TV Tuesday: Company

[yourlibrarian]

Best wishes to everyone for the New Year!

Do you watch TV solo or with other people? Do you always/usually look for other fans to talk to?

Comments

[jo]

Happy New Year! Here's hoping it's nowhere near as bad as I think it will be (not for me personally, just for the world in general).

I'd say 99% of my TV watching is on my own. There are some shows that my husband likes, or would probably like if I could get him to sit down and actually watch, but he doesn't actually like watching TV. He considers it too passive an activity, unlike, say, playing video games. And the few shows that we do watch together take eons to get through because it's such a struggle to get him to actually commit to watching an episode now and then. I mean, it took us about 10 months to get through the 2nd season of Foundation, and that's one of the shows he actually loves. I don't know what we'll do when Severance starts in January. I'd watched the first season on my own and kept telling him he'd really like it. Finally got him last year to watch the first episode with me when I decided to do a rewatch ahead of season 2. He then ended up watching the rest of it on his own late at night (we have very different sleep schedules), and has watched it again a couple of times with friends of his online.

But yeah, for that reason, I watch on my own. I almost never talk about shows I watch with anyone, much less "fans" -- sometimes at work, TV shows will come up, but most of my colleagues don't seem to watch the same things I am interested in. I have no IRL social circle so don't have friends to discuss shows with -- this forum is probably the most talking about shows that I do anywhere.

[yourlibrarian]

I watch the majority on my own as well, largely because I have worked from home and my partner only does so part of the time. So when I'm exercising, for example, I'll be watching TV, and if I am doing leisure stuff I'll have the TV on and so watch much more than he does.

He also works some nights and other evenings is just too busy to watch, so we may do 3 or 4 hours together a week whereas I'll watch that much each day.

We do often like the same things but I encourage him to say when he's just not that interested because it also takes us a long time to get through a season. That way I can watch it on my own. He's often reluctant to give up on a series, but especially if I really like it, it can be torturous to keep waiting. Andor was just the worst. I finally had to watch the last 3 episodes on my own but I was willing to rewatch them with him. However he never asked about it which told me a lot about how disinterested he was compared to other shows.

[volkameria]

Happy New Year!

I almost exclusively watch TV with my husband; it's how we relax after a long day, and we usually talk about the show we're watching as we watch it. (We're both so bad about pausing and pointing out great parts of a scene, or rewinding to catch a detail, or discussing an error and missing a major plot development... watching TV with us would be patience trying, I think.) When we watch TV separately, it's because the genre or show isn't something the other person likes. He's a big fan of gritty modern action (think Reacher, Jack Ryan, Tulsa King, etc.), while I like old sci-fi and anime (Fruits Basket, Stargate Atlantis, etc.) - but usually the other person will catch a few episodes. It's also rare to watch something separately.

The exception to this rule is My Happy Marriage. We have watch parties with all our friends for it because Lord Kudo is basically a household meme now, it's great.

Same as jo, I don't typically talk about TV shows with people at work. They come up, but not all that much, and I don't watch a lot of modern TV shows so it's hard to talk about. Everyone else I interact with IRL either isn't into TV or would not be into anything I watch, so most of my TV show ramblings are on Dreamwidth and with family.

[jo]

(We're both so bad about pausing and pointing out great parts of a scene, or rewinding to catch a detail, or discussing an error and missing a major plot development... watching TV with us would be patience trying, I think.)

Haha! My husband does that, and it annoys me so much. He does try to restrain himself the few times we do watch stuff together, and then might rewatch the episode on his own so he can pause, rewind, etc., at will.

[yourlibrarian]

This sounded familiar. My partner has attention deficit problems so he often checks out of things at random times, then realizes he doesn't understand what's going on. He rarely says anything or asks to see a scene again but sometimes asks questions. I've noticed, however, when he's watching things on his own, that he may pause and rewatch a scene 3 or 4 times. These are often animated comedies and in the next room I'll be gritting my teeth at the constant punchline repeats!

[starfleetbrat]

I watch things on my own. the other person in my house has zero interest in tv shows unless they are anime, so its usually just me watching on my own. I usually stream and cast it to my tv via chromecast.

For talking to other people, its rare that I seek other fans out. Definitely don't talk with anyone offline about tv, but even online its rare, unless I really really love the show.

[yourlibrarian]

I don't have workmates any more but I do talk about TV shows from time to time with friends, sometimes just to share something enjoyable from an episode I've seen and sometimes to recommend the show. They will also bring up shows from time to time.

I do miss the online discussions that used to be common following new episodes of a favorite show, even if I couldn't often take part due to viewing delays. I know there are communities for it here and I see posts from time to time but it's difficult to get people started.

[china_shop]

Watching TV or movies with one or two other people is my favourite form of socialising. ("Tell me you're an introvert without telling me you're an introvert." ;-) And we do actually watch attentively most of the time, too -- especially avoiding talking over dialogue.

My partner and I watch TV together most evenings. We have a friend who comes over one evening a week to watch stuff with us. I used to have weekly Kdrama TV dates with a couple of friends (separately), though those have fallen away over the last few years.

I also watch Kdramas solo, either on my exercise machine or in the early evening while my partner's cooking dinner.

[yourlibrarian]

I definitely wish I could watch with others more often. On a trip I took a few months ago we twice had TV nights where we watched movies and shows together. It was fun to get to share that.

[china_shop]

I think of it as the modern equivalent of listening to stories around a campfire. :D

[shadowkat]

Watch solo. But talk about it with others afterwards. I watch certain shows just to discuss them with others. And it depends on the show - whether I hunt for other fans to discuss.

[yourlibrarian]

I used to do that at one time, had a friend who I watched a show with and didn't after she stopped watching. We used to watch Dancing With the Stars together though for years and I still miss her when I do.

[barbaratp]

Depende muito, pois tem vezes que minha mãe não sabe se assiste a tv ou se usa o celular, com isso temos momentos onde ela fica me questionando se eu já sei sobre o que estamos vendo, ou onde eu tenho que explicar o que ela perdeu. Às vezes é meio chato, mas c'est la vie.

[yourlibrarian]

Yes, one's viewing partners can sometimes add or detract from the experience!

[barbaratp]

Minha mãe não atrapalha, longe disso, mas é engraçado demais ela querer ver algo sem prestar atenção direito e depois ficar perdida no enredo...

[yourlibrarian]

Yes, my partner can be the same -- his attention wanders and then he keeps missing dialogue or things happening.

[feurioo]

I watch pretty much everything alone. 1) That's how I prefer it. 2) Most people here probably watch dubbed English-language shows/movies, and I don't. 3) I watch everything with subtitles (if available), and many people I know hate subtitles.

[yourlibrarian]

Funny you should bring this up as just this week I've had an issue with dubbing vs captions. Might write up a post about it later.

[tinny]

I enjoy being in a fandom, it's so much better than doing things alone. But then I've only been in tiny tiny fandoms nobody wanted to talk about with me for a few years now, and... it was bearable for a while.

But I am very happy to be back in a place now where there are people interested in the same things as me (I changed, and new things came up, a combination of factors), and I enjoy it immensely. Yay fandom.

As for RL, I sometimes do watchalongs with friends (1 at a time, usually, not groups), and I enjoy those, too, but I only ever do that with things I've already seen. For the first time watch, I prefer being alone. I need time to enjoy the important scenes, and to rewind if I missed a bit of dialogue, and to take screenshots for iconmaking.

[yourlibrarian]

It can definitely be lonely to be full of excitement about a particular property and it seems no one else shares it. I'm glad you're not out in the wilderness anymore 🙂

That makes sense about first time views. It reminds me how this never happens with me anymore, though it did not all that long ago -- watching something and then knowing I would immediately rewatch to document the things that I wanted to discuss, or sometimes wanting certain screencaps etc. There's still lots of things I enjoy watching, though I think some of the things I watch with my partner are my favorite and I think it adds to our enjoyment to share it, particularly when it's a comedy.