In today's age of TiVo, TiFaux, and other DVRs, is there a such thing as appointment TV? With all the spoilers going around about every show, are there any surprises left?
I am sitting here watching old episodes of Beverly Hills 90210 (yes, I know...I am not ashamed), and it brought be back to the days when it originally aired. This, for me, was appointment television. Each week, we'd rush home to make sure we were there when the show was on. We would park right in front of the TV, waiting anxiously for the show to start. Kids at school talked about it like the characters were real people. Once in a while, you "heard" things about where the plot was going, but nothing could really be confirmed.
Looking back, it was fun. This excitement last throughout high school through college, when Melrose Place and Party of Five were added to the schedule (I specifically remember that I was watching the season finale of Melrose Place, it must have been season 2 or so, when I got the news that my grandma had passed away).
If we weren't going to be home, we'd set the VCR and hope it worked. Often it didn't, and we were left to wait for a friend to finish watching her tape, or until they reran it.
How things have changed. I am not worried about being home for any show, even the ones I love and are time-sensitive (like The Amazing Race). I simply set the Tivo, and know that it will work, and that it will find a rerun if there is a conflict. Or, if I fail to do that, I can get on the Internet and either find out what happened, download the episode from the network site, or go to YouTube for highlights.
Were those simpler times? Because there were these "appointments," we were forced to stop and relax for a few minutes. There was no email to check, no chat boards to catch up on, no spoilers to go read to see what will happen next week. Sometimes I miss those days.
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