My Husband and I recently finished the Netflix show Away. I enjoyed the show: I like character driven shows and I loved how the characters in this unfolded and grew/changed throughout the course of the episodes. I give it a 👍

So my family was discussing this show over dinner, and my Husband asked:

“Is the show renewed?”

Before I had a chance to answer, which means my daughter jumped in really quickly, she responded:

“Did you google will this show be renewed?

My Husband and I looked at each other….

“No. I didn’t google that.” I said.

My daughter laughed the laugh of the Gen Z who knows everything. “Well” she stated “That’s how shows get renewed. It’s based on how many people google, tweet or respond to a show on social media.”

Whatever happened to Nielson? Remember those ratings guys? Sweeps months? Advertising dollars?

It’s a brave new world out there and I’m not even sure I want to be a part of it.

I freely admit that I have never googled a TV show to see if something is returning. The only time I google anything about TV is when I’m watching a show and I see an actor and I can’t place where I’ve seen them before. I hop on IMDB and figure it out. But my TV googling stops there…

Do you google TV shows?

Do you tweet about TV?

Do you do anything on social media revolving that box or computer or anything that puts out shows?

Are you part of this brave, new world?

Is my lack of social media presence the reason why I can rarely find anything I like on TV?

????????

  1. What are the shows on tv/streaming/whatever that you currently enjoy?
  2. Do you go on social media to talk/read about these shows?
  3. What do you think makes a show renewable?
  4. Do you like TV or find it a necessary evil?
  5. Do you watch/stream less than five hours of TV a week, excluding news?

Discuss anything you want about TV/streaming…

97 thoughts on “Who’s Watching”

    1. There you go! I can’t imagine going onto social media after I watch something. I might blog about it, but that’s just because something about it spoke to me and made me think about something…

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      3. we got an old Hammer Horror film in the mail. Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in The Revenge of Frankenstein (1957) most likely followed by a film I own I was a teenager werewolf (1957) which starred Michael Landon as the Werewolf 😁

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  2. I’m currently watching “Wentworth,” which is a show that I looked up to see when a new season was expected. But I had no idea that looking up shows played a role in determining their continuation. Interesting. Yet it makes sense because this world thrives on social media. I’ve always been a tv watcher (something of an escape I think) but since the pandemic hit, I watch WAY more tv than I used to, which I’m not entirely sure is a good or bad thing. I guess it’s just a general thing to do because there isn’t much else to do. LOL

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    1. It’s funny, because I actually watch less tv now than before. But that’s really logistical, because I used to put tv on when I did household chores, and I used to have a 4pm tv break, which I don’t do now. Funny thing is I don’t really miss it. But sometimes I need the mind numbing properties of tv

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  3. Leave it to the young to school the old! I often google something along the lines of returning season or second season for shows I like, but who knew I was adding my vote so to speak! I have Away on my “to watch” list, but I’m trying to get through some others first. My TV watching will likely ramp up a bit, now that we head into winter soon, although I am not one to simply have the TV on just to have noise in the room. Someone I was married to did that. I found it very irritating…

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    1. I thought Away was well done. I admit I watch a lot of masterpiece theater simply because I know it’s on Sunday nights on PBS. I don’t even know how to find tv anymore. Sometimes I’ll get an email with a show suggestion, but I don’t want to write that down unless it’s something that I’m totally into, which is hardly anything. The only email suggestion I jotted down was home Edit, because who does t want to watch an organizing show?

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  5. We haven’t watched TV in years, but we do search YouTube for topics that interest us and watch those. It is a similar activity, but more interactive. The last TV series I remember eager to watch was Flash Gordon in the 1950’s. I was too young to know better.

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  7. Gonna take this time to recommend a movie that’s still free to see (I think through October) on Amazon Prime – if you have it.
    “The Glorias” I didn’t think I’d like it, then when I watched it to see how it jived with my recollections of those times I found myself really enjoying the movie as info and cinematography.
    Anyway, in case you don’t know, it’s based upon the book, “My Life on the Road” by Gloria Steinem.
    And as for other recs…’Call the Midwife’ is a great PBS show to catch up on if you need a blowout binge!
    And then there’s my standby: Dr. Who…but where’s my Tardis when I need it?
    😎

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    1. Love Call the Midwife!! Glorias is on my list. My daughter got to meet her last year so we are very Gloria centric in this house. I am waiting to watch with my ever bust daughter, so this could take awhile

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  8. Compared to the rest of my household I don’t watch a lot of TV shows. I tend to have one or two series on Netflix on the go but I don’t binge watch. It takes me weeks or even months to get through a season. I google actors too sometimes and I have checked out whether there are more seasons coming of shows I enjoy but I don’t really do social media stuff related to TV. Give me a book any day. 😊

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      1. I’m usually sitting reading while the rest of the family watch tv but it has to be a pretty good show to drag me away from my book 😂. I must admit I’m enjoying The Great British Bake Off just now but I don’t suppose you get that in your part of the world?

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      2. Oooh…it’s on Netflix but I don’t know if you’re ahead of me so I don’t want to spoil!! Love love love that show!! My husband runs on Saturday mornings so I put my exercise bike in front of the tv and watch (new episodes come out on fridays)

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  10. Every once in a GREAT while my friend will text me and tell me to turn on a remodel/house hunting show..and there we will sit, texting for thirty minutes about design and art and whether or not the husband is a goof or the wife is annoying..

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  11. Guilty as charged about Googling TV shows. But it’s usually to find out back stories and premier dates. We really like Yellowstone. My guilty pleasure is Outlander. The old Neilson record books have been replaced by the smart TV’s capability to transmit info to the powers that be to determine who is watching what and when. Scary. The info shows how many are watching in “real time” and how many watch recordings at a later time. Scary. This determines overall ratings and plays into whether the show is canceled or renewed. We watch more shows during the winter and have our favorites (The “Chicago” shows, Manifest, Good Doctor, All the NCIS shows, A Million Little Things, Blacklist). I hit Starz for the current Outlander season and other mini-series like White Queen/White Princess/Spanish Princess which prompts me to Google the historical accuracy of them. Netflix gives me The Crown. Hmmm….I see a trend here.

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    1. I admit I google backstories of The Crown and Victoria. I like to see how much is true and what was fabricated. I heard Yellowstone is really good. I can’t keep track of what’s out. I miss the TV guide page of the newspaper

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  12. My husband chooses the shows for the most part. We do not have the same taste , lol. I can sometimes enjoy his choices, but he rarely likes mine. So to answer your question, I don’t watch a lot of TV. He picks things like Mystery Science Theatre and Fail Army. I did get him to watch a few Netflix series, Ozark, Stranger Things and part of Shitts Creek until it got too for him, and yes I googled to see when the next season might come out. It bugs me that he ‘watches’ movies I choose while surfing his computer so I just gave up.

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  13. Well…that is new info!! We are currently watching ‘The Haunting is Bly Manor’. I did google all the spoilers because I hate scary movies and want to sleep at night! After googling all this and finding reasons for what was going on the show is less scary and I am actually enjoying it, even though the ending isn’t for several more seasons I at least know the whys behind the what’s! As for googling if there will be more seasons to a show, I never thought of that. Now I know and will probably do so!

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  14. Did you watch My Octopus teacher on NF yet? Last night we started watching Love on the Spectrum (on NF). Both are LOVELY. We’ve also been watching Arrested Development for some comedy. We loved Ozark, don’t love Yellowstone too much….I keep trying to get into it, but it’s just not happening.

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  15. I think the last time I sat down to watch an actual TV show was probably 5 or 6 years ago. I am just now realizing what a complete oddball that makes me. The TV only ever goes on when we want to watch a movie or something really specific, usually Hubby turning on a game of some kind to catch the end of a really close one, or the weather when a really bad storm rolls through. It’s kind of funny because my Hubby and I used to watch all the time, but we just kind of stopped for some reason and never started again. I honestly don’t miss it, but it makes it interesting when everyone is raving about some show or another and I’m just sitting there completely lost.

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    1. You know, I have no idea anymore. But it is logical that if people are talking about a show and googling it, you don’t need to pay to advertise or market it. Or you need to pay less. You’d want to produce shows with buzz

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  17. I usually watch YouTube. But I am working on NCIS on Netflix, but I’ve been working on it for several months. I will binge watch in spurts. I AM waiting for the next season of The Crown and I ALWAYS google the backstory to see how much is true or what they skipped.

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  18. I wish I had googled the show Person of Interest because then I’d have realized they were going to take it OFF of Netflix on Sept. 22 and I would have made sure to binge watch the last season. Hubby and I got started watching it and were halfway through season 4 of 5 when they took it off. So disappointed. We do as you do and Google to check the cast of some things we watch.

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  22. i watch tv about an hour a day. I get dvds from Netflix, usually older classic tv show, some new that Hulu doesn’t have complete seasons of and vice versa. Ie. We were watching the Canadian show Murdoch Mysteries on Hulu but it only goes to series 10, I can finish it out on DVD from Netflix. I rent older movies and TV DVDs and we watch newer/current/older/or Brittish on Hulu. Currently watching the following: Murdoch mysteries, Cheers, Frasier, The Original Star Trek, The Brittish version of Whose line is it anyway followed by the current CW incarnation, Brooklyn Nine Nine ( if it comes back), Young Sheldon, Big Bang Theory, Adam West Batman Tv show, Hulu Exclusive Monsterland, Chopped, Cuthroat Kitchen…

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  23. I didn’t know that was a thing!

    I’m watching Umbrella Academy, which is alright. But I really liked The Politician and before that, Dead to Me. Also watching the final season of Mr Robot.

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  25. It’s somewhat scary. You don’t necessarily have to google anything. If you have Alexa or Google Home in your house, it will listen in on your conversations and then send you targeted adds – probably sends feedback on the shows we watch and comment about directly to the producers. With supercomputers tabulating all of the data . . .

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  26. Hahaha. A great post. I don’t watch too much television, well, let me be more specific, it is 2020. I don’t watch “traditional” television at all. Streaming only. And, I never google whether a show will be renewed, hence the “hahaha” at the beginning of my reply. I did watch a show once, gosh, I think it was called the white queen. Love this show. Well, upon finishing season 1, and getting ready to watch season 2, I found it was never renewed. Hm. Guess I should google shows before watching? 🙂

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  29. I might be the only person who doesn’t like Schitt’s Creek. And you can’t believe how many people ask me if I’ve watched it. Don’t do anything on social media about TV, but boy, I’ve watched my share during the pandemic.

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      1. I never saw it the first time round, but I have enjoyed it. Two of my favorites died in the last episode which made me think WHHHHY, there were so many others they could have got rid of 😀

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  31. I believe that networks and other platforms do still track viewership to determine whether shows will return. I watch mainly PBS and Acorn shows and a few things on Amazon and Netflix. I don’t have cable but do watch “This is Us” and “The Rookie” on Hulu through my Roku.

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    1. I was telling Deb, I have no idea what’s even on TV anymore. There are too many places to look. I stick to PBS, HGTV, and a couple things on Netflix and amazon as well, but it gets more and more frustrating to find something

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  33. My 17-year-old talks to me about this brave new world the way your daughter talks to you. Like you, I only google when I’m curious about an actor. I don’t mind so much when my son makes fun of me. I figure it’s just a rite of passage we all go through. Like Mark Twain with his father…one day he’ll wake up & see how brilliant I am!!!

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