My TV viewing will be counted for once. YAY!

[PhoenixHope]

And because of that I've decided to go all TMI on your asses.

It started on Friday:

*giggles insanely*

I've long been a member of Nielsen, but not one of those families that gives or takes ratings to/from TV shows, though my purchases of TV related stuff (oh, say all the DVDs I buy) are counted. However, yesterday (Friday) I got a postcard from them telling me that my family has been selected to take part in a one week TV ratings survey.

*giggles* While I am no longer in the prime prime demo 18-34 that really keeps shows alive, I am still totally in the prime Adult 18-49 demo that totally keeps shows alive.

/\

The above was originally post in this thread, but I moved it here so people wanting to read my crazy ramblings but didn't want to be SPOILED for Supernatural season four could.

Yeah, I know, you guys just live for reading what I have to say...

*coughs*

Anyway, I've always said I haven't watched much TV since my teen years, or rather before I was sixteen and pretty much trapped at home all the time. And that is true, but after I got the call yesterday confirming that I would be invited to do this, I decided to sit down and list the things I watch in a general/normal week, and was a bit surprised to see more than expected.

(As for daytime TV, I don't watch much mostly the afternoon CSI reruns on Spike sometimes, or Bones reruns on TNT, though I haven't seen afternoon Bones listed for that one in awhile, or if not working and am up the Supernatural reruns on TNT. Oh, and maybe once a week at least one of the rerun episodes of a little show called A Haunting.
And I totally forgot about Hogans Heros, which never has a new episode, but watching the old ones is always fun when they do get shown - BAD TVLAND!)

Sunday:

The Haunted (Animal Planet)
(though according to my DVR this one has moved to Friday, or will at least be on Friday this week, but I'll probably continue watching on Sunday.)

Cold Case (CBS)
(I don't actually watch this one every week, but someone in my house does, and sometimes (generally based on the first 80's song) I will sometimes watch, but in fairness it is not must see, and I've probably seen less than a dozen episodes of this one. So this is one that might not get watching during that key week (by me) even if it is airing new episodes.

Outside of that Sunday (along with Saturday) are usually for catching up on the weekly DVR stuff, watching a Netflix movie, or episodes from shows past that I have on DVD.

Monday:

Two and a Half Men (CBS)
That's right, I like this show it makes me laugh, so SHUT UP! Sometimes I'll even watch the before prime-time rerun.

The Big Bang Theory (CBS)

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (CC)
The Colbert Report (CC)

Keith Olbermann (MSNBC)
Rachel Maddow (MSNBC)
(On these last two, I'll watch the late late showing unless I have something else to watch, if I have something else then those last two get skipped.

Tuesday:

Melrose Place (CW)
(But only new episodes, no reruns, which means I probably won't be giving this one a ratings point since it won't come back with new episodes until after my week is over.)

Paranormal State (A&E)
(Yes, I do like crap like this - SHUT UP!

Life After People (HIST)
I watch both PS and LAP live, but I watch PS first airing, and the mid-night or one am showing of LAP.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (CC)

The Colbert Report (CC)

Keith Olbermann (MSNBC)
Rachel Maddow (MSNBC)
(On these last two, I'll watch the late late showing unless I have something else to watch, if I have something else then those last two get skipped.

Wednesday:

Ghost Hunters International (SyFy)
(I've watched Ghost Hunters for a while now, but this past season I found myself more than a little bored and starting DVRing it so I could pretty much skip to the reveal, but I'm still watching GHI live for the moment.

Ghost Hunters Academy (SyFy)
This past season I enjoyed this one a WHOLE lot more than the plain ol' Ghost Hunters. So, next season I may watch this one while skipping the parent Ghost Hunters show.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (CC)

The Colbert Report (CC)

Keith Olbermann (MSNBC)
Rachel Maddow (MSNBC)
(On these last two, I'll watch the late late showing unless I have something else to watch, if I have something else then those last two get skipped.

Thursday:

The Vampire Diaries (CW)

Supernatural (CW)
Obviously, I used to watch CSI in this time slot, but this season of CSI just hadn't been that good for me, which is great news for Supernatural.

The Jeff Dunham Show (CC)
Which I've learned will NOT be back for a second season, while that shitty Tosh 2.0 (or whatever the hell) did get renewed. Not exactly surprising since this is the channel that gave us two seasons of that dumbass Silverman chick, but still disappointing.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (CC)

The Colbert Report (CC)

Keith Olbermann (MSNBC)
Rachel Maddow (MSNBC)
(On these last two, I'll watch the late late showing unless I have something else to watch, if I have something else then those last two get skipped.

Friday:

Dollhouse (FOX)
Which will be over before my week starts, and I can't get REAL sad about that.

Ghost Adventures (Travel)
Which is only slightly more interesting than Ghost Hunters, but on Friday there's very little on.

(As for KO and RM (MSNBC) they don't generally have that late late showing on Friday, BUT when Dollhouse ends I'll probably go back to watching those two at 7 (8) and 8 (9), and watching a later showing of Ghost Adventures.)

Saturday:

As a general rule, not a damn thing, unless I'm flipping through and see a good movie - otherwise the whole day/night is DVR/DVD day/night.

However, there are some other shows I watch when they're airing new episodes, but they aren't right now so I can't exactly remember what night they come on:

The Universe (HIST) - Generally an encore airing rather than the prime-time airing.
South Park (CC) - Generally an encore airing rather than the prime-time airing.
The Nostradamus Effect (HIST) - at least I think it's History Channel - third verse same as the first two. *grin* Which probably explains why I can't exactly remember which night these officially air new episodes.

South Park is the only one of the above that I will sometimes watch reruns of, especially when Comedy Central has a marathan.

There are two shows, from recent times, that I really miss:
(Meaning if they magically started airing new episodes again, I would totally be watching them!)

Most Haunted, which is still making new episodes, but those are no longer being run in the US - SHAME on the Travel Channel. Oh, and, no, I don't find it believeable, but it was fun as hell to watch!

A Haunting, which is/was TEN times better than all the ghost shows on at the moment - I still watch a rerun or two here hoping that Discovery will end up ordering NEW episodes, but it probably won't happen, because it seems only myself and one other person (also living with me) thinks A Haunting was the BEST of all the ghost seeking shows.

Anyway, what shows would you guys watch (or HOPE I watch) if you had a magical week where your watching actually counted? *grins*
(I make no promises of watching your show, especially if it conflicts with one of the above shows. Sorry, but not really. *grin*
PS - if you want to suggest True Blood I should tell you that if I was rich and could have HBO I would totally be watching TB live, but I don't, so I'm forced to wait for the DVDs to come out.

[RJDiogenes]

I don't watch that much these days, either, mostly because of time constraints.

Monday:

Heroes

Tuesday:

Nada.

Wednesday:

Nada.

Thursday:

Bones
Supernatural

Friday:

Sanctuary

Saturday:
I usually tape the Saturday Night B-Movie if it's a low-budget monster flick.

I also watch some other stuff randomly, like Universe and various other History Channel shows or a movie on TCM. I watched Lost,Eureka and Doctor Who when they're having new episodes. And I watched the first season of Secret Saturdays on On Demand, but it's not on this year.

[PhoenixHope]

Those B movies of which you speak can be good, but generally I only watch televisied movies around Halloween, cause they tend to have more of my old favorites on around that time. Though I do watch through the year, cause sometimes they'll sneak a good scary movie in, or at least some other movie I like seeing.

And, okay, confession time, I'm one of those loons that still miss Moonlight on TV, though I've pretty much accepted that it is over and gone, but yeah I might watch a rerun or two of Moonlight during that week. Mostly though Moonlight reminded me why I never ever want another show I'm in love with to be on CBS, because on just about any other network Moonlight would've gotten a second season, but not on CBS - so I'd kinda like CBS to not pick up a show like that again, leave it for another network who'll let it live a bit longer.

As for one of those shows you mentioned, I started watching Eureka at the beginning, but I'm not sure I even finished the first season, I know for sure I didn't return for season two, but I can't remember if I finished watching the first season or not. It was a nice idea, but for some reason I just couldn't get into it.

But what I really miss, and can't believe I forgot to mention it above, though I almost forgot Hogans Heros so it isn't a complete surprise. But at one point last year (I think, but might have been the year before that), TVLand had a 3 - 6 (or 4-7 EST) grouping of shows that I HAD to watch, but it didn't last long.

Anyway, they did an hour of Green Acres (which not the best show ever, but lots of fun, usually), followed by an hour of The Beverly Hillbillies (which I've seen almost every episode of, but watched because it was between GA and HH), followed by an hour of Hogans Heros (which was just a little before my time, so it was like watching a NEW show for me, and it was an awesome one) - for what little time it was, that was my "must see" afternoon block, you know when I was home, some times I did miss the GA hour.

Of course, I'm one of those wacky people who liked "A&E" better when it showed all those (apparently) older skewing shows. Cold Case Files and Murder, She Wrote were among my personal favs, but then "A&E" revamped itself trying to attract a younger audience and practically disappeared from my viewing schedule at that point. So, my point is that I'm pretty sure I'm a funky TV viewer rather than a "normal" one, though advertisers might like me since I'm not one of those people who watches TV just cause I have one.

So, in the end, I'm not sure Nielsen (or anyone else, for that matter) would care about all that. My guess is "they" only care about what I'm watching now, not what I was watching then.

[RJDiogenes]

I used to watch all those sitcoms first run when I was a kid. I should take another look at TV Land to see if it's improved. It got pretty bad for a while and I stopped paying attention to it. Years ago, they had better sitcoms on and on the weekend they had old adventure shows like Get Christie Love and Have Gun, Will Travel.

I also forgot another show that I watch when new episodes are on: Warehouse 13.

[PhoenixHope]

UGH!

HOPE SMASH!

As I had mentioned this not long ago you can imagine my reaction when I saw this: ‘The Sarah Silverman Program’ is Finally Back! The Third Season Begins Thursday, February 4

NOOOOOOOOOO!

I haven't read the article yet, so it might be a cruel cruel joke, but somehow I doubt it.

*sigh*

Sometimes I hate you Comedy Central, and sometimes I violently dislike you, but rarely do I feel both for you at the same freakin' time.

Seriously, the only time The Sarah Silverman show was even remotely entertaining was that fart/bomb episode, and even that was barely entertaining. Where as while Jeff Dunham might not always make me laugh, I'd rather watch eleventy billion hours of his show over one second of Silvermans.

[RJDiogenes]

I liked her on Voyager, but I've never liked her in anything else I've ever seen her in.

[PhoenixHope]

*sigh* I forgot about this thread, until last night when I had to do my first assignment for my TV Diary...

So, my first question is when was Sarah Silverman on VOYAGER? Cause I do not recall her ever being on VOY.

And, now, we move to a mini-bitch fest by yours truly:

DAMN!

Usually I love having satellite TV, because you have so many options to choose from, though even then there are still times when there is NOTHING on any of them that I want to see, but it's better than cable. However, for this TV diary thing I have to write down all the channels we get, and DAMN! we get a lot of channels, even more than I first thought, because I generally only watch channels from 7 to 215 (sometimes 216/217, but rarely). So, last night I decided to write them all - it took me a half hour, because there's got to be at least 500 hundred damn channels that I have access to (including Sirius).

I also screwed up - when they called I told them we have three TVs (which isn't true, we have five, but only three of them actually work, so yeah we have three working TVs, but...), so I have three TV diaries, which is fine, because at the time they called I thought I'd have that third TV hooked up to a DVD player at the very least, but that hasn't happened, so really there's only two TVs that will be of interest during my week.

And, honestly, I'm going to have to call and ask if they want me to note the DVD/VHS watching, cause I couldn't tell from reading the information they sent. Most of the time that wouldn't be an issue, but a couple loaned us a crap load of their VHS/DVDs for our viewing pleasure (they do this from time to time, which is nice of them), and there are at least two dozen this time so it's unlikely we'll be finished watching them before my TV Diary week starts. This is also a bit of an issue because it does disrupt the normal daytime TV watching (for at least one person in the house, me I'm not much into daytime/afternoon TV watching), and could spill over into prime time itself, since I know that at least some of the usual shows will be reurns during my week, and as a general rule in this house we don't watch reruns.
Okay, not exactly true, we will watch syndicated reruns, but not generally broadcast reruns since they typically tend to repeat episodes where it hasn't been that long since you saw them.

Oh, well, off to type up the channel list, cause my handwriting sucks, even before my hand got tired.

[RJDiogenes]

I wonder what channels you get that I don't. Do you get Chiller?

Anyway, Sarah Silverman was on that two-part episode of Voyager, I think it was called "Future's End," where they traveled back to the 1990s and met a megalomaniacal Bill Gates kind of character (played by that guy whose name I can't remember). She was an Astronomer. It was the episode where the Doctor got his Mobile Emitter.

[PhoenixHope]

I don't think so - I didn't see a Chiller or CHIL CHLR or anything like that.

*sigh* While I do remember that episode, vaguely, I'd have to watch it again, because I can't recall anything other than the back in time aspect... Well, that and a total computer wipe the characters done to someone's computer before going back to the future.

[PhoenixHope]

Okay, while it looks like lots of different channels and was a hell of a lot to write down, as I was typing them up I saw that many of them (almost ALL) repeat at least twice - meaning it's the same thing just a different number, and I believe two of them "repeat" at least five different freakin' times, and more than a few "repeat" at least three times. Hell, even the broadcast networks have a double.

Then there's the music channels - there's at least 32 CD channels, which I'm assuming play music, but I can't be sure. There's also of course the SIRIUS channels, that do, of course, play music, I have listened, plus at least three (maybe even four or five) Sirius info channels.

Also, the DISH info channels, which I knew of two (before this) but there's actually five, maybe six.

And that doesn't count all the VOD and PPV channels (not counting the outright adult channels, which are also PPV). So, once you take that in to account it's probably only (*snort*) about three hundred DIFFERENT channels that I actually get.

As for where our packages might differ, it might be because the man in my life went at least a couple packages higher than I would have, because he wanted SPEED... Or maybe it was TRUTV, but I think it was SPEED.
(There's also a bunch of useless NHL/NFL/NBA channels which no one in the house actually watches, but we have because of the whole package thing. Yessss, the man in my life watches sports, but only the games themselves, which are usually shown on broadcast TV, one of the ESPNs, or SPEED, and yes apparently NASCAR counts as a sport, go figure.)

But alas, no CHILLER - the closest thing I saw was a C&P or a C+P - I have to check again, cause as I mentioned my writing sucks. *sigh* There's at least three I have to double check because of bad writing on my part.

[RJDiogenes]

Interesting. Chiller sounds like a cool channel, but I've never talked to anyone who actually gets it.

I get a lot of music channels, too, which I listen to-- mostly the 60s, 70s and 80s channels. Getting Sirius channels would be good. Do you get the Old Radio Show channels?

[PhoenixHope]

If the Old Radio Show is a Sirius channel(s), then yeah, probably. If not, no.

For the package we have there's 83 freakin' Sirius channels, and honestly I've only ever listened to three (four if you count the Elvis Station that someone else in my house LOVES, which makes me scream "Elvis is Dead - Accept it!"), so there's a lot of Sirius that is wasted on my household, but I suppose they don't care cause I'm sure they still make money off us.

[RJDiogenes]

The Elvis Channel? They should have a Beatles Channel.

Well, I just looked at their website. They have no Beatles Channel, but they have a Springsteen Channel and a Grateful Dead Channel.

Their Old Radio Show Channel is 118. I don't know if that corresponds to anything on your system.

[PhoenixHope]

Nope, 118 is a cable channel on ours. Actually pretty much everything from channel 7 to 217 is a cable channel, with the exception of the networks and a couple DISH channels. Okay, there's a Sirius info channel in the lower numbers, as well as a couple PPV/Movie info channels.

So, I'm gonna guess that we don't get The Old Radio Show.

(As for Sirius - I listen to two of the 80's rock channels, and the 80's/90's country one, and that is rarely, and usually in the summer, because I'm not much of a music lover in the first place.)

[RJDiogenes]

I'd actually love to have Sirius, but at this point it would just be something else I don't have time for.

[PhoenixHope]

*grins* It's actually a bit of a waste on our TV... Okay, this past summer when gardening on the front porch I'd open the window behind the TV and turn to a Sirius station, but you can't do that often cause it tends to make the air conditioning work too hard.

But all told, I've probably played about 18 hours of Sirius and the other person about 10 in the two years that we've had it, so without the package deal it wouldn't be worth it for us.

[RJDiogenes]

Yeah, they say there's not much on, but there really is. I just don't have the time for it.

[PhoenixHope]

Sadly, even with the six billion channels we get, I can turn on the TV and still not find anything that interests me. In the two years we've had the package we have that has happened to me three times - I've turned the TV on, checked the program guide, and then turned it right backoff. And more often than that I'll end up watching a movie I've all ready seen (and don't really want to see again) simply because I don't feel like doing anything else.

[RJDiogenes]

I really only watch three or four channels on a regular basis, but between them and On Demand I could keep myself busy most of the day if I wanted. Add in a couple of more cool channels like Chiller and I could live on the couch. Add in some Sirius channels like Old Radio Shows and I wouldn't know where to turn.

But then I wouldn't have any time for reading or writing or art or whatever, so I can't do that. I need to be quadruplets.

[PhoenixHope]

*grins*

Well, I admit I watch a bit more than four regularly - lets see:

A & E
ABC
Animal Planet
CBS
Comedy Central
CW
History
MSNBC
SyFy
Travel

And lately I've been watching some MTV and MTV2 quite a bit. So, twelve channels when I've got so many more than that.

Of course, I am willing to watch other channels, even broadcast nets if they have a show that interests me. And, not to mention, the televised movies I watch on cable channels, but that can't count as regular viewing.

Anyway, my week is now officially over, and I'm so disappointed because so damn many of my shows were in reruns this week, which means I wasn't able to give them a point. *sigh* I loathe the damn Olympics, almost as much as I do regular sports, I'd probably hate them the same, but thankfully they aren't on as often. But I really hate when ALL the other damn channels go into freakin' reruns just because there's some damn sporting event on that I'm not gonna watch even with NOTHING else on.

*shrug* At least The Vampire Diaries and Supernatural were new episodes during my week, because my week didn't start on Sunday.

[RJDiogenes]

Mostly I just watch Sciffy, History, Turner Classic and, sometimes, Cartoon. There's a few others that I look at occasionally, like NatGeo and the Retro Channel (which is actually a local station that carries the Retro Network or something) and Animal Planet. I'd watch Chiller a bit, based on what I see on their website. That's about it. I used to watch TVLand a lot, but it's not very good anymore.

Since Bones is a repeat tonight, I'll be able to tape Vampire Diaries and finally get to see it.

[PhoenixHope]

Welllll, did you like The Vampire Diaries or not? I'm actually curious, because I'm honestly not sure how a dude would feel about this show.

[RJDiogenes]

Sigh. I did tape it, but had such a busy weekend that I didn't get to watch it. I should have time after work tomorrow or the next day (I had to go shopping today).

[RJDiogenes]

I watched it and thought it was okay. I was coming into it in the middle of things, so I didn't get a lot of what was going on. I was surprised when Logan was killed because I thought he was a regular character. I wish there had been more of the meaty stuff, like info on the past and the crypt and the show's Mythology. I was interested in why the two Brothers are Daywalkers (and I either didn't know or had forgotten that Ian Somerhalder is in this show).

One problem I had with it was that not a lot of the actors seem to stand out. They seem to have been chosen for their young hotness, which is fine, but they lack distinctiveness. Lost, for example, was able to cast a bunch of of young hot actors, yet they were all very distinctive.

Now that kid who was fighting and said that he didn't know what was wrong-- while the full moon hung ominously in the sky above him-- is he going to be a Werewolf?

[PhoenixHope]

is he going to be a Werewolf?

*sigh* Not so far. I was hoping, but so far NOTHING NADA ZIP!

If you don't mind SPOILERS the show did explain how the brothers are daywalkers, which is different from the books, or perhaps the show just gets a bit more indepth on the explaination of it.

And, to be fair, most episodes of The Vampire Diaries are meaty with plot points, but it sounds like you managed to watch the three (maybe four) that wasn't.

As for Ian, there are several episodes where you can tell he's having the time of his life playing Damon, so that's always nice to see, but so far it's only been two episodes where his good time really stands out.

As far as young hotness, isn't everyone on the CW (aside from Bobby Singer (Supernatural), of course) young and hot.