question of the day: Do you have an appointment TV routine?

Actually, I don't watch much TV. But I do have one appointment and that is "30 Rock" on Thursdays.

I USED to have an appointment on Wednesady nights to watch Pushing Daisies [grumble grumble]

Prior to having kids, I had a number of shows I watched live (as in, the day/time they aired on their respective networks).

But with young kids in the house, the advent of the Wii, and my inability to stay up past 9pm, I now rely almost entirely on Hulu and other (legal) online sites that stream the latest episodes of whatever.

Not really, the DVR has eliminated that. However, my wife and I do try to gather at a point where our diverse schedules meet to watch mutually enjoyed shows together. All hail the DVR.

Just Lost. Although the girlfriend and I will try to catch American Idol on the nights it airs, once the DVR has recorded enough that we can skip the commercials.

I know, I know, American Idol, yeah yeah. But it's good stuff, really. I rolled my eyes at it at first, but it actually makes me optimistic about the American public, not suicidal, like I thought it would at first. I'd go into it more, but it's kind of a longer thesis I'm working on that's more suitable for its own blog post. In sum, though, it's not as shallow as it seems from afar.

Tuesday House, Wednesday Top Chef, Thursday Supernatural. Although if I miss an episode I'm perfectly happy streaming from amazon. Commercials suck.

Used to watch the "X-Files" in the late '90s with a bunch of college friends. Used to watch "The West Wing" with many of the same friends, post-college. Such fun! Don't have any appointments anymore, though, between TiVo and my husband and I having different taste. We watch "The Office" together, but kind of whenever we get around to it... I miss those appointments!

Started watching "True Blood" , I'm really getting in to it , its got alot of elements I like. The convenient thing is it's on every night so I tune in everynight and its there, at least for 10 more weekdays, then its on to waiting for its 2nd second. Thats when the problem kicks it, clocking in to its one day a week schedule.

2nd season*

Everything is DVR'd now, and usually watched after 9PM or when possible. It's the series though, and the frequency.

Currently the DVR is set to record (when they're on and in watch preference):

Battlestar Galactica
Lost
Venture Bros. +
Lucy, Daughter of the Devil +
Metalocalypse +
The Closer
Pushing Daisies
Terminator *
Chuck *
Reaper
Smallville *
The Office
30 Rock
Dollhouse ?
XIII ?
South Park
Robot Chicken
Batman : Brave and the Bold
Scrubs
Fringe *
The Soup

* - Filthy pleasure as sometimes it is poor.
? - NEW : Waiting to see if it's good.
+ - Pending a new season.

Thing people might expect that fell off the list include:
The Middleman (does not interest me)
Eli Stone (dropped recently from boredom)

Things I'd watch if I didn't already watch so much:
Psych
Monk

Also, considering DVD rentals, as I'm currently processing The Wire (Season 3) and waiting for Dexter (Season 3) and Entourage (Season 5) to hit.

Last Fall, Wednesday nights were like my idea of a superbowl.

Pushing Daisies (sob!) at 8.
True Blood at 9.
Dexter at 10.

Joygasm!

I no longer have any appointment TV. I do still watch shows on TLC and random episodes of CSI on Spike, but any show I want to see I get ahold of through other means, either hulu or netflix or something slightly more nefarious.

I have the opposite of appointment television, does that count?

I'm so addicted to the joys of the DVR that I get annoyed having to watch a show when it's actually ON. What did I use to do during commercials?

Sometimes I deliberately go do something else so I can watch a show after it's started, so I zip through the commercials!

I'm so addicted to the joys of the DVR that I get annoyed having to watch a show when it's actually ON. What did I use to do during commercials?

Sometimes I deliberately go do something else so I can watch a show after it's started, so I zip through the commercials!

You have just described my DVR usage. The big issue I have now is recording conflicts. They keep moving shows around, and now I am forced to prioritize, and it is pissing me off. They know most people can only record two programs at the same time so they are trying to bunch shows up so you have to choose.

A big complaint for the last year has been rival programming, which is why I'm pro-reruns. But in a general week, if everything is new, these are the must-sees:

Heroes
House
The Mentalist
CSI
Chuck
Ghost Whisperer
Numbers
The Amazing Race
Criminal Minds
Desperate Housewives

MUST-see-in-real-time-lest-the-VCR-don't-work (yes, still just VCR:

Lost
Dancing With the Stars

PRIORITY watching if it doesn't conflict with a must-see:

Bones
Fringe
Cold Case
Without a Trace
The Big Bang Theory

(Note: these are pretty good about reruns, so I expect to catch up with 'em eventually.)

WOULD be watching if I could get the CW on the rabbit ears:

Smallville
Reaper
probably Supernatural

GRRRRRRRRRRR:

Pushing Daisies
Eli Stone
Moonlight

DON'T have cable or I'd be watching:

True Blood
Monk
Dexter

No. I don't have cable, and I barely get aerial reception in my apartment. Don't want 'em, don't need 'em.

I'll be downloading BSG tonight and the next nine weeks, with everyone else. Then when I've the money I'll buy the DVDs. It's the circle of life. Artistically speaking.

I do have a suite of shows that I flag in Google Reader though: BSG, Lost, Supernatural, Law & Order: The Lupo/Cutter Adventures (seriously, since the reboot last season this show has become good). Most of those are gushing back into transmission, which is horrible for productivity yet which makes me feel like there is something positive going on in at least one contemporary medium.

I am about to date myself, but when I was in high school and college Thursday night sitcoms was my must see TV, starting with the Cosby Show all the way through Night Court. Star Trek was also must see TV, regardless of which varient. My friends and I would swear at the TV when ST:Next Gen was interrupted or delayed by football games. At my college there was a dormintory common room known throughout the college (it was a small school) as the TV room, since it was reputed to be on 24/7. Then there was the Simpsons, which I only watched at college because my mother thought it was purile and my ex-wife thought that about all TV.

Now when I visit my parents I watch their appointment TV: Monk, Ugly Betty, Numbers, Two and a half Men, How I met your Mother, Heroes, and probably a few others, especially the crime shows and Wheel of Fortune. In the mornings I catch up on all the "Frasier" and "Dharma and Greg" that I missed; shows I didn't find out was good until after it was over, along with Josh Whedon's shows, which I've only seen on DVD.

Dharma and Greg? Gross!

Frasier, as far as I am concerned, is still THE best sitcom, ever. I have seen every episode, and if some are on and I have nothing else going or am puttering about the house, I leave it on. I have seen some Dharma & Greg, I still think of that show when I watch Criminal Minds. I waithed Night Court and Cosby show when I was a chitlin. Monk cracks me up, I can relate to some of the OCD, though I never come close to that bad, I can still appreciate it. I like things clean and neat.

I totally forgot. Heroes used to be on my list till this season. It has been excised from the list will never recover.

I no longer believe in appointment TV. If I'm interested in a show, I either catch up with it on-line or through DVD rentals (both Netflix and otherwise). Perhaps it comes from moving to a residence in which watching live TV is no longer as convenient as it used to be or else the simple fact that I've grown older and no longer feel the need to watch TV for the sake of watching TV.

But it more likely has to do with seeing the prime-time TV network spend the last eight years giving the finger to anyone who's not interested in Law and Order, American Idol, Survivor, CSI and similar shows. The networks did their damnedest to make sure people like me weren't interested in their products. They really should not be surprised at the results.

My appointment TV is the shows that i schedule to download from the states as they air so i don't have to wait for them to air on Australian TV.
At the moment its Scrubs and HIMYM. Just finished British Top Gear and, of Course, Dr Who.
I like it though, i DL it, load it on to a USB memory stick and plug that into my DVD player so i can watch it with my flatmates.

What do some people have against Dharma and Greg anyway? I've been teased about it by family and friends, too. It's nice to see a marriage on TV that doesn't make me glad they are married just to spare two other people misery. It's also the easiest show to describe to my Chinese students: two people who love each other having trouble getting their parents to get along. They all nod their heads knowingly.