you mean, broadcast TV isn't the only way to receive this so-called "video" in the comfort of your own home?
Wednesday, April 14, 2010 at 10:03PM 
Sitting here trying unsuccessfully to focus on work, and I've just realized that You Only Live Twice is on what used to be CHCH, Hamilton's local channel 11, but which now seems to be some wacky movie channel that shows a lot of old movies using really old, unrestored prints with old school pan-and-scan. (Unlike certain other channels.)
Regardless, after seeing this in the Rogers listings, I hit "11" on the remote (which I still occasionally call a converter) and settle in to watch. Why? Because I guess I still appreciate the value of being a passive consumer of content – a viewer.
I don't download any shows, or buy anything other than music off iTunes; I don't have a PVR; I don't often use Rogers on Demand; I don't have a lot of DVDs sitting around. I seem to prefer being dependent on the timing and selections of the once proud species known as network programmers. Which is idiotic, in a way; I hate being dictated to in other similar contexts, such as music. I'm a notorious radio station/CD/iPod flipper in the car.
What makes this even more bizarre is that one of the few DVDs I actually own is You Only Live Twice; I can see this movie anytime, with far better picture and sound, widescreen.
And yet here I am. I know it's part habit, part laziness. But there are two other factors here:
1) Broadcast TV is, or was, a shared experience. The first time You Only Live Twice aired on ABC, in the mid '70s, it was like all the Bond movies a huge ratings generator; millions watched, and for lots of us it was our first exposure to Bond movies. We all talked about it the next day. Just as later we talked about MASH, or WKRP, or hell, the Star Wars Christmas special. You watched, all at the same time, or you didn't share the experience, because there were no VCRs, no playback, no rentals, no nothing. Now, the only comparable experience is truly a massive event, like the Olympic gold medal hockey game, or September 11th.
2) It's also lack of commitment; if I actually put a DVD on, I commit myself to watching it. I'm doing something active. But with broadcast TV, I retain my distance and passivity. I pay only as much attention as I want. So I can do other things, like, say, write a blog post.
Yes, I know it makes no sense. But it's how I am, and I suspect there are a lot of us out there – holdovers, weird analog/digital cyborgs. People who still use phones primarily for calling other people. People who, when it comes to sitting in front of the TV, still ask, "What's on?"
And by the way, for having "taken a first in Oriental languages at Cambridge," Bond's Japanese is hilarious, truly bad.
James Bond, TV, broadcast
Reader Comments (4)
You are truly an evil person for providing a link to the Star Wars Christmas special.
Incase any unsuspecting readers of your blog are daft enough to try and watch it, know that the Bea Arthur dance number is actually the high point of this piece of &#%$. And that's really saying something.
As for your point, I am always flummoxed when my wife will sit and watch an hour of The Lord of the Rings or The Matrix when we have them sitting 2 feet away from the TV in a much better quality.
We're still CHCH, Hamilton's local channel, we just have a bit of a new format, News during the day and movies in the evening (7-11p).
I agree with you though. Sometimes I don't want to think about what I want to watch, I want to be given what to watch. And the shared experience of tv has definitely been pushed aside. The last episode of Dexter created a bit of a media frenzy but I had many friends that had PVR'd it and were waiting to watch it at their convenience. By the time they were all caught up the 'news' value of it had passed. I had to get excited about what happen again a week later. How uncool is that?
PR Assistant - Channel Zero/CHCH
There are just certain movies that will pull me in like that: Godfather, Star War, Empire Strikes Back, Kelly's Heroes, Goodfellas, Where Eagles Dare... I can watch over and over again when broadcast, but I so rarely actually go to the DVD tray and put them in the player.
Okay, geek moment – I'll actually play Star Wars in the DVD player, just because I have the original un-re-Georged version and it's fun to watch, as opposed to The Other, which makes my skin crawl.
Thanks for the update on the station, Kathryn – good to know. And there is a buzz about shows that gets missed now; it makes watching them different. (Although the interweb offers comparable communities for sharing.) And of course, unlike in 1976, you can go back and watch the thing as much as you like.