TV and m-m-m-my g-g-generation

This past week I had the privilege to to sit down with two executives from a local television and multi-media empire to talk about an idea i have for some original programming. during the meeting, they suggested that our generation doesn't really watch TV. Their understanding was that traditional television is wasted on us, and instead studios and production entities should be focusing on the web. I certainly think that there is a place for web and television integration, but i have to say it is scary to realize that this is how our parents generation sees us.

Yes, television has evolved. There is on-demand TV for the "now" generation, and on-screen guides. There are websites for each popular TV show, and web-exclusive content and "extras" online. There are even "webisodes" that are shorter, more streamlined side story lines for characters on shows such as the "the accountants" on "The Office."

However, we are not a generations of people who wants to do nothing more than sit in front of our computers. They are getting it wrong. And that scares the evalivin' out of me.

Our parent's generation has come to see us so much as these "interweb-savvy" kids, and so able to adapt to new technology and formats that they are over reacting. They overestimate the power of the web and are trying ot re-invent the wheel. The problem is that the new wheel is coming out sqaure. And squares don't roll. That's why the old wheel is round.

Deep breath.

There are several reasons why this older generation is just totally wrong, and being a part of the younger generation, i would like to put in my two cents. Here a few reasons that we "my g-g-g-g-g-generation" still watches TV.

1. Surfing: Channel surfing and web-surfing are very different for a couple of reasons. The biggest even present in the name difference. Channel surfing has channels. There is a button that takes you to the next one in line. There is no "next webpage" button. You create your own path. When channel surfing, whether on a standard TV where you surf up or down, with an on-screen guide, you have a series of things from which to pick, and you are directed nicely from one to the next. On the web, there is no direction from one thing to another. You go to your favorite web site, explore it, and then enter the URL for the next one. Or, you can use a search engine, but who knows what will show up. You may think that having set channels is restricting, but it allows people to have a managable set of options.

Along similar lines, how much easier is it for something to "land in your lap" when you are channel surfing, as oppposed to web-surfing? It is so much more concievable that there is media on the web that you will NEVER see because you have no series of connections to get there. You will never hear anyone say "well... here are our options on the internet... we looked at everything. We finished the internet." When channel surfing, you pass through all the channels, and somethign can catch your eye that you would never have found otherwise. Imagine if TV was soemthing where you only went directly to the channels you wanted... you would miss everything in between. And yes, we hardly watch a fraction of what is broadcast, but if you flip through channels just ONCE you are at least aware of everything that is on at that time. All the currently availible media has passed through your consciousness, if briefly.

2. Creedence: When you are flipping through channels, you know that someone has chosen to put money into producing and broadcasting that which you are watching. Now, this is an admittedly weak argument, because we all have sat down at the set, flipped through 200 channels and then said "200 channels, and there is still nothing on". Agreed.

BUT... if someone says to you "The Discovery Channel has a great show on Tuesdays called 'Dirty Jobs'... you should watch it," we are much more likely to trust that it is a good show because we know Discovery Channel, and it lends creedence to the statement. We are not as likely to trust someone who says "there is this great show on the internet on a website about guy doing jobs that are dirty." We know notihng about the show, who produces it, where to find it... we have no barometer of immediate analysis. This works the other way too... if someone says "i love a show on Discovery" and you don't like that network at all, you probably won't watch it... but at least there is something that allows to have some sense of what is being produced. The internet is a HUGE crappe shoot.

3. HDTVs are AWESOME: High Definition is amazing. It is simply awesome. Awesome in the most literal definition of the word. It fills people with awe. I gave my grandparents an HDTV, and they have stopped watching the news on KDKA (where they ALWAYS watched the news... good old brand loyalty) and started watching it on WPXI because KDKA does not have HD facilities for their in-house facilities. (All the national content the get as a CBS affiliate is HD.. ust not the local news and other shows produced here). My grandparents actually switched a life-long devotion to 'channel 2' as they call it, because of HD.

My generation is buying HDTVs left and right. We love them. Bigger and bigger TVs with beter refresh-rates all the time... more pixels, more resolution... why would anyone think that we donm't want to watch TV on these machines? Of course we also want to play XBox and PS3 on them, watch Blu-Ray in brilliant 1080p and surround sound, but we also want to watch TV shows on them. And we want ot watch them in high def.

If I can sit in front of my 50-inch plasma TV and watch The Office in 720p with 5.1 dolby digital surround sound, why would anyone think I would prefer to watch it on my computer, wating while it loads, then having to deal with it skipping, having a slower frame-rate and with stereo headphones? The biggest I can see it on my computer is 15-inches. 15 vs. 50. Hi. 50 wins. Everytime.

It's a no-brianer.

4. Setting: I will confess that I have watched both The Office and 30 Rock on the internet... but that is ONLY when I miss the broadcasts. Think about it this way... I am watchign them on a tiny little screen, with pooer quyality, and I am sitting in a desk chair. The alternative is sitting on a big chooshy couch with my feet up on a ottoman, and one of the best combinations of sound and video quality availible. The setting is so much more conducive to watchign TV in my living room than it is at my desk. This is what my TV, sound system and couch were all designed to do. And they are really good at it. That is why i have them. We shouldn't be making it worse by forcing people to abandon this set up for the computer.



Now... i will agree that the internet is a VERY important piece of this whole progressing integration of media. Of course we should be putting the shows online as well... but not exclusively. What is driving to the watch them online if they have no broadcast presence. There is just too much crap out there online. Youtube is full to overflowing with the stupidest stuff i have ever seen. If you watch the viral video of the two brittish kids in which the older one says "charlie bit me" after his baby brother bites him, you can then watch HUNDREDS of other videos where people have re-created the video. I don't want to watch that. That is not funny. I have seen the original. It is stupid. And, i think people should be allowed to put that online... it is thier right to do so, but i don't like sifting through all the crap. TV helps me sift through thte crap.

But i am off point. There should certianly be an integration of TV and internet, and there is... but if people really think that they should stop putting good media on TV for our generation and just put it on the web, then they are HORRIBLY misguided. And that worries me. Both for the sake of our parents generation and for ours. They are missing some great opportunites to get eyeballs, (which bring in money) and we are missing great media because we cannot find it as readily.

I do think that superior media will come through wherever it is... eventually. Take Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long blog par example... it was a web-exclusive enterprise, and it was just good enough that it has been growing and growing in popularity. But how much faster and broad would it have been if a TV network had said "this is good. we will put it on our air." It would have been HUGE.

I don't think all hope is lost, but I hope our parents remember when THEY listened to The Who and sang... "talkin' 'bout m-m-m-m-my g-g-g-g-generation."