next day.
Hawaii Five-0
Last Man Standing
Madam Secretary

I used to make her wait until we were caught up and watch all shows in order just in case we saw a spoiler for another show we weren't caught up on. But now it's not as bad since we cut the cord and don't have previews/commercials to worry about.

For me, the shows I don't watch with her, I usually end up watching a lot of them the next day.
Mainly the Fox Sunday animated shows, Modern Family, The Goldbergs. Game of Thrones will probably be live, or as soon as it drops an hour or so later. Used to watch Walking Dead live, or within live +1. This past 1/2 season that aired last I wasn't in a hurry to watch it right away anymore. And she has some shows she watches that I don't. And she'll watch them whenever, except Survivor. She tries to watch that the next day.

I think I might push The Passage to next day too. We're both watching it, and she really likes it. I really want it to be good and it was my most anticipated new show.

It's weird, on Hulu there's a few shows we watch where they only keep the last 5 shows up. So they sometimes jump to the top of the list if we fall too far behind.

Some things I can't watch until it drops ~year later. Usually in December/January when we get caught up with Fall premiers, we'll binge some shows. Then mostly binge in the Summer anything that dropped.
It's so bad, I have a spreadsheet to keep track of shows. Premier/end dates, last episode watched, how many left to watch, etc.

I keep saying I want to cut back to about 5 shows a season (Fall, Winter, etc) on a weekly basis, then just binge everything else when I can. (5 of ours, 5 of mine, I'm not crazy) See if it gets renewed before I decide.

The Cow

None. There are a couple I keep up somewhat current (The Orville, You're the Worst, SMILF, and the Flash), but no rush to watch them. I'll probably finish binge watching the Baywatch HD series before I catch up on other things airing this season.

mwbmis

There are a handful of shows that I try to stay current with (i.e, watch before the next one airs), and there are a few I try for same night watches (the reality competition shows, GoT, the HBO topical comedy shows), but ASAP....no nothing on TV is that important.

Actually now if it isn't one of the shows that I stay current with then I have a tendency to let them all pile up, and then I just watch shows on the back end of my DVR. For instance right now I'm in the middle of I'm Dying Up There, the latest season of American Horror Story, and Kidding. I just finished the last season of the Tunnel last night.

Decker

For anyone who says "None" : Do you watch Game of Thrones? Because I just can't imagine "catching up" on that show later with the way it dominates popular culture these days.

MrRound2

I dont watch any as soon as possible, and I watch game of thrones after the season ends, I just dont click on things or go to sites that usually have spoilers so its really easy for me to avoid spoilers of shows.

Gunde

None. And it's been like that for at least a year. I miss really being drawn to the latest episode of a great show. But everything on now I just fell "meh" about.
Game Of Thrones and Barry will change that, but for now I mainly rewatch favorites instead. Might be peak fatigue

Red Dog

Nope. And I never watch 10p shows that same night.

starseed1981

No. I've disengaged from any type of media with spoilers and a majority of my social circle doesn't watch the same type of tv as me.

Noonan

Game of Thrones for sure, just because spoilers are impossible to avoid and each episode has spoilers you don't want to see before watching.

I have other shows that I watch asap but only because I enjoy them; not so much because I need to avoid spoilers for them.

dex14

GoT is the only thing that comes to mind, though I do pretty much keep up with things I'm interested in.

I do miss the days of The Sopranos... 24... Lost...

jpcamb

GoT and West World are the only ones that come to mind and WW sort of fell off that with last season being so meh. I currently have 4-5 vikings episodes stacked up and it feels like a chore to catch up so i may just drop that one. We also fell behind on Counterpart despite eagerly watching it last season, I do want to catch up on that one but we got sick with a bug and the episode we tried to watch was hard to follow so it kind of fell off too. Shitts Creek is great but I cant think of too many shows that are currently on TV that I care very much about.

Paff

Remember Friday mornings at work, trying to work in the Seinfeld "catch phrase" from the previous night's episode?

RichC2

I binged all of Future Man S2 and discussed it with co-workers that following week.

That's aboot it.

Geofferson

The days of "appointment" TV are pretty much gone for me. I seem to be in a constant state of catching up on a variety of shows that I rarely watch anything live anymore.

The only example I can think of from the last year where I tuned in weekly to watch live was Better Call Saul.

For streaming, the only example where I binged upon a show dropping was Stranger Things S2.

clckworang

Like most, I don't really watch anything live, but there are shows I tend to watch the same day they air or very close. A lot of it has to do with the fact that I have friends who come over most times to watch different things

Because I watch so many with people, there are some shows I watch the same day that I'm lukewarm on and others that are favorites. The first show that came to mind for me was Good Place. I don't let episodes of that sit on my DVR.

Otherwise, the shows that tend to move off the DVR the quickest are the ones that are the most disposable or require the least to watch. The reality competition shows I watch (Survivor, Top Chef types) get watched quickly as do 30-minute comedies

Original Desmond

It's a good point Djariya but it really shows have much things have shifted in the last 20 years.

We have gone from having to watch things when we were told to watch them (the day/time per week they aired in TV) to watching things when we want. Yes you could record shows on VHS before, but it was a hassle, now you DVDR it, or watch it online catchup.

For some that can be weekly, for others save and binge, for others a few episodes here and there when they feel like it

I can't remember when i watched a TV episode 'live' i really can't. The only thing i watch live is sport.

Compare this to Dallas in the 80s which everyone watched religiously every time it aired and the 90s when people had viewing parties for shows like Friends and Melrose Place

I would say today Game of Thrones is the one and only current show which people watch live or ASAP and that's more out of spoilers fear than anything else

Bill Needle

And it is commercial free -- so once it begins there is no advantage to watching a recording versus watching live.

mphtrilogy

I don't go on twitter much, I use this forum and a little bit of the AVS forum hot off the press thread for my TV takes...

Right now the only same day show is Game of Thrones for fear of spoilers, which usually bleed into everything for that show.
Shows that I watch within a few days are usually the comedies I record as my wife watches a lot less tv then me, and usually wants a comedy, my current comedy rotation is Big Bang, Modern Family, The Goldbergs and The Kids are Alright. I like Crashing and usually watch that within 3 days.
I usually watch True Detective within one week, don't want to get too backed up.

The surprising show I have nothing in the que on the DVR is FBI, I really like that show and its my favorite new one. Kind of an old school, no nonsense Dick Wolf production. I like the leads and the stories have all been good. I usually watch that same or next day.

PhantomStranger

The same thing happened to music tastes. Once the availability of content became overwhelming, and greater than any human could keep up with while still having a life, the former mass audience became fractured into dozens and dozens of niches. That mass audience era is over, unfortunately. It's not coming back.

The rise of streaming services pretty much killed the communal experience of shared television by the masses. The only thing we share in real time anymore are live sports and national political elections.

Bill Needle

When it has been a while since I've seen someone and we are catching up and get to the "whatcha' watchin' these days?" point of the conversation it invariably turns into taking turns telling each other about things we have seen that the other person has sort of heard good things about but hasn't seen yet.

It's great for finding out about new content but not for sharing the experience of enjoying it.