Saturday, September 13, 2008

I Don't Watch for Reality

Fringe premiered this week. My DVR once again conspired against me, this time a little more cruelly. It decided to record only half of the 2 hour premiere. I found the rest through Fancast that streamed through Hulu. Let me start by saying that I am highly impressed with the streaming through Hulu. It was seamless. I watched for an hour without any streaming issues. I have watched a fair amount of online shows and have never had it stream so well.

Now, on to Fringe. I loved it. I am chomping at the bit for the next installment. JJ Abrams created a $10 million movie of a premiere and it was amazing. It combined the excitement of Alias, the sarcasm and relationship development of Felicity, with a little Lost back story and intrigue. I was reading a completely unrelated article on Popular Mechanics (but one you should check out and digg all the same) this week that had a link to an article exploring the validity of any of what happened on this show actually being able to occur. I clicked the link, started reading, and realized I didn't care. In fact, I hope none of what was depicted on the show can happen.

What I realized was I don't tune into television for reality, not even the "Reality" shows I watch are reality. I sit on my sofa, turn on the television, and expect to escape. If I wanted reality I would watch the news, which I intentionally avoid. I don't tune into the History channel either. Television to me is a transport into world's that are not my own. I enjoy being a voyeur into other people's dysfunctional relationships, envisioning what the world might be some day, and choosing a competitor to cheer on for completely arbitrary reasons I couldn't judge others on in my own world.

Why do you tune in?

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