Aside from the latest weather updates, nothing!

You can watch s**t being shoveled, crabs being caught, people making all sorts of fools of themselves, and more reality than anyone can stand, but, missing something, NO!

TV isn't for people like us.

I do like NASCAR. (Usual disclaimer)

My wife watches cooking shows.

I do like Rachael Ray. And the Italian gal with cleavage. (Usual disclaimer)

Lets hear it for the Italian gal, I'd eat anything she cooks.

I'm with bricktop.

myth busters, deadliest catch, ice road truckers ect. I'm also into ww2 stories. PATTON 360 is another great history lesson about the exploits of gen George Patton.

I have dish network and out of 200 and some channels I watch maybe 5 or 6.

oilcan13

Believe it or not, there are some good things on tv. History channel, some stuff on A&E, the weather, and I like some of those crime shows with Bill Kurtis. I really enjoyed that show "dogfights", with computer reenactments, darn near looked real. They just showed Battle "360",a many part series centered around the actions of the carrier Enterprise in the pacific. Of course,I could have written these stories because I've read every book every published about WW2 but it was interesting.

You do need cable or something like that but there's some interesting stuff out there. How about "Dirty Jobs", or some of the travel shows?

I think most TV, much like the music some people have piped directly into their heads these days is designed to mask what some of us realise is the thinking process.

Now I know thinking can be hard and upsetting at times, but surely it preferable to watching endless repeats of friends?

There are a few good documetaries (most of which get repeated), and some good sport, (although less and less which you don't have to pay extra for...and I won't pay...there is more than enough money in sport without me adding to it)

David Attenborough & Ray Mears spring to mind as sure fire winners.
Shappi Khorsandi is V funn. Iranian Female stand up comedian...gotta be a sure fire thing too
Del

If you could find it again, Carl Sagan's explanation of how the universe works is excellent.

Billions and billions of stars.........................................

I agree there..... Why did you mark it off topic?

Poor Carl. He so enjoyed the creation, but he missed the Creator! I hope you find joy in both.

Good answer on too much money in sports.

Also don't do TV. (Too stingy to subscribe to satellite and nothing to watch on the poor man channels.)

I get all the latest news from magazines in the doctors waiting room when I go for my annual checkup. Did you know that Charles and Diana got married? Who is this Obama guy with the dog?

It's full of Michael Jackson at the moment, so it gets turned off.

James May has been doing some interesting presentations on space recently on BBC2, in connection with that 40th anniversary or something, and they are quite watchable.

For light entertainment, try Gok Wan for a laugh on Channel 4.

Top Gear......All day and all night. Those guys are hilarious. Best car show ever.

Also the Dogfights series on History is amazing as someone else said. Mayday is not bad either on the Discovery channel.

Top Gear is definitely a keeper. Also The Daily Show.

Read a good book!

What am I missing?

Nothing much!

If you're looking for a good series to watch for pure entertainment, then I have one main suggestion: Battlestar Galactica!!! (New series, I can't speak on behalf of the older one) My other favorites include The Fringe, The Office, Lost, True Blood, Dexter. Not sure if they're all currently running, but all should be available via download.

Someone else mentioned History Channel, which is always pretty interesting - also, National Geographic channel.

I stopped watching TV when I went into the hospital nearly a year ago. Now I catch up on 2 or 3 programs via computer but I don't watch TV anymore.

That's a lie! I do watch "SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS" with my 6 year old son. I do highly recommend SPONGEBOB. Sandy the squirrel is an amazing engineer!

Otherwise there aren't too many options, especially if we don't know your taste.

Shreck is keeper too

I am on Animal planet, Discovery and National geographics (for killing time sometimes HBO or Sports).

News - No... too much of politically affiliated channels here and then there is less of news and more of the lurid tales of no particular significance to anybody except the TRP ratings.

I particularly watch Mega structures, mega machines and most of the programs on NGC/Animal planet (provided I am available in front of the TV and its remote is in my control, but as usual it is rare )

"I am on Animal planet"

Do Gremlins qualify as "animals"?

DITTO

I think the real question that you may possibly want to ask is what are you gaining form not watching TV? I pretty much have quit TV altogether myself, did it years ago and it is true that after a month you really don't miss it. I still watch some shows from time to time on the local stations, but I get my news and weather right here on the ol' internets. What I myself have gained is a lot more time to do the things that I never had time to finish (books, projects, etc.) and spend a lot more time with my family.

One of the things that will happen is that people will die, or adopt three children, or get married to two guys at once, or something, and everybody will be talking and you'll stand there with your eyes sort of blank, asking "Who is _________?"

If, from time to time, you watch a bit at a neighbor's house, or in the department store, you'll start to wonder if Newton Minnow was a cock-eyed optimist.

I do rent DVDs, primarily from British TV. So, I know who Wendy Hiller was but I don't know who the heck this "Kate" is.

Here in the States, it's a virtual wasteland of infomercials and reality TV. Ugh.

For my geeky side, I've never seen anything to equal James Burke's Connections. That ought to be required viewing for all school-age children. Brilliantly shows how history / technology is not just a series of isolated dull dates and events! The subsequent sequels weren't too bad, although never quite as good.

I do try to catch House, M.D. Although of late the show has begun to drag a bit. Still, that doesn't stop me from aspiring to the title character's heights of disrespect for, well, pretty much everything. (I often wonder if Brits can accept Hugh Laurie as a dramatic character.)

I used to be fond of Mythbusters, but it seemed to me they started to delve too much into trying to recreate scenes from movies. Natural enough, given the hosts' backgrounds I suppose.

I sometimes watch Nova on PBS. Started watching it as a child when it first started airing back in the 70's. Probably what got me interested in science. In fact I still have the transcript I ordered of one of those 70's episode about hydrogen cars (I was a geeky little tyke even then!). For you yongsters, back then there were no VCRs to speak of. If you wanted the info presented in the show, you had to order a hard-copy transcript!

All these decades later and we're STILL talking about hydrogen vehicles. Wow.

The only TV programme worth watching is the 'Wallace and Grommit' series....

Grommit is my hero

Just been watching a superb program on BBC about David Hockney painting some huge winter scenes which fill whole wall of the Royal Academy...mind blowing.
A really uplifting program, the man has such vast energy and speaks in simple terms without pretension.
A privelige to see a great artist at work.
Del

You're not missing much! Most shows are geared to the lowest common denominator. However, there are a few I get something out of. Mythbusters does some pretty cool stuff. I would love to work on their show trying out things they do. I've learned a lot from them! My favorite was when they studied why you get a geyser when you drop a Mentos candy into a 2 liter bottle of diet Coke. They blow up a lot of stuff! History channel has some good stuff- dogfights, Battle 360. I used to like The Muppet Show.

am I food fanatic (although not good in cooking) like watching "Bizzarre foods" and "No Reservations" ..BIOgraphy channel is sometimes interesting. History Channel "360" and "Battle plans" are also great..

AXN's "Magic Reveals" watched it with my kids though....

Very true.......had the experiance

I like DCaD's answer best. I would add that you should watch streaming video. This is available on your computer. You can watch a lot of great old programs. Classics, and movies of all kinds. You will have commercials unless you go with Netflix. It connects wirelessly or wired to your TV. The wireless uses your computer's wireless network. Of course you must have broadband. I reccomend a Netflix membership. Of course you should also get a DVR, so you can skip through commercials on regular television, and watch programs at your convenience. Netflix has a lot of educational movies also. You do not have to bother with getting disks in the mail, but the newer movies are ofen available only on DVD. You will need a Roku device for $99. or one of the other compatible devices. See the Netflix website.

I am a multitasker, and am on the computer, while watching , more listening to and glancing at the TV. Or I may be reading the mail, a newspaper,or skimming a book etc.

I'm surprised that in 30 responses, no one has mentioned Numb3rs.

NUMB3RS is good, but I haven't seen enough episodes to really get into it. NOW you have inspired me to try harder :-)

Oh, yeah! And leave us not forget N.C.I.S. I wish my lab were half as sophisticated as Abby's, who, by the bye, is very easy on the eyes once you get past the Goth.

Ken Leigh

Everything you need to know is on Jon Stewart. We enjoy the singing, dancing, and talent shows.. some together time for that.

Otherwise, as with anything, it is goal dependent.

Chris

Has no-one else seen "Scrapyard Challenge" I love that show (mostly). New host starts this week .. no more whatsisname (kryton from red dwarf).

My mean side is looking forwards to the new Dexter episodes. apart from that .. documentarys.

Is that the same as "Junkyard Wars"? That show can be a lot of fun.

Also agree with the above comments on Top Gear. Where else can you see some idiot butting a 200hp outboard motor on a compact pickup and floating it across the English Channel? Or racing a Eurofighter with a Veyron?

stoney said: "My mean side is looking forwards to the new Dexter episodes...."

wow! Dexter is coming back? *dusts off the TV*

Transcendian,

There are similar habits observed in CR4 members. The T.V watching and music listening time pass outs were, off time activities to me just 10 years back and of course I am a musician too.

Then came a realization that it is a temporary unreality world and we are just escaping from a constructive work time in the name of relaxation. As regard to games, meditation etc, they do some positive role, whereas these entertainment medias[videos and audios] simply kill one's valuable time and block away constructive ventures.

I had abandoned T.V and audios of any nature at my residence and dwell all the time in research activities and promotion activities. The progress trends give much more satisfaction , a sense of dedication and drive to proceed further. Wherever and whenever I get chance ,I watch animal planet, national geographic, discovery channel and creative programmes.Full time T.V watching may suit retired people.

One more thing of concern is saving younger generations from the T.V and MUSIC addictions, which divert their learning time allocations.

"I had abandoned T.V and audios of any nature at my residence". This sure is a sacrifice. But I guess there's a lot of things on TV that are educational..My children have time schedule on wathing TV and our TV have Parental Control so that they can't access channels that I think not suitable for them

Ericpolc,

I don't deny the fact that there are good number of creativity and knowledge imparting programmes on T.V and it is a powerful media of course.As far as serious goal oriented activities are concerned T.V watching is a diverting attitude of work concentration.

In spiritual journeys ,towards the pursuit of performance of karma or self realization ,the engagement of the 5 external sensors are said to be affecting the concentration focus-ie, vision, audio,smell,taste and body.The seriousness phase is the real world and we seek escapism. Remember your stress and thoughts will haunt you back after coming out of a movie or a programme taking one back to his real world of stress and we can't ignore that.

The ones I miss most are Rough Science and Tomorrows World. Top Gear is a must watch!

There was a great documentary about this incredible film shot by a complete amateur in Kruger park. The documentary included the whole film re-edited so that you could see all the detail more clearly.

Nothing at all stopped watching tv a long time ago. My mind and imagination is my "discovery" channel. I really enjoy watching it!

I tend to have the TV on in the background whilst doing other things but there is some good stuff out there.

Programmes like Top Gear & Scrapheap have been mentioned but there is lots on the Discovery channel particularly 'How Stuff Works', 'How do they do it', Future Weapons', 'Extreme Engineering' & 'Mythbusters'.

I never get tired of watching Red Dwarf & QI even though I have seen them many times.

Then there's motor racing, F1, NASCAR, Indy, rally-cross, rallying, truck racing, Moto GP, superbikes..... where do I find time to eat & sleep?

I just watched " A Bridge TOO Far" on Netflix, while researching the details on Wikipedia. Having crossed Nijmegen Bridge, and being stationed in Germany, it had great meaning. I never understood the details of the battles until tonight. Very interesting for those somehow related to that area. This is just one small example of some of the great historical movies on Netflix on Demand video streaming.

I used to watch TV quite a bit. After a while of not watching you don't even think about it anymore. When I do actually stop working on things around the house long enough, I'd rather read a book to relax. I don't even get Sat. or CTV anymore. Even when we had CTV the kids only watched about 3 channels. So it wasn't worth keeping.

Since the switch to digital format we get about 20 channels (was only 6 before the switch) just using an antenna. There is a weather channel that covers our local area and Create TV. Create has the typical home improvement, crafts, cooking shows found on CTV. If I do sit down and watch it would be these 2.

There are a couple of shows I miss. Like "EUREKA" a SciFi series on SciFi channel & "The Amazing Race", Teams of 2 travel all over the world with little or no $ and have to do odd things to move on in the game. But my wife and I will wait till the whole season is over and they put it on DVD or watch it over the web.

These so called reality shows are so staged that there is no reality in them.

I even restrict my web surfing to as little time as I can these days. If it weren't for the web being the preferred way some of my friends communicate about whats going on I'd probably not even spend an hour a day on it either.

After so many comments I would like to say:-

T.V is meant for relaxation, education, entertainment, news etc. Soap Operas are waste of time to watch. I watch "Discovery", BBC, "Travel & Living", "National Geographical", "Star Movies", CNN, On "Discovery" they show serial "Engineering Marvel" which is worth watching by Engineers.

Suresh Sharma.

Family Guy!

Funniest show ever made.

Don't make me laugh... the serious stuff you do all day...

On a different note, I noticed that the serious questions receive way less attention than the "diversion". And that's when I got a bit frustrated.

You are the man. Here's your GA.

Hi titi-the -rabbit,

Do you really represent your I.D?. A rabbit sitting in corner eating carrots. I don't know where you work, but in shop floor do you not have sense of humor?. Even in the offices do you not have laugh at coffee vending machine. Please understand laughter is best medicine, it relaxes you, it raises your spirits, so it cant be be only work,work & work whole day. Common be a jolly person and enjoy whatever comes to you.

Suresh Sharma.

Del,

I actually did ask today a very sensible and pertinent question. I got no pertinent answer. However, look at the amount of comment attached to this BS subject - the disproportionate reaction makes me think that most of CR4 members are social science graduates, not engineers. Hence my reaction, to tell you the truth. Check it out.

Time wasters I have no use for...and there seems to be more and more of them. On the other hand there are programs on TV that are truly fascinating and informative. I had big hopes for Discovery Channel but have been somewhat disappointed of late. Animal Planet convinced us to buy a 50" lcd....and enough Blu-Ray discs to start a virtual zoo.

I will never admit to once having watched The Young and The Restless (and Oprah) because I was in the hospital recovering from a car crash. THAT doesn't count cos they filled me up with happy pills....besides, it was a small screen anyways.

Good for you.....you are missing NOTHING. TV is worse than ever.

Got a DVD player? Get a bunch of movies or really good TV series from the 1960s....and watch quality stuff when you are ready to.

Today's TV should be shut off permanently, IMHO....

LH in Indy

Forgot to mention one of my favorites- "Engineering Disasters"! I saw one of my engineering buddies in a restaurant. He had been promoted to head of engineering recently. I said to him every time one of my favorite TV shows came on, it made me think of him! He got all excited with a big grin and said which one? "Engineering Disasters"! We got a good laugh out of it.

The Daily Show

The Colbert Report

30 Rock

Modern Marvels - Especially Engineering Disasters

Sometimes I watch cooking shows (Top Chef is my reality candy) as cooking is a major hobby of mine.

I have very few shows that I watch. I am really into the science channel shows like How it's Made( which are now reruns for the most part) Really Big Things, And Colossal Construction. The discovery channel has some good shows as well, like the afore mentioned Myth Busters and Time Warp. Oh and the new series Doing DaVinci or something like that.

Side Interest shows to escape reality Smallville, Heroes and Chuck. (bit of a theme there)

I am usually a 14 hour day guy and only have a couple of hours when I get home to relax before hitting the sack and then starting a new day. For the most part my weekends are spent poking away at the computer and spending time with the family. Of course doing the chores around the place that don't get done during the week. (40 acres is a lot to keep up with.)

I agree with TV being a good escape but to much of anything is not a good thing.

I thought I didn't watch TV anymore until I started listing shows. ARG

Animal Planet - "It's me or the dog". That woman is a magician. Behavioral modification of dogs and (mostly) their owners. If you don't have a dog maybe not

House - reruns on USA

NCIS - reruns on USA

Gearz (on speed) - Stacy David's fabrication is amazing and he's a nut.

History Channel (mostly - they've gotten some weird shows lately)

Discovery Channel - "Myth Busters"

F1 on Speed and/or Fox

I can't believe no one mentioned The Big Bang Theory on CBS. It's a sit-com about nerdy engineers and physicists. It is hilarious!!

Is someone holding a gun to your head and making you read this worthless thread.

Just don't come back. Turn it off just like the TV. Quit bitching about something over which you have no control!

OOPS!

The message I sent to you, #73! It was actually intended for, titi-the-rabbit.

Don't know how I did this. I'm not slurring my words yet.

Sorry!

I kicked the TV habit more than 15 years ago. Now, if I watch broadcast TV, I get a headache in about 30 minutes. Although, the few times I've caught it, The Daily Show has made me fall on the floor laughing. If there is a series I find interesting, Battlestar, Heroes, The Office, Eureka..., I rent it from Netflix- no commercials, no headaches.

Some of Brink, History channel is entertaining.

Hello Transcendian,

Hope you are well?

Depends how you look at it......................You could be missing lots of 'repeats'?

Or a lot of really interesting Documentaries!

I like the Documentaries on Mega Machines and buildings, animals and a lot of factual stuff. Rather than 'plays' and films and what seem to be all over the TV > people progs and 'quiz'. I do not mind anything where I can learn something, but, lately I have not seen a TV and not watched anything for a year or so. So I am in a similar situation to you!

I spend a good section of time online searching. And on CR4 of course.

In my opinion, you are not 'missing' anything;

Almost ALL programs are repeated tens of times a year, so you can still watch 'new' stuff whenever you want?

bb

I we were more normal, would we be here? You ain't missing much. Re-runs of Mork & Mindy are up at the top. I like House and NCIS, but they are getting old. Medium is my favorite when it's on. If you've had a hard week, the 'Lady' wrestlers on Friday may be good therapy. NOVA and nature shows are often the best. I get an occasional laugh out of Boston Legal.

We were going to give up the TV when they changed to digital, but the converter boxes were so cheap, we still have it.

Try 'wipe out' it's a gas!

Get a life, any life... I would think that most of us visit different forums while having coffee or when needing to get away from what is the current most important problem in the world for that particular day. But I doubt if many get so absorbed that we don't watch a who did it from time to time.

It is possible to become addicted to sitting in front of your computer rather than dealing with the real life chores. Is this what you are dealing with???

Everything is good in moderation, but too much of anything is no good.

Find something to do that deals with physical as well as mental exercise in some form, rather it is gardening, building, painting, dancing, traveling, what ever!

AXN chanel offers good cop showes!!!

Hi again,

I saw some awesome talent on America's Got Talent last night. My life partner swears at it... er, that was supposed to be AT it.

Oh, well.

Ken Leigh

I decided 18 months ago, when I moved into a new place, not to get a landline since I had a cell phone from work. Because I needed internet for my own business, but didn't want to spend $100/month for a complete cable/phone package I ended up purchasing internet with no cable TV. I sure am happy with that decision. I did like Overhaulin with Chip Foose, but I can still watch some episodes on youtube. I was watching new NCIS episodes once a week on youtube as well until youtube banned it a couple months ago. I was able to watch a couple Stanley Cup games at a friends house, but I just don't miss the daily TV Monster.

Which explains why I can't get N.C.I.S. programs on youtube anymore.

Damn.

Ken Leigh

You should be able to find any CBS series on other websites. I've watched a few Numb3rs episodes online through the website of my local CBS affiliate. The only things keeping me from watching them now is the outdated video card in my outdated computer, and other diversions taking up my time, such as CR4.

Check out hulu.com.

you ar missing nothing. tv is for speds

Hello aristeroi,

I have not heard the term "Speds" before? Am I missing something. BTW I have no TV.

bb

sped is a slang insult such as idiot or moron. Not sure if it's in the dictionary. used mostly on the east coast of America.

Hi artisteroi,

OK my friend,

Sounds a pretty local word as you say? Thanks for getting back to me.

bb

It's a term derived from Special Education. When students were being mean they said, "what are you a Sped or something"?