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The end of TV?

KieyKiey
edited November 2007 in Everything Else
I just had an interesting thought in regards to the writer's guild strike. Now if the strike goes on for a long time, as it seems likely to do, the only new shows that will be appearing on TV are likely to be reality shows, and game shows. If that's the case, I imagine there is a really good chance that people are going to start looking for entertainment from other outlets, as in the internet.

I think that once people start looking to the internet as their place to get their entertainment, I think this could seriously be the end of TV as we know it now. I don't think that the TV studios even realize this, and I think that when they do it could be too late. All that really has to happen is for the strike to go into next year, and someone to start a website to take advantage of people's desire for content that TV was no longer providing.

Comments

  • ClassicClassic
    While I agree, and regardless of the strike, it's only a matter of time before the internet's true potential is fully realized, I don't want to wait until next year for season 4 of Lost. I don't want to wait until next year for Joss Whedon's return to television with Doll House. I simply refuse.
  • NeitoNeito
    I think that once people start looking to the internet as their place to get their entertainment, I think this could seriously be the end of TV as we know it now.
    I agree with you up until this point. I think that, while the writer's strike might be a good thing for internet media, I don't think people are going to replace their TV watching habits. I think they'll just use the internet to supplement it.
  • KieyKiey
    Well my thought was that with the writer's strike there won't be any TV that actually has a story, and if it goes on long enough people will turn to the internet for that. If the strike continues on long enough I think that so many people may have turned to the internet that they won't really car about TV as it is anymore. And then you will truely see TV digitally distributed correctly, because the studios won't be able to fuck around with it like they are now since people will only want to watch it that way.

    Granted I'm greatly speculating, but I think that it is something that could potentially happen. The last writer's strike lasted 5 months, this one could potentially go longer considering the issues involved. It's hard to believe that people wouldn't begin to alter their viewing habits within 6 months now-a-days.
  • PagePage
    I honestly think that only works if the US writers guild is the only one writing for television, so at the end of a day, while it may be a small boost to the industries of other countries, it really wont do much.
  • RailithRailith
    The only TV will be hurt is that nerdy shows that are watched by nerds on the intertubes. Regular people shows are in no trouble.
  • kenjurakenjura
    I agree with Railith.

    We geeks often find ourselves blessed with an abundance of geeky friends, and (perhaps equally blessed) with a dearth of non-geeky friends. We might even turn our "normal" friends geeky through sheer peer pressure, and that's always good.

    Of course, we all have a few non-geeky friends, and there's always family.

    Talk to one of those people about TV and media. Odds are, they're fans of Survivor, American Idol, and 24. The geekiest thing they watch is Heroes. They probably don't know you can watch it online for free (or, for that matter, anything you want via torrents). They might realize YouTube exists (via their 55,000 MySpace friends), but they aren't likely to think it could ever replace TV.

    They aren't bad, or dumb, or anything; they just don't work that way. If they did, they'd be geeky.

    It would take more than a complete lack of new scripted programming (remember: the strike doesn't affect reality TV and game shows), and more than a wealth of new, legal online media options to make the bulk of westerners switch. They'd have to realize it was an option, and mentally prepare themselves.
  • zombie a gogozombie a gogo
    Tv isn't going anywhere for a very long time.
  • bunnikunbunnikun
    I don't think the writers strike is going to last that long. New writers are going to come along, take the old writers places, and life will continue on as it has.

    Although people may begin to look towards the Internet for entertainment, it will never really replace the TV. The Internet will be more like a substitute while the writers strike continues.
  • ......
    What is TV? It's just a box which turns specific data send to it into images and sound. We connect to the internet through cable, we got our telephone on our cable, we got radio on our cable, we got TV on our cable. The TV is just a box which recieves data and turns it into (hopefully) entertainment in the form of imagery and noise, torrents and mplayer do the same with my computer. Albeit a bit slower, but time-shifted. Okay, we've got streaming video, but the quality of that sucks if you want to have it delivered as fast as an HD episode of [insert HD TV series here]. The concept of TV, that is instant content with a set schedule, will stick around for a long time. That is till the day when everybody will be able to download 1 gigabyte of video in 5 seconds over the internet.
  • kage_rodkage_rod
    I think the writer's strike is GOOD. Means maybe when they get back they might have something good for plots. Everything is so strained and overdone and unoriginal...

    I'm so glad I'm almost completely unaffected by this because TV is not something I watch. Now, movies on the other hand... I go to those for dates/hang outs because my friends are movie buffs (of different kinds, naturally; one's thriller, one's horror, one's animation, and one's comedies. Me? I hide for the thrillers and horrors and enjoy the other two.)
  • Linkigi(Link-ee-jee)Linkigi(Link-ee-jee)
    The public awareness of the internet as an entertainment medium needs to increase exponentially before TV even has a chance of disappearing. Maybe in a few decades when the old people who don't have great awareness of the internet die we could see the internet as a major medium, but not now.
  • xenomousexenomouse
    Most of the TV I watch is either A) in syndication or B) on DVD; both are immune to the current writer's strike. The other stuff I watch just happens to be on when I'm bored.
  • BronzdragonBronzdragon
    almost all TV I watch on my couch is when I'm tired (from a days work), and need something to distract my mind. You could put almost ANYTHING on and I'd watch it.
  • kage_rodkage_rod

    almost all TV I watch on my couch is when I'm tired (from a days work), and need something to distract my mind. You could put almost ANYTHING on and I'd watch it.

    MXC?
  • BronzdragonBronzdragon
    almost all TV I watch on my couch is when I'm tired (from a days work), and need something to distract my mind. You could put almost ANYTHING on and I'd watch it.
    MXC?

    Dunno... What's that? (B.t.w., I don't live in the greatest country in the world, nor do I live in the U.S.)
     
  • kage_rodkage_rod

    almost all TV I watch on my couch is when I'm tired (from a days work), and need something to distract my mind. You could put almost ANYTHING on and I'd watch it.
    MXC?
    Dunno... What's that? (B.t.w., I don't live in the greatest country in the world, nor do I live in the U.S.)

    MXC - it's a Japanese game show that Comedy Central and ..er... Spike, I think, have. It's dubbed over, and I personally think they made it a bit meanier than the original. Youtube it.

    Alright, question: what's the greatest country in the world (my guess: Canada or New Zealand)?
  • Linkigi(Link-ee-jee)Linkigi(Link-ee-jee)
    edited November 2007

    Dunno... What's that? (B.t.w., I don't live in the greatest country in the world, nor do I live in the U.S.)
    Alright, question: what's the greatest country in the world (my guess: Canada or New Zealand)?
    I think it's probably Japan.
    Post edited by Linkigi(Link-ee-jee) on
  • ......
    Alright, question: what's the greatest country in the world (my guess: Canada or New Zealand)?
    " 'k Heb getwijfeld over België. BELGIË! BEL-GI-UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH-UUUUUUUH!"

    Sorry, completely unrelated. It's a Dutch song. België = Belgium.
  • AndrewAndrew
    Alright, question: what's the greatest country in the world (my guess: Canada or New Zealand)?
    There isn't one. They all suck.
  • Jain7thJain7th
    edited November 2007
    Sweden?


    Btw: Hopefully not, I just recently found some American TV Shows, which I really like, and always look forward to watching each day (Dexter makes me like mondays, even thought I generally hate the first day of the week).
    Post edited by Jain7th on
  • BronzdragonBronzdragon
    Dunno... What's that? (B.t.w., I don't live in the greatest country in the world, nor do I live in the U.S.) Alright, question: what's the greatest country in the world (my guess: Canada or New Zealand)?

    Well, obviously you have never been to Luxembourg!
     
  • SailSail
    Alright, question: what's the greatest country in the world?
    image
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