I Don't Understand Certain Television Fans

Television is an interesting medium to look at from both a level of entertainment and ability to tell a story.  These are not necessarily hand in hand.  However, many times they are.  This entry is not about that though.  Another aspect of television that you can look at is the fan base for television shows.  This, much like movies, can help to produce more of a certain series or franchise.  The fan base and amount of people who watch something can help to keep a television show running past what most people would consider to be the glory days.

You might be asking yourself why I am writing about this and what I could actually write about while sounding semi-intelligent at the late hour at which I am writing this.  The igniting spark for this is from something I saw earlier tonight.  It regards the people who watch the television show Glee.  This is an observation I’ve been making while witnessing Twitter during the time that Glee is on for about a season and a half now.  I’m not quite sure why it happens.  Most people seem to detest the show now, and they announce how much they don’t know why they are still watching, yet they continue to watch.

This baffles me for two reasons, both questioning why the people remain viewers of a show that they so clearly dislike.  The first reason is that they are spending hours upon hours watching something that is essentially a waste of their time.  There is always something better to do than something you don’t like.  Unless you are in a no win scenario like the Kobayashi Maru test.  If there is something more enjoyable than watching a television show that you dislike, go to that something.  You shouldn’t be wasting your time like this.  The second reason is television ratings.  I am in no way saying that the Nielsen system works for ratings.  Let’s ignore that it even exists for a second here and assume that the numbers are completely accurate.  Last week, at the time I’m writing this, 6.76 million people watched Glee.  Six and three quarter million viewers tuned into a show that many people seem to dislike.  These ratings lead to another season.  The fourth season was announced last week.  Why make a fourth season of a show that so many people dislike?  It’s because they are still watching it, regardless of how much they do or don’t like the show.  It makes no sense to me as to why they do this.

Some of the people reading this might say that I don’t understand solely on the point that I don’t watch the show.  They might tell you that they can’t look away because the show has become a train wreck.   My counter to that is that I used to watch Glee.  I understand how bad it started getting.  I jumped ship halfway through the second season.  I don’t need to waste my time watching something that isn’t good, has become unenjoyable, and I would spend the majority of my time watching it complaining about it.  I might do that with a movie, but a movie only lasts two hours or so.  It’s not like a television show where I would be spending hours upon hours watching something I don’t want to watch.  So why watch it?

Don’t take this as a hate letter to Glee.  I, in no way, mean to put down the show.  I have only been using it as an example of an observation that I’ve made where people will continue to watch something, regardless of the quality, because of what I can only assume is ritual or the false hope of a full recovery.  What really happens in these situations is that something outlives its welcome due to people continuing to turn their televisions, their online streaming, or their DVR to a program that they no longer enjoy.  I don’t see any merit in prolonging the inevitable by remaining a viewer.  If you don’t like it, don’t watch it.  It’s as simple as that.  If the quality is as bad as you say it is, don’t provide the ratings boost.

With that bunch of repetition, I bid you adieu.  I’m off to watch the insides of my eyelids, something I am happy to watch every night.