Nielsen Journal

Sarah Crowe

TV viewing: Thursday October 30th

1. During the week, I typically watch television the most on a Tuesday or Thursday. Unlike Monday and Wednesday, I only have two classes one in the morning and the other at 2 which gives me a large break in between the two. After my first class in the morning, depending on the studying I may have, I typically turn on the TV and scan the channels for something on the Food Network or catch an episode of the old Beverly Hills 90210 (yes, I have seen a few). During this brief time of watching television, I wouldn't say that those are shows that I am a regular viewer of, I just simply enjoy them and that is what catches my eye. Now Thursday nights, prime time, I will almost always tune into "Grey's Anatomy" at 8pm. In the case of this particular Thursday, I began watching TV around 6:30 and watched what appealed to me until 8pm. I first watched a show called "Cartoon Cake Challenge" which is a show on the Food Network channel, basically about which chef has designed the best cake, taking into account the theme, and accomplishing that in the amount of time given. I have watched both that show and "Good Eats" on Food Network before. A show that I don't watch is "Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew", on VH1. In this case, after "Good Eats" was over, the show that followed wasn't one that appealed to me and so I scanned through the channels till I found this one. And actually, it was rather interesting, tacky, but interesting. In fact the only reason I changed channels was that it was getting close to 8 and I didn't want to miss anything on "Grey's Anatomy". So I watched the rest of "Ugly Betty," which airs right before Grey's until it was time. I used to watch "Ugly Betty" on a regular basis, but I missed a few episodes and then I was no longer interested in it. 

2. As I mentioned in the previous question, the days that I view the most TV, on my television, are on Tuesdays and Thursdays. As for Mondays and Wednesdays, I often go over to my friends house to hang out and watch TV or a movie. On Mondays it's often "Monday Night Football" that we watch, and we will occasionally watch a movie on a Friday, at the end of the week. However, because these shows/movies were not watched on my TV, I did not log them. On the Thursday that I did my log, my sister watched "Grey's Anatomy" with me. We always watch it together, because it's one of the only times, when were not studying and our class schedules don't conflict that we can be together. On this particular Thursday, I didn't watch any movies or recorded television.

3. Looking back, I would have to say that the process of having to individually write down the shows I viewed and the such, was actually challenging. I knew what I had in mind, when I chose Thursday for logging because I have a show that I regularly view at a certain time (prime time) on a particular channel. Before that show came on however, the "challenge" came when I found a show to watch, but had to write down what channel it was on, the show name, and the channel number, etc. I felt that by having to think and fill out certain criteria of the show, I was in a way missing some of the show itself. I suppose I could have filled some of the information during commercial break, but it felt rushed, especially with a show that's half way over that you decide to watch the rest of. When I found a show that I wanted to watch, I felt tempted to scan other channels during a commercial break. In fear that I may miss some part of my log, I stuck to the show I was watching. In all, I watched 5 shows, starting at 6:30 pm going to 9 pm. On a total of three different television stations. To me, 5 shows sounds like a fair amount taking into account that I spent around 3, almost 4 hours in total watching television. 3 to 4 hours isn't a whole lot, but 5 different shows in that time is quite a bit. But you have to take into account that some shows only last 30 minutes and then others for a whole hour. And what about those that you only caught the last half of? For example, I can watch two back to back episodes of "Good Eats" which equals one episode of "Grey's Anatomy." More shows, less time. On the flip side, I can say that I only watched two shows, but that took up alot of my time. Two episodes of Grey's is two hours, which in television time is alot. Dense shows that have intricate plots feel like alot of time has passed by, and often, it has. Most of my time is lost in shows on the History channel where you start watching in what you think is the middle, and two hours later it's finally over. But again, that's still less shows, more time consumed. I think I prefer a combination of both. Depending on how I feel, I may want to sit down for and catch an entire episode of "CSI" which is an hour long. If I just want to watch and then go, "Good Eats" and other shows around 30 minutes are what I bank for. On a day where I have more time to sit and watch TV, this particular Thursday doesn't seem to be alot of TV, (which means I was most likely studying), the amount of shows I may watch increases. I feel that I watch more shows than what I logged. But I suppose when you scan channels during commercial breaks and catch bits and pieces of other shows, it feels as though you have watched alot of television. After my experiences, I have a little more understanding of the process and usefulness of these journals. When it comes to the accuracy and ability to rely on such journals, it seems to be a good method. If you have families or individuals who fill out the logs in honesty and accurately, I believe this is a useful tool in keeping track of what people watch on television. Does it take into account the type of person (excluding gender) who is filling out the forms and what they may watch as opposed to other people with different personalities? No, and it also doesn't take into account if the person filling the form out is a very busy business person or a college student. That could affect alot of the results, but that may be what is included in the package for those who volunteer to do these logs.