Sunday, November 15, 2009

Playing favorites

Everyone’s got a favorite TV show. Even if they don’t watch it on a regular basis, everyone’s got that one show that they’ll turn to first when they can’t think of anything else to watch.


Favorites


“I really like to watch crime shows like Law & Order or NCIS,” said Hannah Skrobot, a sophomore studying exercise physiology. “They really get me thinking and it just kind of gives me a different world to slip into when I don’t want to do my homework anymore.”

Others prefer to watch shows that are a little bit more on the fun side. Hanna Hafner, a sophomore studying journalism, said that her favorite shows include The Office, Community and Hannah Montana.

“But I don’t keep up with Hannah Montana, I just watch (Hannah Montana) for fun with my family,” Hafner was quick to point out.

Above all shows, however, she does prefer The Office.

The Office is the most awkward show to watch because Michael Scott does things,” she said. “You know he’s going to do them, but you don’t want him to. But then it’s hilarious when he does it.”

As I’ve stated many times before in this blog, I prefer Glee in favor of most other shows. But just this past week, I discovered V, which I will continue to watch on a regular basis. I suppose it helps a show’s standing with any given viewer when you take into account the fact that the lead role is played by Elizabeth Mitchell, who is featured in Lost, which is another one of my favorite shows.

But then there are those people who don’t necessarily watch certain shows.

Allan Daugherty, a sophomore studying accounting, said that he just likes to watch ESPN.

“It doesn’t matter what’s showing, it’s sports,” he said. “To me, that’s more interesting than any show.”

A time for everything

It’s all well and good to know that everyone’s got his or her favorite show. But does anyone have time to watch it when it actually airs?

“I just watch reruns, mostly,” Skrobot said. “I’ve got so much to do and I don’t have time, so usually when I’m getting ready to go out on a weekend, I’ll just have the TV on in the background.”

This trend among college students seems to be contradictory to a February 2009 study conducted by the Nielsen Company.

The study found that during the last three months of 2008, the average American TV viewer watches more than 151 hours of television each month, up from more than 145 hours during the same period the previous year.

Nielsen attributed this rise to the growing popularity of devices like DVR and TiVo, which allow viewers to watch essentially any show they want, whenever they want.

Also, the 2008 presidential election probably played a large role in the increase during the last part of that year. It remains to be seen if the numbers will increase again in 2009.


The college lifestyle and a change of pace


The college lifestyle is definitely one reason why students can’t necessarily watch very much television. Between classes, homework and various other commitments, loyalty to TV shows takes a backseat. But with the onset of winter break there also comes an opportunity to catch up shows that students would otherwise have missed.

“I’ll probably watch shows on Hulu or something,” Daugherty said. “I do like to watch House sometimes.”

I, for one, will be catching up on V, FlashForward and Mercy during my time off from school. It will definitely be a nice change of pace!

1 comment:

  1. I'm definitely excited for the fall break so I can catch up on sleeping, exercising and watching my favorite shows (or starting series that other people have recommended I watch). Glee is by far my favorite on t.v. right now, but that could change when I catch up on all these other shows.

    ReplyDelete