Our parents probably wouldn’t be pleased: According to a new study by the Nielsen Co., we Americans averaged 151 hours of TV during the fourth quarter of 2008, up from a mere 146 hours during the same period the year before. Now, these stats could be interpreted in two ways. There were a few more originals airing at the end of last year versus the end of 2007, when the writers hit the picket line for what ended up being a 100-day labor dispute. Or it could just mean that TV seemed a heckuva lot more interesting this time around.
I’m thinking it’s more of the latter; in fact, just about every broadcast network has a show that’s up in viewers this season, be it Bones on Fox, Smallville and Supernatural on the CW, or NCIS and Ghost Whisperer (Ghost Whisperer!) on CBS. Are these shows any better than they were in previous seasons? Maybe, but I also suspect that — with the economy being in the crapper and all — a lot more people rediscovered TV after realizing that it’s much cheaper to enjoy Simon Baker in The Mentalist (pictured) than Clive Owen in The International.
What about you? Are you watching more TV these days? What shows have you discovered for the first time this season?
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I’m actually watching less.
I’m watching a lot more shows than before, but that is because I am teaching English in Korea in the middle of nowhere. So, I find my shows online and watch them. At this point: Big Love, Flight of the Concords, Chuck, How I Met Your Mother, The Office, 30 Rock, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Dollhouse and American Idol are shows I watch and then catch other shows if I’m really bored. I also just watched all 5 seasons of The Wire in the past few months, so that was a lot of TV. And I am excited for a new season of Mad Men.
i watch SO MUCH more than last season, this is actually the first season that i will have watched a show for the whole season thru. i watch like 9 shows and about 3 reality shows. i think i watch like 12 hrs of tv a week. it is crazy!!
thanks to dollhouse and the amazing top chef, i am definitely watching more tv.
I love Ghost Whisperer. Yes, I’ve been watching more TV. I’ve gotten back into The Amazing Race this year. I’ve actually found myself watching a lot of stuff on the Travel Channel, Discovery and Food Network. I think that certainly has something to do with not wanting to spend as much money at the moment.
With watching the family budget, our family is staying home more. We are shopping less and by avoiding shopping, we are also avoiding eating out. A simple trip to Target for essentials could easily turn into $35 for dinner on top of all the extra non-essentials we would find in our cart at the store. So, yes, our family is spending more time at home, together, and watching tv and movies is a big part of that.
Like Jonathan F, I’m also watching less. I’ve cut out a bunch of shows that I wasn’t enjoying all that much any more since last year, and the only new show of this TV season that I’m still watching is Privileged.
The spike in numbers might also have been helped by the elections.
And now that ABC has canceled DSM and Pushing Daisies, Wednesdays are a wasteland for me, except for the occasional episode of Lost.
I actually watch a lot less TV now. My reason is that I am a college student and don’t have as much time to watch all the shows but I’ve been trying to catch up on some by way of online videos. Some of the shows I wish I could see more are: Gossip Girl, Desperate Housewives, Life, Brothers & Sisters, and Survivor. And I just started watching Bones season 1 on netflix.
I agree with Beverley that folks watching their budget at home could explain the uptick in viewers. Another possibility is, sadly, when you’ve been laid off, you might find your daytime hours can be spent doing things you used to save for after work, and now your evenings are free for some comforting boob-tube viewing.
To Mister F,
Elections do not help TV viewing in a way that it will force an uptick in overall viewing. More people watch the Oscars and Superbowl than the election…
If you look at it, though, it’s just 5 more hours per month this year than last year. That’s about one additional hour of TV a week. Could definitely be news, if they counted that. If not, it just helps that there are good shows on TV that people are only just discovering. I myself now watch an extra hour each week – I just discovered The Office and 30 Rock. And with rising ratings for both, Tina Fey’s increasing popularity due to Palin, and the creative decline of ABC’s soapy dramedies, maybe so is the rest of America.
I’ve discovered:
–psych
–NCIS
–United States of Tara
It’s weird, but I was just thinking that we’re watching an awful lot of TV these days. The recession is part of it. Like Beverly we’re not going out much. Then throw in the age of my kids. They really like the “cool-lite” shows like Chuck, Psych and Heroes. Then shows like Life and Leverage popped up. And the old standbys of American Idol, Brothers & Sisters, Biggest Looser are on now. THEN add another few hours of SpongeBob, iCarly and Drake and Josh, and we’re watching more TV than I ever dreamed.
My husband and I have been watching more TV than movies since September 2006. Two things happened that month: our daughter was born, and we got a DVR. Both of those factors account for the uptick in our TV viewing and the downturn in our moviegoing.
I would say that I’m watching slightly more television this season. Previously I watched only NCIS on network. Mostly I watched the various Discovery channels, and others related to science and history. This season has found two new scripted shows that I have been hooked on: Leverage and The Mentalist.
They all have two things in common. They are character driven and have dollops of humor amongst the crime.
Maybe for the Fall of 2008 I watched a lot of TV. I was basically watching a TV Show everynite.
Monday
Gossip Girl
OTH
Tuesday
90210
Wednesday
Knight Rider
Private Practice
Thursday
Supernatural
Friday
GHOST WHISPERER (I love this show)
Sunday
Extreme Makeover Home Edit.
Desperate Housewives
Now I only watch FRIDAYS, Mondays at 9pm Sunday, and Thursday and tape Tuesdays.
I would have to say I’m watching more because my DVR is always filled when I sit down on Saturdays to watch tv. I have started watching Gossip Girl this season since i caught up watching the first season. But I have been putting more basic cable shows (Leverage, Pysch) on my DVR.
Why are you so surprised that Ghost Whisperer is up or has good ratings? For a writer who works with TV ratings, you sure know little about ratings, Ghost Whisperer has been #1 on it’s timeslot (Fridays at 8pm) with 10 million viewers for the past 4 years.
Correction, 11.42 million viewers.