My shows

Erica Longoria Thursday Oct. 30, 2008


Thursday typically isn’t what I would consider a busy day for me, since I usually just have to work and get around to doing homework. At least, that’s what I figured so I decided to use Thursday since I believed it was the best day to log what I watch the most. In doing so, I found that I am a devoted Gilmore Girls viewer during the day, Chelsea lately and it’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia at night. And though I missed a couple of shows I had wanted to see, I didn’t tape or record anything for future viewing. Yet after looking at what was actually recorded I found, that even with a slow day, I didn't watch as much as I thought I did. That also made me wonder how little I watch on what I consider a busy day, and what shows are really important to me and then why?

Even though I didn't record anything, I did watch a couple of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia shows with my boyfriend on his ITouch that he bought through ITunes, which is a pretty typically habit for us both. Since we both work very late, it is hard for us to find time to sit down and watch shows, so he typically buys them and we watch them without commercials, which is nice. Though, personally it’s not a show I would have bought myself to watch, so without his input I probably wouldn’t watch the show as much as I found that I did. The log sheet may not show it due to the fact that I watched it other places but I found I watched a lot of Chelsea Lately. Even when I wasn’t home, it was the one show I made time to watch at night. Out of a busy schedule, I thought it was a bit funny that I make time to finally sit down and watch a little comedy to help me unwind.

From logging down what I watched, I believe I learned a lot. Even when I was done with the day I found the next time I watched TV I thought more about it. I considered how one show typically runs my schedule, needing to be home by 11:00 or being somewhere close to a TV set. I really questioned why that one show? Did I really just like the sarcastic humor or the poking fun at non serious issues that so many TV shows now use as real news such as Hollywood access? I also found that when watching shows with someone else that the channel typically gets changed a lot where as with me, I normally stay on one show. I figured by the time I found another show through flipping through commercials that my show would already be done with their commercials and back on so no real sense in changing. I also found that even on what I considered a slow day that TV just isn’t as prominent as I believed. But I also believe that plays into the fact that I watched them on another device, the ITouch. I don’t think the Journal such as this really takes devices such as the ITouch or IPhone into consideration, or even the lack of time people in today’s time have to just sit around and watch TV. Since you don’t record things you see at other places, it doesn’t take into consideration that you may just not be home, but you’re still watching a show somewhere else. Just because you’re not at home to watch a show then record it doesn’t mean it’s not being watched. I don’t believe the system is as accurate as it is made out to be. I think it would be better if it encompassed overall what you viewed during a single day but then I wonder if that would make more of a mess out of advertising? And if advertisers really want to reach a maximum audience, what kind of people are they really reaching? Since it's based off of just random people then scaled to proportion, again is it really accurate? Just because one person has time to sit down and watch a show, does it make it more popular then actually going on ITunes and purchasing it? Overall, the journal allowed me to really consider what I'm watching and obviously how important the shows are to me.