I cannot comment on the entertainment, but OMG did I ever laugh at your "dance moves" walk!!! I can just envision that!

When I clean house, I usually have the Backstreet boys blasting. Keeps me moving along rather quickly. LOL I can SO relate to your dance walk!!!

The other night because of the possibility of violent storms I turned the tv on for the first time in months. Last time it was only to watch a vote in Congress. I left it on for the whole evening watching the same shows that I used to watch. Chicago Fire and two others that I do not remember the names. The actors in one did dramatic pauses when there was nothing to be dramatic about. I remember that the dialog flowed freely from one character to the next. There were lots of shots of peoples faces as if the view was supposed to know what were the thoughts of the character.

I don't think my tastes have changed much, but television and movies have changed and not for the better in my opinion. I prefer reading books by my favorite authors and watching YouTube videos of people sailing and traveling.

I watch very little TV now as I am older. DH still likes shows with car chases, explosions, gunfire and always a woman screaming hysterically. I avoid all of that. So much of TV and movies seem to be special effects with very little good writing. I think there are three shows I watch and am often bored with them too. I like Bull and re-runs of Longmire that I hadn't seen the first time around. If I do decide to watch TV alone by myself, I pick a TCM 1930's movie. I have a few recorded on my DVR.

Books are best.

Reality shows are actually all scripted rather than candid. Or otherwise steered in specific directions by production crews. This has been revealed repeatedly by cast members.

All shows are broadcast in order to get people watching ads - even public television regularly runs promotional messages in later years. Meanwhile on another thread here it was stated that network television viewership is down 65%. I'd watch more of it if I could find something I wanted to watch. Public television does develop and broadcast new serials that catch my interest but as a rule these are shown for surprisingly short seasons. And then it is typically a long wait before the next installment appears.

So I end up turning to You Tube. But that is its own can of worms, including frequently misleading title pages (or whatever they are called), constant returning of irrelevant search results (same as with web browser image searches), often very short running times and recurring lack of submissions about topics I search.

Topics I search using the very clumsy interface provided.

I find most of the shows from my youth are now quite irritating. Like Carol Burnett. Could that woman be any more screechy and shrill? Most of the sitcoms were just dumb. We don't watch current network shows, so maybe they are dumb, too. About the only old show we watch occasionally is M*A*S*H. I like a couple of the more recent police dramas, like The Closer.

And Hells's Kitchen and Master Chef. Yes, I know they're scripted.

Could that woman be any more screechy and shrill?

Individuals may become sensitive to high pitched sounds as they age. So that by the time he was in his early 70s if not before a late friend used to remark - with seeming utter seriousness - when we were in restaurants that other diners should have left their young children at home.

I don't do reality shows at all. None. Nada. Well, maybe Hoarders when I'm feeling like I need to clean my house....

I don't like talk shows. I've been off work for six weeks and have tried to watch Dr Phil but man oh man he has THE most BORING voice on tv. How has he lasted this long and what he did to a couple on his show last week, I don't get how he's a "doctor".

I have always liked sitcoms but if I can't get through the first episode of a new series, I'm done with it. Sometimes the commercials for the show are all I need to know I won't like it. Lately we've been binge watching old series on Netflix and Crave.

I do like dystopian type shows and movies. The Hunger Games got me on that track. I normally do not like shows that have been dubbed because they've been filmed in other countries, but have watched MANY on Netflix over the past year or so that were very well done: you can barely tell they're dubbed. Most are either dystopian or police dramas.

My husband used to watch police shows all the time. NCIS, Bones, Hawaii 5-0, you name it. I told him he was watching the same show over and over again, just with a different cast. They really are all the same. So it got to the point I would sit on my computer all night. I finally got him out of it. LOL I do love watching 48Hours, Very Scary People, How It Happened... Shows like that. Not really reality shows (Big Brother, The Bachelor - gag!) but true crime shows. I'll pvr them so I don't miss any and will only watch them when there's nothing else to watch or do. I can ff the commercials too. I have also been setting my pvr to record the new sitcoms. Actually, lately I set it to record any show I like in case my other half is watching something else, I can watch 'my' shows at a later time.

If I'm watching for entertainment, I want a story. Chase scenes, explosions and spectacles are not a story. The story needs to have a purpose -- who is doing what, and why? What is the start, the middle, the end? It doesn't need to be elaborate: Lucy wants a new dress and Ricky won't pay for it, is good enough. Indiana searches for ancient artifacts. The new sheriff is a'near. The Ring must be destroyed (I'm not ALL comedy, just mostly.)

DH has more patience than I do.

I don't mind some of the semi-scripted shows for background noise, but can't imagine sitting down and watching the gazillionth episode of Guys Grocery Games without a book to read or website to peruse.

I no longer watch much network TV. The local news in the morning and now and again the Food network and Animal Planet. And if I happen to be awake at that time, A Late Show with Stephen Colbert (who never fails to crack me up!!).

Otherwise I stream - Amazon Prime, BritBox, Acorn and Netflix. I have a bizarre affection for British TV. It tends to be brash, unapologetically politically incorrect, and often much more intense than US TV wrt to language, sexuality and violence/blood and guts. And British comedy is in a class of its own....even the bad ones make me chuckle if not laugh out loud!

I'm very easily entertained and will watch just about anything on Youtube while cooking. Lately it's been compendiums of the Headline segments from Jay Leno -- still hilarious. But the other day, I found myself watching Annette, a TV show from the'50s starring Annette Funicello. It was ridiculously stupid and yet I watched the entire three hours (turning it down when my husband came near, as I was embarrassed to be watching it.) Mostly I loved seeing the clothes.

We just cut the cable last week. 'Nuff said? ;)

This is Us. Although I'm not really sure if it's my tastes that have changed, or the writers and directors. The first two seasons of that show were awesome - very cleverly done. I never missed a week. Now, it just feels contrived and over done and drama for drama's sake. To me, that negatively impacts the power of the story they were (I thought) trying to tell. But, I've invested all this time, I now must see it to the end - haha. (please be soon!)

Lettersatoz, I’m glad you said that, I was wondering why I felt differently about TIU these days. I think part of it is that in the beginning, the whole idea of it seemed so new, different. After a season, I came to expect it every time. Now, it seems to be more of the same. But, I’m still waiting to see Miguel’s story.

We used to be "Survivor" fans but haven't watched a new season for at least 5 years now.

Good question.

I used to like Home Hunters, Love it or List it, and Property Brothers. I’ve stopped watching.

I used to watch Oprah and then Wendy Williams. Oprah is no longer and I just sometimes catch clips of Wendy on my iPad.

I really liked the Big Bang, but wasn’t sad when it ended. I felt it ran it’s course.

Shows that I watch now and still have t tired of.

This is Us,

The Connors

The Good Doctor

Mom

Unfortunately this will be Mom’s last season. I am just not getting why a really good show has to end.

I hate all the sitcoms in recent years, so I don't watch them. I don't find them remotely funny. I had the tv on, and it ran into the new show of that Blossom girl, Sheldon's girlfriend. My gosh it's so stupid. Although I am watching Mom and I find it hilarious

I loved the old humour.......Frasier was a favourite.

I find This is Us depressing. Too much drama and negativity.

A Million Little Things I love.

I stream everything.

I miss the old Food Network shows, with actual cooking. Even PBS where I used to watch Jacques Pepin, Sara Moulton, Lidia, and others, have changed their lineup and nothing interests me.

I can't say that I really like most of the TV shows we watch. I just watch a couple of hours before bedtime to unwind. Whatever DH or DS want to watch is fine with me. We have stopped watching shows when they no longer held our interest. I am ready to give up on Blacklist which I find is a muddled mess. We only continue to watch because we have watched it all these years. And I want to find out what happened to the actress that played Agent Keen. Where did she go?

caflowerluver, I stopped watching Blacklist a few years ago, so I don't know if it's ever been revealed if she's his daughter or not. Apparently she died on the show, but it was a fake death.

I’ve seemed to have lost all interest in tv lately. I thought it was just me and the life changes I’ve gone through this past year but maybe not. I used to enjoy several of the night time shows like Greys Anatomy, Chicago Fire, Chicago Med and so on, but the seasons have gotten so short. Viewers end up watching more reruns than new episodes and that’s made me loose interest. When I’m not watching the news, I will put on something that’s not negative like an hgtv show for background noise. I’ve never been into the reality shows but lately, I’ve been watching Say Yes to the Dress which is sometimes kind of funny.

I watch very little tv, sometimes have it going in the background on mute to watch b&w movies. I too used to watch My 600 Pound Life and stopped because it seemed that it invited voyeurism - why else show an extremely obese person have a shower? Yes, there were successes, but more failures, it seemed. Tastes change. I watched an episode of All in the Family not long ago and was surprised by how annoying the arguing and bickering were. I had never noticed that before. Also, attitudes towards women have changed so much. I had seen Soylent Green at the movie theater when it came out and loved it. I recently watched it again on tv and was surprised to notice how women were so objectified in the movie and men "did what comes naturally." Cringe-worthy to my eyes today.

I used to watch Mom in the kitchen while cooking. Anna Faris left the show and it could not continue without her. Great cast though, wasn't it?

I watch old sit-coms and it is kind of sad what the standards were. Poor Samantha. She had all these powers and could not use them. Darren was really awful. He squashed her down completely and would not permit her magic. Sad. They could have compromised there.

And Lucy. Always the hare-brain who needed her husband to step in and fix all her messes. What a dummy. Ugh. Can't watch.

I have no patience for commercials anymore. I only watch what I have pre-recorded and FF through them. I leave live TV to DH.

The news? Is it even news anymore? 99% commentary. I do like my local-yokel news. It is quite straight forward.

Elizabeth, I'm with you on the news. So much commentary and reactions, so little straight reporting. We are on broadcast, so we watch 5-10 minutes of the network news then switch over to France 24 or DW on our public station.

We haven't watched network TV shows in decaades, outside of news (which isn't *news* beyond the first few sentences). We stream movies and TV series from Anazon or get them on DVDs from our library. Even there, anything made more than ten years ago can appear ridiculously 'stagey'.

Currently we are hooked on 'The Bureau', a French series w/captions. Starting Season 4 next.

Remember when 'the news' was five or ten minutes and covered the whole world?

This topic reminds me of when DH's alma mater made it to the Rose Bowl in '96 and was on the Wheaties cereal box. We bought a box for the cover and made the mistake of tasting the cereal for the first time since we were kids. Blech! Wallboard!

I do enjoy The Amazing Race and The Amazing Race Canada. I like to see the places they go and the challenges they have to do. I haven’t been able to get back into this season of This is Us or a Million Little Things. I did watch the first two seasons of Good Girls, then it just to be the same old thing. I still like to watch reruns of Friends and Sex and the City ( waiting for the return of that show).

I watch all true crime shows such as Dateline and 48 Hours and almost every show on the ID channel.

We also watch The Connors & The Good Doctor. I watched "The Talk" while cooking the other day.....they ALL piled on Sharon Osbourne...she said Piers Morgan and she were friends.... they suddenly disowned her. Yes.....I've heard ALL the accusations.....just wow. That type of TV I could do without! Very "Jerry Springer" YUCK!

I like DABL's Sarah Richardson, Design Inc. That show is "old"....but what Sarah does is timeless!

I don't watch a lot of tv. When I do it's the local news, reality tv or reruns from years ago. Once in a while, one of teens and I will watch something they think I should see. The news can be informational or biased depending on whatever it is. Reality TV is often noticeably scripted.

DH is trying to inspire us to lose weight so we've been watching some of the shows like 1000# Sisters or the 600# Life ones with Dr. Now. A lot of the commentary does appear to be written by someone else. Some of it is a look behind the lines and a view of the love, codependence and enabling. I also saw the show where the woman in the back of the van was in pain. I think she needed to see how she acts from the perspective of others. There were some harsh realities there.

Elizabeth, I love the cast on Mom. The producers said that since the show was about a mom and daughter, they had to cancel it. But it was much more than that.....it was the strength of friends battling addiction.

And I absolutely love Adam!!! (Not so much the newest cast member, the big blonde)

I could not stand Lucy or the whole bunch the few times I watched on my grandmother's tv. The only thing that I found interesting in the older shows was that there was almost always beneath the story line a social message. It may have been hard to understand but many were about social conditions. Beating wife was bad. Helping others was good. Even later shows had a social/moral message. The ones I watched the other night while they were people interacting in what could be real situations that was missing.

My husband was also one of those who watched those detective/action shows when he was not watching some type of sports at high volume. It was much easier to play on the computer with ear plugs.

Someone mentioned Grey's Anatomy. We used to watch it regularly, but lost interest quite a few years ago. Just the other day I saw a sidebar ad for it. I was surprised it is still in production.

I can't believe that The Conners is still on. The acting, IMO, is absolutely horrible.

I like the medical shows. "Reality" (allegedly) or not. I always seem to learn something.

What?

Reality TV ...

... is UNREAL??

O J

I watch CBS morning news but most of the morning news shows arent news but just entertainment. At least CBS covers some news but less all the time. I like Mom and Allison Janney is really good and I enjoyed Anna Faris. I still watch the Conners and like it better without that loudmouth Roseanne. I enjoy thenPBS series like Call The Midwife and anything like Downton Abbey.

There is a show now that is very upsetting to me called B Positive, about a kidney transplant. It’s supposed to be funny. My ex died of kidney disease and suffered a number of years through dialysis. He did not want a transplant as he was older. There is not one speck of humor in that situation and I hope the show is canceled.

I can’t stand This Is Us. I never saw the appeal. It’s ridiculous. The one woman is so incredibly obese one has to worry for her health, although that’s not why I dislike the show. It’s just so melodramatic.

I still like Jeopardy even without Alex.

I have never watched daytime TV and nighttime is so full of commercials that I record a show and catch up after starting to watch at 20 minutes past the hour. I watch Greys, A Million Little Things, This Is Us, 60 Minutes, and all Dateline and 20/20s.

Regarding The Blacklist --

@caflowerluver (who said, "I am ready to give up on Blacklist which I find is a muddled mess. We only continue to watch because we have watched it all these years. And I want to find out what happened to the actress that played Agent Keen. Where did she go?") and @Jasdip (who said, "I stopped watching Blacklist a few years ago, so I don't know if it's ever been revealed if she's his daughter or not. Apparently she died on the show, but it was a fake death.")

Elizabeth Keen's death was faked by Mr. Kaplan, to protect her and her baby (although I can't remember from whom). When it was revealed that she was alive and Reddington found out that Mr. Kaplan was behind it, he killed Mr. Kaplan. Well, he thought he had killed her, but she ultimately survived and was nursed back to life by some guy who lived in the woods where she'd been shot. She ultimately dies by suicide when she jumps off a bridge so that Elizabeth can learn the truth about Reddington.

The truth is that Reddington is not Elizabeth's father. And, several seasons later, Elizabeth sees Reddington kill her mother, so now she is on a revenge spree against him.

from Rocky Mountain oysters to head cheese

I have not watched regular network TV in decades. From what I hear is on the air, I am not missing much.......just more nonsense and low brow drivel.

I watch only streaming without commercials or the national news channels that is on the TV above the fridge.

Increasingly the newer movies are coming up pretty empty, too.

Enough with the serial killers movies and series!!! Or the paranormal ---enough!!!!

With streaming service I seek the better quality entertainment, especially the independent films.

There are more and more series on streaming media now, and fewer movies. Some of the themes that the series are based around have turned out to be pretty much overly extended nonsense, too.

Husband made a reference to pop TV culture the other day to 9 year old grandson. Our grandson had no idea what he meant by it. The young ones dont really watch TV. All of his interaction with the media is through the computer. He knows nothing of TV beyond the movies that he watches with us when he comes to visit.

The same is true of our other younger grandchildren. They dont interact with TV unless there is something streaming on it.

The problem with today's television is it's formulaic.

Hasn't television always been formulaic?

To a certain extent, but nowadays it's rigid. Nothing thrown in for fun.

I have the TV on a lot, not just because I live alone and it's nice to hear talking. but I have tinnitus, but when not listening to music the silence can be uncomfortable. I must be one of the very few out there watching OTA TV. I watch the local and one national news daily and then mostly PBS. For many years, there's always been one show I watch, even the reruns, like Seinfeld, then Everyone loves Raymond, and after that Big bang. I have watched so many repeats of it I am about done. There is really nothing else but PBS, as I intensely dislike court, police, emergency, etc., all sports, shopping, game shows, and all other "sitcoms". I don't want to pay to watch anything; is that what everyone else is doing, paying for what you watch?

We got rid of cable well over a decade ago, haven't missed it. We subscribe to one or two platforms at a time until we run out of stuff to watch, and then switch to others (HBO Max, BritBox, Acorn, Netflix, sometimes Amazon Prime).

I am not patient enough to give a show more than a one episode chance, if it doesn't grab me, done with it. And that happens a lot with the new stuff, though there are still some good contemporary shows. Husband is bit more patient so if I have nothing else to do I bring my ipad and read while he watches shows I don't like.

There will be a targeted demographic at any given time and I suspect the current one is not a shrinking base of elderly people.

I am 59, I sure hope that's not elderly. :) But I still don't like the trend toward reality shows which, in my opinion, either just foster admiration for self-centered, shallow, narcissistic people (kardashians) or engage in voyeurism by exploiting people who need help and shouldn't be gawked at like carnival attractions (my 600 pound life, hoarders, etc.).

They're all paid to appear, have agreed to participate. In fact some of them are who came up with the idea in the first place (for example Gene Simmons, who is notorious for constantly looking for new money making opportunities).

<Individuals may become sensitive to high pitched sounds as they age>

I guess this must be the reason that I cannot stand to listen to screaming children, but then I've never liked high-pitched sounds or voices. At this stage in my life, I especially hate the sound of any kind of screaming.

Sometimes I will watch snippets of The Donna Reed Show or Leave It To Beaver in the morning - during commercials of CBS This Morning, or while waiting for Perry Mason to come on, and I find the 1950s family shows to be a bit irritating - partly because of the rigid stereotypes and partly because they are way too conservative. Wally and Beaver were never allowed to express themselves fully, and when they did, they were reprimanded for it - no individuality was allowed. And Donna Reed was too much of a stereotypical housewife, although perhaps less so than June Cleaver.

Some of my tastes in entertainment have changed, and some have not. I still like a lot of music that I liked when I was a teenager, but I also like music from when I was in my 40s. There's not a lot of 21st Century music that I like, but there is still some. I have not bought new music as often as I did before the turn of the millennium, however, as it has not had time to grow on me. There is some that I like - just not quite as much as previously. One of my favorite periods was when I was in my 30s, and one of the worst was when I was in my 20s.

Recently we've been watching reruns of Schitt's Creek, which I love, but somehow I missed it when it was first on. Maybe because it was on Netflix, which we do not subscribe to and do not need, since we have more to watch than we have time to watch. We have Samsung TVs in our living rooms, and we get a lot of Samsung streaming channels, including the Wipeout Channel, which is one of our favorites. We watch a fair amount on DABL as well.

In addition to TV reality shows being scripted, Hollywood movies follow strict guidelines as well. I took a screenwriting class in Hollywood around 1993, and I was taught that certain things were supposed to happen on page 12, for example. Screenplays can almost write themselves, if you have the right software. I have Finaldraft, but I've never completed an entire screenplay😵 I'm fairly good at pitching ideas, however.