"User generated Television. Create your life"

If you're my age, then your grandparents witnessed the birth of television. It was, in most ways, an upgrade to the old version of entertainment: the radio. Capitalizing on the usage of TWO of the five senses was enough to make it a marvel. It not only changed the face of entertainment, but of media and politics (see Kennedy V. Nixon debates 1960). If you're parents are as old as mine, they probably witnessed the next big improvement: the remote. No, no, I'm just kidding. I'm actually speaking about the first color televisions. Ultimately, this only enhanced the quality for one sense, rather than adding a new one. Yes, someday we'll have TV commercials where you can actually smell the greasy hamburger and corporate america will have one more way of brainwashing us. I mean, because they say smell is linked to memories and..........oops, there I go getting off topic. What I was trying to point out is that color TV was an improvement for the eyes, but it didn't really change HOW you experienced TV.

Anyone around today knows that we continue that train of advancement with televisions. We have LCD screens so we can see details. We have surround sound so we can hear a pin drop. We even put it in a lighter weight packaging, called the flat screen, so people would buy bigger TVs without fear of not being able to lift or move them. What I'm trying to illustrate is that the change from radio to television is much more monumental than HD or a plasma screen.

What I find to be the most intriguing change since the TV is the WAY we watch media today. Movie theaters have always been a sinkhole for money but with today's technology, many people have the equivalent in their living room. Forget Blue Ray; most cable companies offer viewing of brand new movies in full HD without the hassle of any shiny, metal frisbee. What about DVR? That has got to be considered a bigger change over than the color TV. No longer are people forced to sit down and watch shows when the network tells them to. Competition between "Chuck" and "House" are no longer an issue. Not to mention that ad rates will have to go WAY down because people can now skip past the commercials. 

And it's not just DVR that revolutionized how we watch, but also the internet. Most shows are viewable via Hulu.com and/or the channel website. In fact, this allows me to be watching one show on my TV and another on my computer...AT THE SAME TIME. Ok, I'm not saying I do that, but I am saying that it frees your TV up for other things. Like video games. No seriously, follow me on this one. I can exercise with my Wii Fit on my big screen TV, while watching the new episode of "Castle" streaming from my laptop. Talk about multitasking. So wait, with the increased technology we should all be a lot thinner...hmmm. Anyways, you catch my drift. DVR and the World Wide Web have altered WHEN, WHERE, and HOW we watch TV.

But what about WHAT we watch. We used to live in a two toned world. There were "television shows" and "movies." That was it. Ok, ya there were mini series, but who counts those anyways. Though our TVs are more colorful, the different types of things we watch has become grayer. Those of you younger fans know what I mean. They're called web series, webisodes, and video blogging. Bloggers like Natalie Tran do regular video postings on funny musings. Think sexy female version of Dave Barry. "The Office" (the U.S. version) posts side story webisodes that are only viewable online at NBC.com. Web series such as "The Guild" and "We Need Girlfriends" gain huge followings just like any normal TV shows would. Some web series, like Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog (created during the writer's strike) even harness the power of celebrities such as "How I Met Your Mother" star Neil Patrick Harris, "Castle" namesake Nathan Fillion, and "Big Bang Theory" actor Simon Helberg. But the internet has also created stars from viral videos such as "Tron Guy," "Star Wars Kid," "Chocolate Rain," "Leave Britney Alone," "Numa Numa," and "David After Dentist" (just to name a few off the top of my head). I think you know you're a star when you are not only being parodied on the internet, but on TV shows such as "South Park."

So if the switch from TV to Web wasn't confusing enough, now many internet based media is crossing over into television. These hybrids include web series such as "Qurterlife" (NBC 2008) and "FRED" (Nickelodeon 2010). Do we still call them web series if we see them on TV? Noun aside, I think many people view the information superhighway as a major invention but they forget just how much it has transformed our entertainment industry. 

Ok, so maybe the radio adding a second sense to the mix is a bigger deal than changing the what, where, when, and how we partake in our shows, but it has to be a close second. All I know is I'm going to go watch some more "A Very Potter Musical."*

"User generated Television. Create your life" -Quarterlife

*As well, "A Very Potter Musical" lead Darren Criss has crossed over into television as a recurring role on Fox's "Glee." This was originally my topic for this blog but it somehow got left out so I leave it here in the footnotes.