I know, it seems like this thread is a little late, but when you think about it, January 18, that's the big day to start taking new resolutions, the ones you took on December 31 having been dropped already. It's the real deal now.
So tell me, what changes have you decided to adopt regarding your TV habits ? Which shows have you decided to start watching ? Which ones did you choose to stop watching ? Have you thought of ideas changing the relationship between you and your TV/computer ? Here's the place to let it all out.
My TV-related resolutions :
ReplyDelete— Watching much, much less TV than I do.
In 2011, aside from the shows that were cancelled or ended on their own terms, perfectly (FNL & Rescue Me) or not (Entourage), I stopped Glee (I don't understand the appeal at all), Hawaii Five-O (after episode 2.01, because as much as I like the cast, it just is a CBS copshow with not one bit of originality and I don't have time for that), The Middle & Happy Endings last May (now that I have stopped it seems that Happy Endings has become good), Workaholics (a IASIP-like that is too stupid, and not the good kind of stupid), and XIII (how can you treat such a brilliant comic book series with such disrespect ?).
And in 2012, besides losing Chuck in a few days (I'm glad the show is going out on its best season since season 2), I won't watch the new season of Ugly Americans or Blue Mountain State. I also don't think I'll watch the new season of Falling Skies and count of me out of Terra Nova if it gets renewed (stick with premium cable, Steven). Web Therapy and The Borgias are very long shots but I think I might end up watching them, hoping for better than their pale first season. As for new network shows of the fall, there's Up All Night (even if Will Arnett and Christina Applegate have a very good chemistry) and Grimm (still trying to find out why there's the name of the great David Greenwalt associated to this) which do not strike me as must-see TV, but that I still watch nonetheless. If I think about dropping a few shows, they'll be on death row for sure.
— Finally starting to watch The West Wing, The Sopranos and The X-Files. A long time ago I've seen the first episode of TWW (which I loved) and the first 5-6 episodes of The Sopranos (liked it too), and surely I have caught a wee bit o' X-Files on the ol' telly many times, but I never really got into those landmark dramas, and I will do that in 2012. Besides, I bought the complete box sets for the three of them a long time ago, I hope I'll like what I'll see.
— Finishing Six Feet Under (16 episodes to go), the goddamn Mad Men (I stopped in the middle of episode 2.08 two and a half years ago) and Oz (two dozens of episodes left, but I actually love the show, I'm just too lazy to grab my DVD box set - I have current weekly shows that I have to watch first, and when I'm done I don't have enough time for Oz).
— Watching everything in HD. I tend to get most of my shows from iTunes already, but for some comedies (or new shows I'm not sure about) I sometimes just watch the SD version (HD does take much more room on the computer than SD). And except for the shows not covered by iTunes, I know it's the wrong thing to do, because 720p image and DD5.1 audio improve things a lot, whether it's Anna Torv's suave voice or Claire Danes' blue/gray eyes.
— Watching Arrested Development for the third time. The first time I watched the show was in October 2008, the second time was in July 2010 : 2012 seems like a good year to watch the show once again, especially with season 4 and the movie coming up in early 2013. Watching the following scene on Youtube was the trigger : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_exermAXkU (and also that one, I didn't catch that the first two times, brilliant : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jm6B31HKBw ).
— Stop rewatching shows until I've seen all the complete series I have yet to see.
— And finally, ma last TV-related resolution will be to construct a device that allows me to get all the US networks on my TV, and most importantly that tricks the Nielsen people into believing that I live in the US, that I have a Nielsen box and that my viewing alone actually represents 99% of the numbers they use to calculate ratings (if I can make this device, don't be surprised if Community, Parks and Rec, Fringe, Raising Hope and The Good Wife suddenly become absolute hits).
1080p, 1080i and 720p... oh and to stop being so literal...
ReplyDeleteWatch Mad Men, Alias and give Once Upon a Time another go.
ReplyDeleteI agree and could pretend I will do all of them... but I likely will keep watching this year's new less-than-stellar shows until season's end.
ReplyDeleteI have been cutting out almost all procedurals and other meaningless shows too. Sitcoms I kind of enjoy, but do not look forward to like Happy Endings. Also shows I watched because friends watched them and I liked discussing them are out. Shows like Once Upon a Time, Glee, NCIS are gonezo already... Ringer, you're next so improve or be gone!
I REALLY like the idea of watching The West Wing. I've only heard good tings and I keep meaning to check it out, but always manage to watch something else or do something else.I do not need to lie to myself on this one... I will watch Arrested Development again this year! Arrested is a yearly watch for me, if not twice a year.
I've already broken my resolution to be less obsessive about Fringe and Once Upon A Time.
ReplyDeleteYes! Yes! Her?
ReplyDeleteI've tried giving up spoilers for Lent back, but I don't think I could do it...
ReplyDeleteAlso, no TV related resolutions! I just have to watch the Southland season premiere, last night's Body of Proof, and the Alcatraz series premiere before I head back to school.
Well... I think that I
ReplyDeleteHave to stop seeing spoilers or sneak peeks!! :) Better that way...
Try to find more hours in the day to watch more tv. I want to try and watch some acclaimed shows in the summer.
ReplyDeleteDarque,you MUST watch West Wing,it is a great series.The writing is superb,the acting phenomenal,you have everything in this show then one could possibly want.Aside from the 10 or so regulars,so many people come and go according to whats taking place.Over the years i have watched it twice,i mean i sat and watched,you'll see what i mean...I know you weren't that crazy about Once Upon,but try it again,i feel like i'm swept away by my childhood fairytale except this one is an adult version..well anyway...If you can check out the w.wing...... :)
ReplyDeleteGood question,ummm........................
ReplyDeleteI have wanted to cut back on the number of shows I watch but I simply cannot seem to do that and have actually added a couple of new ones already this month. It wasn't really a resolution for me but if it had been then I wasted no time in breaking it lol. I can't help myself I love TV!!
ReplyDeleteI do mean to watch West Wing.... soon.
ReplyDeleteAs for Once Upon a Time...I have watched every episode and each of the last 5 or 6 weeks I ask why I just watched that! XD I just find the writing at best mediocre. So many plot holes and logic errors and contrived stories each week... It's not my thing. I was never a fairy tale fan when young. Well, not the Disney-fied cutesy ones. Never liked animated Disney films either.I read Grimm's and liked the dark and realistic ones. The mystery of the series intrigues me some still, but I think the series itself is more novelty and charm than substance.It's awesome others can enjoy Once... but the show is not for me.
The last resolution is the best one. DO IT.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm mid-season 3 on Six Feet Under. That show just does something to me that makes the world a little too real. I think it might've been the reason I had a monumental (if short) existential breakdown last summer.
I intend to get through seasons 3 and 4 of Breaking Bad, and continue on Mad Men when it returns (Season 4 was EFFING AMAZING, so you'll want to catch up) and I also need to stop rewatching so many shows when I have so many more to watch!
#1 I have to stop playing solitaire when the TV is on. That doesn't help retention.
ReplyDeleteNo more than one serial drama.
I like comedies, but not all of them.
Still watching: Mike and Molly, 2 Broke Girls, Raising Hope. I can't help but watch Two and a Half Men, because it's between the first 2.
Dramas: Pan Am, Body of Proof, Harry's Law, Grimm. Looking forward to Scandal. Anything else is a bonus.
Everything is a mess. No simulcasting means I am watching the same show I support on two different nights.
I have been watching more and more TV than ever!
ReplyDeleteI have a special relationship with my computer. I have bookedmarked every single show that I watch.
For 2012 I will start new and saw goodbye to old.
1. For one i will be saying goodbye to One Tree Hill, which has been around for a good strong 9 seasons. I am sad to say goodbye but I feel that it will end with grace and dignity. Though what I can`t wait for is Feb. 22 when Lucas COMES BACK! Long Live OTH!
2. Although I started watching this during the fall of 2011 I just finish the 4th Season of Merlin. It was AMAZING! & I can not wait for season 5!
3.Very much looking forward to True Bloods Season 5 this summer, Super Excited for that! Season 4 ended with SO many questions.
3.This year I started watching Once Upon a Time & I feel it is the best new show out today! I very much look forward to every episode. & i feel that it can go one forever as it has so much to give! LOVE IT !
4.Suburgatory.. well one thing i can say about that is that it does not suite my taste but i cant help but watch it. It does not make me laugh but it does make me smile. I will not stop watchmaking it but i just might not watch it every single week. it more of a ill watch it online sometime later show.
5. Th how that got me exited is L.A Complex for you that live in the states its coming on the CW, but i live Canada and ive watch the two episodes and let me tell you, i did not see that coming! This show is nothing like Degrassi. But still i might continue on watching it cause of what happened this week. Odd but entertaining for sure!
6.Yes I am a HUGE Buffy fan so I decided to watch The Vampire Diaries two years ago and let me tell you these past few episodes have been my FAVOURITE! especially last weeks, I love the writers seriously EPIC, for SURE i am continuing watching the show. VD, may you live long and continue entertaining Vampire fans for a very long time!
7. 90210 is my first CW show as I have watched the original before, and really its just there now i really hate how the show is going and only have those occasional moments that keep me interested. But still i will continue to watch it every week, or at best every so often.
8. OK my second to favourite show on the CW (other than OTH) Gossip Girl! OMG why do the writers like almost killing Chuck off really! I hated that stupid episode this week it was horrible, but what I can not wait for is the 100th episode special of the wedding! I will forever watch this show as it is AMAZING!
9.Hey, also Teen wolf, that was my summer, it was so good but at the same tiem lame, story lines but the sidekick Stiles kills me I love hinm he is like a modern day Seth (O.C) Love him, plus I am interested in the direction it si going in. Hopefully they clean it up, otherwise i am looking forward to it this summer!
9. It is hard to discontinue a show for me cause even when its bad and haas that one story line that keeps you in even though you hate the rest! Shows that i will TRY to stop this year is Make it or Break it (ew!), Secret life of the american Teenager (what was i thinking!) & maybe in the near future 90210 (though i did stop watching it, but caved in and watched)
Hope to start watching in 2012 :
1.Supernatural
2.Switched at Birth
3.Necessary Roughness
4. Games of Thrones
Catch up on Once Upon A Time.
ReplyDeleteI hear you and believe it or not i do understand,some people go on about it like its coming from the bible,with all due respect.When i watch this its for the feel good factor,certainly not for substance,as you know its not very deep,ha! :)
ReplyDeleteGood thread. I definitely watch far too much tv than I really have time for. The shows that I hope to start (and hopefully finish/catch up) this year: Breaking Bad, Six Feet Under, FNL, Arrested Development, and The Wire - probably during the summer, but time will tell. As far as shows to give up: I already gave up Bones after 6 seasons,Royal Pains, and am debating about S2 of The Killing, S2 of Falling Skies, and The Secret Circle.
ReplyDeleteOMG continue watching FNL just finished it couple weeks ago & it was AMAZING!
ReplyDeleteClassic!
Your last resolution is the best ever, I'm in! Find a way to save Community and Fringe please and you'll be our new Walternate (Walternate 3)!
ReplyDelete-My first resolution is to forget definitively NBC and Fox if they cancel these two shows.
My other TV resolutions for 2012 is to watch less TV shows (no more H5-0, NCIS, Glee, Hell on Wheels, TSC, PP...), to focus on the ones I really love and care.
-And not to check out on a lot of new series, I'm not in the right mood this year.
For example Alcatraz... I didn't dislike it, but I didn't really get in it. Reminds me too much both Lost and Fringe. And now I miss Lost and I'm worried a little more for Fringe!
-And I'll try to complete the old series I have yet to watch, like the last season of Mad Men or the last season of House.
-Never watched the West Wing, it's on my list too!
Thanks for the vote. I might move it to first on the list to watch! :)
ReplyDeletewell, my biggest resolution last year was to start watching fringe because i had heard so many great things about it here.
ReplyDeletewell, i'm happy to say that i've just about finished season 2 (i only have 4 episodes to go) and i am LOVING it! it is awesome and my only regret is that no one told me about it earlier.
i can't wait to catch up to season 4 (although that may take m a while as i'm going away for 5 months) and be up to speed with everyone here.
other than that, my tv viewing has pretty much been the same. but fringe is awesome
Just got a new 42" HD TV for Christmas. Lots of bells and whistles. My resolution is to learn how to work the thing.
ReplyDeleteGive up on stand-up comics. They're not funny enough to waste my time on.
Watch more news-related shows and try to remember they're good for me. Like vegetables. Go back to watching The Daily Show.
Stop feeling guilty about watching Joan Rivers and Fashion Police. I shouldn't like it, but I just do.
When I learn how my new TV can download from Netflix etc., watch Breaking Bad.
Wilson, didn't you just graduate from school last year? That gives people existential breakdowns. And Six Feet Under.
ReplyDeleteYou're making it worse. It's been almost 3 years since I graduated. Right now I'm a junior in college, and likely to have another one of those breakdowns after this semester lol
ReplyDeleteNetflix is AMAZING. I am finally watching shows like Breaking Bad, Battlestar Galactica, (Mary McDonnell, MFs!) and I don't have to buy season 3 of Six Feet Under like I bought the first two seasons!
ReplyDeleteYay! I'm excited. We're waiting for the TV stand we ordered so we can put all the components where they belong, and then we can get going.
ReplyDeleteOh no! Sorry. Well, be sure you have finished Six Feet Under before then.
ReplyDeleteFat chance! I've got enough on my plate to last 2 semesters at this rate :P
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the new Home Theater set up!
ReplyDeleteIt's one of those things you didn't know you were missing out on until you get one and regret not getting one earlier! XD
DVRs were that way for me years ago. I never understood why anyone would need one.. I mean I had a VCR why would I need a DVR? Needless to say my opinion has since changed and I have rarely watched live TV in a decade or so...
I said the same thing about HDTV Mostly because sports fanatics kept saying how awesome it was for sports and frankly, I do no watch a ton of sports. Then I got an HDTV and watched shows I had been watching for years. It was like watching new shows! Of course some of that was having a surround sound system attached since I got both the TV and A/V receiver at the same time, but still....
Netflix is the same way! I know they get a bad rap for price hikes, but they were too cheap for years frankly. Now they are about right and still a better deal than buying multiple seasons of a series. I've watched series I never would have considered watching because I could stream it on Netflix. It's great for trying new series
Well enjoy watching the new HDTV and enjoy checking out new and different series on Netflix!
I started The West Wing earlier in the year. I made it to 2x05. Just haven't gotten back to it yet. Part of me is like "oh shit, 7 22-episode seasons. THAT's an investment!"
ReplyDeleteAlso need to watch The Wire because EVERYONE raves that it is literally the best tv series of all time. I've seen the first ep recently but haven't felt compelled to return to it yet. But I feel obligated to because I am such a huge tv watcher and I feel like a fraud having not seen these two shows. :P
I've started watching White Collar and hope to finish it. I might try to watch some of the old 80's shows like Magnum and Quantum Leap. Since watching the new Hawaii Five-O I might try to watch the old one. Can't think of anything else although I'm sure there is...
ReplyDeleteCatching up on long-run network TV series is a serious investment!
ReplyDeleteThe Wire is much shorter being from HBO. I'm one of those that think it's one of the best series - if not the best ever - on TV. So well written, directed, acted, it's original, it's realistic, it's funny, it's heartbreaking and so much more.
Ha! Yeah it's funny as a fan of TV the things you feel obligated to watch sometimes.
For me it was The Sopranos. I've tried to get into it twice, and it is a really well done series, but I just do not seem to stay interested in it and end up watching like two seasons a year. I think I am in the middle of Season 3 after starting it at the end of 2009.
Yikes. Another one I haven't watched yet. Haven't tackled Six Feet Under either. Though, like The Sopranos, I have sampled several episodes. Hell, just last month I finally watched all of Big Love. Though overall, I feel like I've watched a good amount of HBO programming, go figure.
ReplyDeleteYES YES YES. TV is a great friend to me. So oddly fulfilling.
ReplyDeleteI could never cut back on TV shows, In fact I have a whole list of ones I still need to watch
ReplyDeleteOzThe West WingSoAThe ShieldDeadwoodThe X-FilesSome I've started, some I just haven't had the time and I doubt I will get to them all this year but yeah will tryJust started Southland S1 and already know its going to become a future addition.
Mine was to quit my SPN obsession I've already broken it...a lot.
ReplyDeleteJoin the club :D
ReplyDeleteOh well, I do have a bunch of shows that I need to get back into for the sake of just knowing what is going on like Bones and Glee.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to say that I adore the picture in the article :D
I am in love with the picture. That's how I felt after I dropped my cup of coffee Monday. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI actually don't make New Year's resolutions. From my perspective they're a recipe for failure...which would only make me feel more like that polar bear. :-D
But I have started watching Lost Girl and Alcatraz.
Thank you! I am loving it. I especially notice the high def in wide shots, such as the forest in Once Upon a Time. And football is wonderful in HD, and also on the larger screen. And we just bought the DVR a little over a year ago. What the heck were we waiting for? It's great!
ReplyDeleteMy TV Resolutions:
ReplyDelete1.) Find new shows to watch to replace the ones that are going off air this year (for example: Desperate Housewives).
2.) Start and watch shows that I've been meaning to watch but haven't had the time to.
Stop watching so much crap TV (someone please explain to me why I'm still watching Whitney? Please? Anyone!?)!
ReplyDeleteAND try to catch up with some of the classics I've had on my "to watch" list since forever (I will see Farscape this year I swear!!!!)