previously, on lost.....

Ok, this post isn't about LOST. It's about tv in general. For pretty much my whole life, I've lived in a residence that had cable/satellite. I love tv, simple as that. At this point in my life it's become a comfort to me, just having the tv on in the background. I lived with my parents for 19 or so years, where there was free cable. I lived in a dorm for a year, where there was free cable. I then moved in with my boyfriend at the time for about 5 or 6 months, in which time I did not have cable (although I spent most weekends at home, and went to visit my grandma who had cable quite often), so it wasn't too bad. I then moved to various different apartments in Ames, where thanks to college-town living, I enjoyed the luxury of free cable & internet which was undoubtedly added to the price of our rent...but it was nice to not have to deal with setting up different services and paying a million different bills.

And when I finally graduated and moved to Des Moines to work at my first full-time job.....the free cable era of my life ended. I am now faced with the tough decision: cable or internet? Or cable or less money to spend on food/clothing? Since my apartment building has a contract with one internet and cable company, I cannot look for cheaper solutions. I can have $40/mo internet, $40/mo cable, or $80/mo for both. So I chose internet, where I can find most of the shows that I watch easily, and stream them on my tv.

So what's the big deal? Well, a few of the shows I love are on the precipice of cancellation because the Nielsen ratings are too low. This is absurd! In this day and age, Nielsen is obviously outdated. So many people who used to watch tv are now opting to cut out the cable bill and watch all their favorite shows online. There is this huge demographic of people that ARE watching said shows (Parks & Rec, anyone?), but can't afford to watch them on tv as they air. And before you tell me that NBC is available for free if you have an antenna, I know, and I do, but it only tunes into ABC, FOX, and a few other weird local stations. I can't get NBC, which I religiously used to watch on Thursday and Saturday nights, and I can't get the CW, which I realize is targeted to a younger age group, but I don't care, I need to watch The Vampire Diaries!

In conclusion, I miss having cable, I miss watching commercials (yeah, really), I hate bills, and Nielsen needs to get with the 21st century! If they counted how many times I've watched (and rewatched) all the seasons of Parks & Rec, there's no way it would be doing so poorly in the ratings.