Question: What TV shows do you use in your daily life?

[reverenddejesus]

There's a big difference between shows we watch because we like what they do and shows we watch because we need to know the information they're giving. I, for instance, think The Dog Whisperer or Cesar 911 are pretty artless and tedious TV shows... but I need to watch them so I can be a better owner to my dog.

Which TV shows do you need to watch? How do you use them in your daily life?

 

[Fringe Reception]

I always watch the local morning news for the weather forecast.

Jim

 

[MMkaho]

Cartoons pretty much family guy type of shows any toon on fox and CN

 

[tmcmeekin]

I would categorize any kind of news as something I watch as a need rather than pleasure. Even though I'm a journalist (or maybe partly because I am a journalist?) I find it very difficult to watch news.

I rarely watch anything that I find tedious unless I'm forced to (if someone else in the room is watching it).

 

[Jim1348]

What TV Shows Do You Use In Your Daily Life?

I always watch the local morning news for the weather forecast.

Jim

Much like Jim, my wife and I like to get a bit of local news and weather each day. I have a morning routine. I typically get up and check e-mail and have picture-in-picture with local KMSP-9 news displayed in the upper right hand corner of the computer monitor. I generally leave for work an hour later and stream from my SlingBox the audio through the car sterao. That works pretty well for me. I just like an awareness of what is going on in the world, what the weather will do locally, and how traffic is going on my route. I also have a scanner monitoring local public safety activity, so I can usually be aware of traffic back ups and plan an alternate, if necessary.

Jim

 

[MMkaho]

I only catch the news like one day a week when I'm up early with the kids

 

[MrPogi]

News and weather are #1, even news channels I disagree with. I watch a lot of international news, because US news is so slanted and lacking in world affairs. I have to watch Colbert and The Daily Show, not just because they are funny, but they come at the news from a different angle. They are often more reliable sources than actual "news" programs, and they serve as fact checkers for the big networks. Fox, CNN, NBC, etc, often overlook fact checking in order to be the first to air something, and don't dig deeper before opening their gaping pie-holes.

Next on my must watch list is documentaries that are relevant to me. It's a shame that a medium such as television, with its power to educate and inform, is wasted on such trite and mindless stuff such as "Honey BooBoo" and endless reality and talent shows.

I also like to catch "Dr. Oz" and "The Doctors", because they are informative and useful, even if "The Doctors" often blatantly show products of sponsors in a good light, and accept free products for giveaways. It is important to me to maintain my family's health on my tight budget.

One final show: COSMOS.

 

[reverenddejesus]

It's interesting how ingrained news and weather programs are in most of your daily schedules. There's seems a real thirst there for factual programming, whatever form that comes in! But it's also telling that it's a compulsion or an obligation to watch these types of programs rather than a personal pleasure. It seems we use TV for lots of different reasons.