Prime time TV Viewing Down, Mystery Solved.

NYT reports that Prime time TV viewing has decreased.  This is not the normal transfer of viewers from traditional networks to cable, this is across the board.  The reported hand-wringing of the network execs because low numbers means lower ad revenues.

"Though there seems to be no one reason for the decline, many executives say they are concerned that long-term changes in watching habits are taking a significant toll on viewership."

No one commented on the obvious cause:  There are virtually no good shows. And, too many commercials

Reality shows - low budget shows about fishermen, lumberjacks, celebrity cops, housewives, and motorcycle shops have become tedious knock-offs of a standard script that contains high levels of bleeped-out language, phony conflicts, and zero pathos.  We don't care about these players.  They lack heroism; they are just angry people yelling at each other.   These hoked-up dramas are empty calorie fast food, that leaves the viewer bloated with unresolved angst and a brooding guilt for wasting valuable time.

Sporting events are marred by the unceasing yak-fest of announcers who are in love with their own voices, and the forced break in the action to get in pre-arranged commercial messages.  These forces are enough to get me channel surfing between innings, periods, and time-outs.

 I almost never watch prime time TV,  where you can be assaulted by as many as ten separate commercial messages between segments..   It is a huge waste of time.  I can record the few shows that I like with the DVR and watch them at my leisure.  By fast forwarding (I use the jump button that skips ten second intervals) I can watch most 1 hour shows in 38 minutes, or less.  

If there are a lot of commercial-averse people like me, who are not being counted by the network execs, it is no wonder that the trend line of the apparent viewers is going down.

The one show that I do watch in real prime time is Masterpiece Theater on PBS on Sunday night .  Most of these presentations are produced in UK.  These shows are uniformly well-done.  I suppose that makes me a snob.  So Be it.

It should be noted:  PBS formerly boasted that they were commercial free, but greed and money dictate everything, don't you know, so we have seen an encroachment of  low-key 20 second ads where they used to run a list of sponsors.  At least they do not (yet) break-up the presentations into segments punctuated by automobile or Viagra ads.

Stay tuned.