Is there less enthusiasm for watching TV nowadays?

[KnightInShiningArmorDis92]

We have so much decent TV on the streaming services nowadays however it seems like there is less enthusiasm for TV than during the Game of Thrones years.

Is there less enthusiasm for TV nowadays?

Did the last of season of GOT really did that good of a job in killing interest in watching TV for much of the population?

Or do much of TV show viewers had unrealistic expectations and won't watch a show if it isn't as good as Game of Thrones?

 

[snowwite]

We watch Jeopardy but that’s pretty much it for the network TV shows.
There are a lot of decent shows available for streaming.
Right now we are into All Creatures Great and Small. Land girls was a good series too.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I think it's just different nowadays than in the past.

There is some "draw-off" from new series because we can now re-watch our favorites whenever we want (and people do that when they need comfort.)

But I think folks still get excited when a really great series comes along. We just don't all watch it at the same time like we used to with broadcast TV, so the conversation isn't all the next morning.

 

[LoveDaisy]

Honestly I barely watch tv, there are few original ideas (hello ncis every city) and shows stay on for to many season (survivor/big brother/greys anatomy/etc) I’m tired of ‘reality’ tv. games of thrones was ok and I don’t think it was so great no show will ever live up to it or it broke tv.

I didn’t miss anything during the writer/actor strike last year and all I think that strike did was make them more irrelevant and made me realize they could all go away and I wouldn’t care that much. Maybe it’s me.

 

[tony67]

Don't think it has anything to do with GoT.
I personally didn't like it and feel it was for folks that wanted to see adult entertainment, but pretend they were watching some highbrow show.

I think its more to do with too many options as well as generally poor quality of the shows in general.

In addition they are often making shows that alienate either half the country or their existing fan base.

For example I find all the new Star Trek Unwatchable, Enterprise was the last good series IMO.
We have tried to watch it and its just too bad. I even came back and tried Picard season 3 because everyone raved about it - and that was horrible.
Still not sure why people thought it was so good except member berries I guess.

In the end if you make a show that targets 100% of the audience you might have something.
People what a break and an escape from everything that is going on and for the most part we are not getting that.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

When you make good things people still will show excitement about them imho.

Squid Game and Yellowstone kinda took the US by storm but other than that not much really good content has happened lately. Reacher is a big hit for Amazon prime, but there is just not too much in the way of good stuff out there right now.

All the Marvel stuff has fallen way off, and the latest two Echo and Secret Invasion failed to attract large audiences.

Star Wars has fallen way off from the buzz that was Mando season 1-2 also.

I just think more than anything we have hit a patch of mediocre content, and no one gets too excited for mediocre content.

 

[TippyThomas]

I haven't watched television or movies since I was about 8 or 9 years old so I am definitely in the less enthusiastic crowd.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Since I no longer have a TV or cable, it’s pretty much occasional streaming on my electronics. Were the man here I’m sure the TV would be back as well as all the regular services as he was the only household resident who was passionate about it.

 

[_19disnA]

Isn't this the person who appears once a month or so to ask about sci-fi and related topics?

 

[TippyThomas]

Isn't this the person who appears once a month or so to ask about sci-fi and related topics?

Yes, it appears they're changing their approach.

 

[luvnwdwgal]

We don’t stream anything, we’re still cable and I’ve never seen an episode of Game of Thrones. To be honest I’m not a big watcher anyway. I have a few favorites, mostly sitcoms, morning talk, and game shows that I DVR and that’s about it. I don’t watch any dramas, reality tv and very few movies.

 

[Travel60]

Watching TV has become too complicated. Cable, streaming, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Britbox, Hulu.....plus the seasons seem to come and go at will - by the time you learn the cast and buy in to the story line, it's off for 6 months. I won't watch any "reality" TV, talent shows, sci-fi. Doesn't leave a lot. The industry has wounded itself.

 

[ronandannette]

Watching TV has become too complicated. Cable, streaming, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Britbox, Hulu.....plus the seasons seem to come and go at will - by the time you learn the cast and buy in to the story line, it's off for 6 months. I won't watch any "reality" TV, talent shows, sci-fi. Doesn't leave a lot. The industry has wounded itself.

All good points. We are tv watchers but find that our habits and tastes have changed. The streaming services seem to have leeway to produce different (and in our opinion better) shows in a wider range of genres. There's practically nothing on network tv anymore except police/detective procedurals (yawn), really, really cringy sitcoms or reality/competition shows. Almost everything we watch now is on an alternative platform and in addition to being complicated, it's expensive. We're also basketball fans, so during the season (October to May), that's basically 3 hours every second night, so there goes most of our tv time. We DVR or stream practically everything else to binge-watch during the off-season, which is a radical change in our habits from say, 10 years ago.

 

[emily nicole]

Yes, I do think there's less enthusiam for TV. Before streaming services, everyone had the same channels. We watched the same shows and discussed them with our friends at work/school etc. The latest episode was always a topic of discussion the next day! Now there are so many choices of different shows to watch, and many people (like me!) binge them and watch the episodes on their own time vs. when the network puts them out. Our houeshold does not even have cable anymore which is true for many people, I think. Personally I'm usually overwhelmed with all the choices of shows and often find myself rewatching old favorites vs. finding new shows.

 

[Wood Nymph]

My big issue with TV is how many commercials are in the show. Many of these commercial breaks are four minutes long. We still have cable and I can record or DVR my shows. But that takes a lot of planning and keeps me from just trying a new show.

I can't believe how the networks seem to disregard how the quantity of commercials have affected viewership. They talk about all the reasons that viewership has dropped but never seem to admit that excessive commercial breaks have played a role.

 

[loves to dive]

Never watched GOT so no, it didn't kill it for me. We don't watch much TV now days though, streaming or otherwise. I have a few favorite shows we record, mostly reality type. Finding your Roots, Hometown, Oak Island. We watch The Grand Tour on Prime and other than turning the TV on to listen to music or watch a DVD that's it. We don't actually watch DVDs, they are all burned to a hard drive and we watch that. We used to watch a lot of network shows like Bones, Castle, all the NCIS, etc. but lost interest. We do own all the seasons of both Castle and Bones and make our way through those every once in a while. It's mostly Utube for me and hubby reads or works.

 

[disneychrista]

I watch just as much TV as I always have and never watched a single episode of GoT. Other than “winter is coming” and the mysterious Starbucks cup I know nothing about it.

 

[ronandannette]

My big issue with TV is how many commercials are in the show. Many of these commercial breaks are four minutes long. We still have cable and I can record or DVR my shows. But that takes a lot of planning and keeps me from just trying a new show.

I can't believe how the networks seem to disregard how the quantity of commercials have affected viewership. They talk about all the reasons that viewership has dropped but never seem to admit that excessive commercial breaks have played a role.

We don't watch anything live, not even sports. DVR all of it and skip the commercials. When we do happen to see one, it actually seems odd. The same commercials over-and-over during a 30 or 60 minute show. Almost unbearable.

 

[Jennasis]

Wut??

 

[Smugpugmug]

The majority of content that I watch is on Youtube. I don't really watch that much TV or anything on a streaming service. The only show I watch on TV is my weekly dosage of trash (90 Day Fiance and all of the spin offs lol).