h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Background
Between 1982 and 1986 I worked in Cameroon. Phil Agland was out there for two of those years making "Korup-the story of a rainforest". One of our better family stories concerns what happened when the children and I met him at a British Embassy dinner.
Phil is doing a follow up film on BBC2 on Friday 17th.
When I contacted one of the said children to tell him he said he hasn't had access to TV since they moved house AND DOESN'T MISS IT.
Question
I couln't live without BBC news, 'Have I got news for you!','QI' Sky's 'Press Preview' and most of BBC 4. What do you need?

The weather report, but that doesn't stop me from checking it online as well.

Perhaps Antiques Roadshow (but not the Canadian or US version).

I don't generally like watching my own stuff, I tend to second guess my decisions.

Actually, if anyone is interested in what I do, you can download one of my favourites here:
http://www.1channel.ch/watch-1274579-Queens-of-Diamonds

(I can watch that one without wincing).

And some photos of the shoot are here:
http://public.fotki.com/clzoomer/nunavut/

If I had no access to it, I wouldn't miss it much. It has a place though and I enjoy it, so I'd choose to keep it if I had that choice. There's no one programme I HAVE to watch though, I enjoy some truly awful TV. Actually that's not true. I like quite awful TV. There's places I won't go. (jeremy kyle, judge judy, big brother...)

My only 'soap' these days is the Archers...

Haven't looked at a real TV in a couple of years.


I read 97 books last year.


I do listen to the radio a bit. CBC and nothing else.


And, I sometimes will watch snippets of shows online when specific bits have been recommended to me, but I wouldn't miss the five minutes of the Daily Show I see every few months.

And there have been a few documentary shows I've watched online the last little while and I've been very glad to have seen them (particularly 8th Fire on CBC's documentary webpage), but . . .


If I hadn't seen them I think I'd still be alive.

When I look back on the old days when I actually had "my shows" each week, I just feel like I was wasting sooooo much time!

There are several series that I watch regularly, mainly Sci Fi and related stuff. If they were all cancelled I would miss them, but it's not the end of the world.

I'd miss my TV, though, how could I play my console games without it?

I HATE TV news. Can't be doing with it. The BBC's journalistic standards are shameful.

The only real TV ritual we have is Corrie...although it wouldn't kill me to miss it. Lately we've been addicted to 'Forbrydelsen' and (not in the same league) 'Borgen'.

On DVD - and I *now* I keep going on about it and will continue to do so for some while yet - I'm hooked on 'The Wire'. Of an evening I'm desperate for my youngest to go to bed so I can put on the sweary words.

>>My only 'soap' these days is the Archers...

I listen to it so that I can splutter at the naked Class War.

Nothing. There's nothing I couldn't live without starting right now. If I never see another minute of TV, I wouldn't be too upset.

I would hate to have reached this point, however, and never have seen Doctor Who, The Prisoner, or Star Trek, Battlestar, Monty Python, The Young Ones, Blackadder or Fawlty Towers, most of David Attenborough's output, and Cosmos. They were "events". TV is now so fractured, time-shifted and disposable as a medium there's nothing I'm that attached to any more.

I can't think of anything which I simply 'must' watch, but it's important to know that some shows are there, including many which Hoovooloo just mentioned.

Sadly we've lost a few things over the years, notably quality drama and even popular stuff like Top of the Pops and Tomorrow's World. Someone seems to think the money's better spent on BBC3 documentaries about cosmetic surgery and embarrassing medical conditions.

Hoo brings up a point (as per usual). Are we talking what we in the industry call 'destination' television, that is scheduled tv? What with DVRs, Blue Ray DVDs of entire seasons, online sources and time zone shifting, what shows do we bother to save/buy/delay for later viewing?

No one programme...but top top drama I'd really miss..ie made well and brill acting...

A few off the top of my head...Last year, the first *Danish* Killing...and second one was pretty Ace as well; Walking the Line ; the brilliant Bleak House adaptation of a few years ago; The Aussie slap; oh all of Dennis Potter's stuff from the past.

Oh and the US, Damages series

We had some building work done last year and put the TV into storage last April. We brought it back out in January but have rarely had it on since. Hubby downloads Top Gear and we watch a bit of BBC World News or I prefer RTNews or Al Jazeera. They're all pretty poor on reporting but you do get a few interesting documentaries in between.

Any TV series I hear of that I like the look of I wait til it's all available to buy or download and do a marathon session - can't be doing with waiting a week for the next episode.

I probably watch about 2 hours of TV a week, with an occasional all dayer if there is something good available. I last saw a film about 2 years ago.

I read a lot of books, do a lot of outside activities and play about in the kitchen for my entertainment.

I meant to say The Shadow Line..(not Walking the Line)

And no I'm not drunk.

I haven't had access to broadcast television at home for two and a half years (there's no Freeview signal in my little combe), and I really don't miss it. Anything I really want to see I can get on iPlayer, but I find that apart from Doctor Who I rarely bother. The funny thing is, when I had TV there was an almost infinite list of programmes that I considered to be essential viewing.

I don't watch anything that's currently airing on TV (and we don't subscribe to cable- between Netflix and the DVD collection, we've got enough to keep busy with).

We do own several series on DVD for repeat viewing.

Most notably, a program I'd never seen till I saw Hoo post about it a few times- Blake's 7. It aired here only once, video is long out of print, and there has never been a US DVD release. So I ordered the complete series from Amazon UK, sight unseen, and OH and I both love it. My life is actually better for having seen it.

Other programs we own and watch repeatedly include: Doctor Who, Red Dwarf, Monty Python, Soap, The Kids in the Hall, Mystery Science Theater 3000 (not all of them, but many), Ultraman, Fawlty Towers, The Young Ones, Black Books, Farscape, Twin Peaks and The Venture Bros.

I was thinking of Soap the other day for some reason. I used to love it!

I haven't seen an episode of Blake's Seven for years... but I have a plan. My bestest friend has the entire four seasons on DVD. And this Easter, there's going to be a binge, one whole season per day for the full Bank Holiday weekend. After that, I may never watch an episode again for as long as I live...

An interesting thing about 'Blake's 7' was that they were all RSC actors slumming it.