www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Why do you watch TV?

Brethren in Risen Christ,

Why do you watch TV? And, if you watch, then:

- why do you watch news?
- why do you watch to movies?
- why do you watch to a certain show?

The above categories may vary, from alive Seattle news, through Desperate housewives and a ping-pong talk show, to a documentary about the history of Constantinopol or an alive concert with the favourite choir or singer.

M+

I only watch t.v. on occasion at scattered times and I don't follow any programs. I will briefly flip between news channels to see what is going on or listen when my wife has the t.v. on news (often it is on in the background). Occasionally, I will watch cartoons and once in awhile I will play a DVD. None of us are avid t.v. watchers and we limit the kids time on t.v.

Joe

I have about a hundred television channels on cable television.

My children (adult) watch alot of movies. I occasionally watch a movie, but I am very picky about what I like, and I find that I like very little that comes out of Hollywood these days. I do like old movies. I definitely don't like violence, blood, or scary/demonic like movies which are very popular these days.

I watch American news, some news shows sometimes like Hannity and Colmes or The O'Reilly Factor, I watch Euronews and BBC, I watch religious programming on EWTN, I like morning shows like the 'Today Show', I like food and cooking shows on the Food Channel, I like travel shows on the Travel Channel.

I also really like 'What Not to Wear' and other light makeover/fashion type shows--but not the extreme ones with plastic surgery, etc.. I don't like reality shows AT ALL.

I do like 'Desperate Housewives' and find it kind of fun and the writing refreshingly good..even my husband and daughter find it fun.

I loved (except for some gratuitious sex which wasn't necessary) the Showtime series 'The Tudors'. I love historical movies and shows set accurately in time periods--I adored 'Upstairs/Downstairs' (about the daily household life of a turn of the last century upper class British family and their servants) for instance, from many years ago.

I love Public Broadcasting Company with its cultural programming--concerts of Andrea Boccelli, ballets, operas, and the series 'Visions of--' different countries like Greece and Italy filmed from a low flying helicopter, and set to music and soft narration.
I also like its 'Religion and Ethics' to get a handle on the different religious happenings and movements going on in the U.S.

I also like the Star Trek series! LOL! But I hate the original Star Trek--the latter ones, IMHO, -'The Next Generation', 'Voyager', 'Deep Space Nine' were infinitely better in production, acting and story lines, and definitely more intriguing.

Overall, this does not constitute much television viewing. I sometimes laugh w/my husband about how much we have available, yet we will still say, much of the time, 'there is nothing on T.V.'

There was a period of time when I was in a funk of sorts, that I didn't want to watch ANYTHING BUT religious programming...I came to realize that I was not being very balanced, and since I was not a monastic and did have a family, a job, and lived in the world, that I needed balance. My spiritual confessor agreed that we should try to keep the scales balanced. The balancing act--one way (the world and its appeal) or the other (the spiritual life) is the hardest thing to do for us all-- laity and even clergy .

In Christ,
Alice

Along with educational and religious broadcasting, I raised my kids on old movies. It is funny today, they will mention stuff to their friends that they never heard of...mostly because they love the old movies. They also, enjoy the oldies but goodies music stations. Although, I am not a supported of NPR, they find the programming quite interesting. They love the game shows and the classical music on it. So I get tickled, though they tune into the world stuff today, they are just as happy if not more so, with the really good stuff of the past.

My hubby and I have about three programs a week we don't miss. Journey Home on EWTN, the NCIS on Tuesday's and Numbers on Fridays. I have no idea of why the last two, but I guess we just kind of stop. Outside of that it is mostly news for him, and I like TLC, HGTV, homeimprovement type stuff. I enjoy watching 'What Not to Wear' like Alice. I think because I do it with my daughter, and you can really see the transformation it makes in the lives of people. My husband says they are rather superficial, yet there is an inward change that we see.

Oh well, too much time spent on there and the computer, takes us further away from time with Jesus and in todays' world that is a constant battle.

I find that being on the computer, I must become BOLDER in speaking the truths of Christ.

I watch TV all the time. Oddly enough I think I watch it even more that I do at home. I just have more free time at school.

I watch my local ABC news unless something bug is going on. I usually get news from a reliable news website.

I watch so many movies that I can't even keep track. The last movie I saw was the movie "Waitress" that debuted at the Sundance film festival. It was a nice little movie and you could tell it was more of an independent film.

Like Alice I also LOVED the showtime series The Tudors. While there was some inaccuracies it was still brilliant and unconventional. I watch Desperate Housewives on occassion but Sundays are usually my big homework nights. I also enjoy Greys Anatomy but sadly enough the show that I can't miss is General Hospital. I watch it because I've watched it since I was 5 and for some reason I just enjoy it. For some reason watching everyone elses problems makes me feel so much better.

If nothing else is on I watch the food network. It rocks!

-Katie g
aka Katie the ByzanTEEN

Why do you watch the news? I don't watch the news. I read it.

Why do you watch movies? I go out to see a movie about once a year. Last movie I went to see was the new Pirates movie. It was so bad, I think it will take my A/C breaking down or something like that to get me to go to the movies again. Actually, that wouldn't even work. I think I've been scared out of the theatre for awhile.

Why do you watch a certain show? Hockey season is over now (all hail the mighty quack quacks) and the third season of Venture Brothers is not out yet on Cartoon Network. There is no reason to watch TV at this point in time.

Sometimes I watch TV to kill time, I confess. But most of the time I watch the house rehab shows for ideas. We used to watch 24 religiously but sometimes the yelling gets to be a bit much. Law and Order in its various forms is often good. Sometimes the History Channel if the subject fascinates me enough. The show on "The Little Ice Age" helped me yawn at algore and his hypocritical histeronics..

CDL

P.S. I just realized that Marian's post said 'why' do you watch t.v.

I thought it said 'what' do you watch on t.v.

To answer the first question, Marian: I watch t.v. for various reasons: to alleviate boardom, to rest and to unwind, to be entertained, to learn, to be informed, and to have something to do while I walk on my treadmill which would otherwise be so boring (looking at walls for 40 minutes), that I wouldn't do it!! I have prayed while walking on the treadmill too, by the way, as unorthodox as that may sound! LOL! After all, one has to do whatever it takes to motivate oneself to exersize!

I did away with television completely five years ago. Before that I watched maybe one movie a week. Not really anything of value that I can see on it.

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+

I have not owned a television for around five years. I found myself without one and quickly grew used to its absence. This does not mean that I'm anti-TV � I will watch if I'm some place that has one.

I do not like to watch news, but prefer to read it. On the other hand, sometimes it is nice to see some clips. The Internet can usually meet my requirements.

Any television viewing I do is pretty much limited to sporting events and 'edutainment' (TLC, Discovery, etc.). For films I feel one is usually better off with the cinema or DVDs/cassettes.

Over the last few years I've become a great fan of radio. With a decent Internet connection there is plenty to choose from.

Although one can be tripped up over the cultural differences and local references, I still highly recommend BBC Radio [bbc.co.uk], especially 3, 4 and 7. As for news sources, I think this is a very subjective issue. But I do strongly suggest that one also tries to read news sources based outside one's country of residence - the differences can be quite an eye opener.

==========
"Will you come quietly, or do I have to use earplugs?"

I watch maybe 1 hour of tv a month. There are shows that I find interesting but I know if I let myself get involved in one I'm likely to spend far too long in front of the television. IMHO television is largely degraded and perverse and only those who are spiritually attuned and wise can benefit from it.

Jason

I enjoy watching Jeopardy! Have been watching since I was a kid. It helps to keep my brain tuned up.

I also enjoy the various crime drama shows, like Criminal Minds, CSI (but not Miami, because I can't stand Caruso), and I like House, M.D. I also like some of the PBS shows, like Secrets of the Dead, History Detectives and Rosemary & Thyme. I guess I like all of these because they solve puzzles using research, science, forensics, etc.

Once in awhile I'll watch network news, but the local stuff is pretty much who got murdered, raped or killed in a car crash, and I don't want a steady diet of that night after night.

However, I end up watching more that I would like just to keep my mom company at night. She's at the point where she doesn't recognize reruns and can't understand how I could have seen these shows when we watch together and she hasn't seen them! I think it's actually some sort of cosmic payback for all the times she heard The Ballad of Davy Crockett when my brother and I were kids. We wore out two copies of the record and made decent headway on a third before we got tired of it.

We don't get a lot of Bollywood films here at the theaters, and none on TV (don't have cable). But I did see Bride and Prejudice and absolutely loved it. As you said, great choreography, music and comedy!

I watch a lot, mostly news; I find here that the written press falls into three categories; tabloid russbish I wouldn't read, middle of the road decent commentary stuff that is actually pretty similar to the docos you get on publicly funded channels here; but the only print I actually read is the financial review, which is in a league of it's own; it has kind of right-skewed political commentary you simply don't get anywhere else here.

I watch TV because I have to vote here, and I think that if I have to vote, I should know something about what's going on; and I watch the Russian news, as I feel connected with my roots. We have a world news hour here, which to contrast itself from the local tabloid stuff says "SBS world news - nightly news for people who live in the world". Cruel, but I like it.

Ned

PS Kobraz, I agree; though Pravda is perhaps not the eye opener you want!