Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Don't Get It

I just don't get it.

This article in the Daily News talks about the schedule changes that occured when The WB merged with UPN to create the CW, and how it caused "confusion" for viewers, leading to lower ratings.

A paragraph from the article reads as follows:

"It's confusing for viewers such as 31-year-old Manjula Patel...'I was like, What is this? I wasn't sure what channel had changed and where `America's Next Top Model' was so I just kept changing the channel until I found it,' Patel said last week during a lunch break from her job at HealthNet in Woodland Hills."

What the hell? First of all, Manjula, it's called TiVo. Get it. Without it, you're just watching REGULAR TV and you might as well read a book written on papyrus or write with a quill pen.

Second, you live in Woodland Hills, which is basically L.A., which is the entertainment capital of the world. A glance at any of the region's publications could have told you every detail you ever wanted to know about the merger between UPN and the WB and its consequent schedule changes. How could you be taken so completely aback by the migration of Top Model?

And third, even if I was willing to let you off the hook for not having TiVo and never picking up a newspaper or an EW, I cannot bring myself to believe that you have no access to the internet. Even if you don't have a computer at home, I'm sure you've got one where you work (Healthnet, according to the article- and every time I call Healthnet, my entire conversation with folks like you is peppered with the brisk click of a computer keyboard). So go online, and google Top Model. You'll find out everything you want to know. How hard is that?

Really, Manjula, hang your head in shame, you passive TV watcher. You need to get active about your entertainment. In this day in age, when you've got SO MANY ENTERTAINMENT CHOICES, you need to schedule and plan to get the most out of your entertainment hour! You don't just TURN ON THE TV AND CHANGE THE CHANNEL UNTIL YOU FIND SOMETHING!

It results in wasted time like watching One Tree Hill, for example, as you acknowledged that you watched because it was on after Top Model. Disgusting!

I just don't GET IT. Aren't your favorite shows important enough for you to find out what time they're on? I would NEVER be in the dark about Veronica Mars for instance. I wouldn't risk missing the pre-credits teaser because I was clicking around, still clueless as to what CHANNEL IT WAS GOING TO BE ON.

I take my TV too seriously for that. I can't imagine watching TV as passively as I watch people in the park- staring open-mouthed at whatever drifts in front of my vision. To quote Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, "I SAY WHEN! I SAY WHO!" (that one's for you, Mike). I may be a couch potato, but at least I make decisions about what I watch, and they certainly wouldn't include One Tree Hill.

1 comment:

B said...

how could someone not know those two networks were merging? the damn commercials advertising the merge have been on wgn up here 24/7 for the last 6 months?