My dad said something about old TV that made me watch a show totally differently

I was at my parents' place last weekend and my dad was flipping channels. He stopped on some random cop show from the 80s and said, 'You know, we used to watch this whole thing in one go because we had to. No skipping, no fast forward, just what they gave you.' He wasn't complaining, just stating a fact. It made me realize how much I've been trained by streaming to treat shows like a buffet, grazing on the 'best bits' and dropping anything that doesn't hook me in ten minutes. I decided to watch 'The Wire' again, but this time I forced myself to watch every episode start to finish, no phone, no skipping the slower political parts. It was a totally different show. The build-up mattered. The quiet moments had weight. I felt like I finally got it. Has anyone else tried watching a show the 'old way' and had it change the experience for them?

2 comments

2 Comments

carr.xena5d ago

Tbh you just convinced me to try watching a whole season without my phone.

the_wade5d ago

Yeah, @carr.xena, it's wild how much you catch when you're not half-scrolling. I bet you'll remember way more of the plot that way.