I was watching television on an actual television through, gasp, paid for cable at a hotel recently. Flipping through the channels and pausing on occasional sparkly, screaming, glossy, non-content programs (don't get me started on the bore that was Oprah's behind the scenes reality show, oh god), I remembered this- 99% of TV is full of complete shit. That is why I started this blog, to share the stuff that I don't think sucks and treats it's viewers like mindless commercial consumers (despite the fact that the name of the blog is Shit We Watch, that's good shit, not bad shit). Only when I'm in front of real time TV do I realize and remember that through torrenting, we have been able to sift out the crap and distill our viewing habits to find the gems (Gems We Watch sounds lame, ok?).
This, however, creates the, somewhat existential, conundrum of watching torrents versus real time tv. Since there are hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of people pirating TV shows every day this takes away from the viewing numbers and ad revenue that channels count on to keep a show on the air. I'm pretty sure they don't keep track of number of illegal downloads of each episode. If they did, they'd see that a show like Lights Out (and Terriers) is popular. Not in real time. Not even on DVRs. It's popular with the folks who want to watch it whenever, without commercials, and not have to pay for the 99% of the bullshit you get when you subscribe to cable.
Lack of choices helps fuel pirating. I would gladly pay a small fee to download or stream certain programs without commercial breaks and whenever I wanted. Some of us even like to wait until the whole season of a show is over, cuddle up in bed, and like a crack addict on a lethal bender, watch them all in a 12-24 hour run (I know you took a week off work to watch The Sopronos and Six Feet Under all in a row, don't deny it). But I really don't have that choice through the major networks in most cases, so I head to The Pirate Bay to get my fix.
It's an unfortunate circle. I want to support quality shows and films. I want people in the world to continue to create compelling, funny, dramatic, shiny, fiction stories. I want to be an optimist and think that film and television doesn't have to always be about pure profit, but telling stories and making art. But I don't want to be forced to buy cable.
Some companies like Netflix are starting to usurp the networks and offer their own shows online exclusively (House of Cards with Kevin Spacey, sounds cool!). Rumors have surfaced that Youtube will be doing something similar. There are independent fiction shows like Pioneer One that only distribute free through torrents (You can donate to support them on Vodo. Download here!). And of course there are thousands of independent video producers making cool shit all over the web.
I hope to see more production companies and writers cutting deals with online only venues, or ignoring them all together and creatively raising funds DIY style. The audiences and avid fans have the potential to be much larger and evergreen than real time TV. Imagine being able to watch a show that had 4 great seasons a couple years ago any time on the web. Torrents make that a reality, obviously, but where is the similar mainstream alternative? iTunes and Netflix kind of does that, but very limited in content. Hulu sucks. Amazon lets you buy dvds if the channel or production company thought it would make enough money.
That's where the cancellation of Lights Out comes in. FX again cancels a great show that had the potential to grow dramatically in a 2nd season. Remember how HBO was going to cancel The Wire, but then gave it a chance to grow an audience? The Wire (hey download some of it here or buy the dvds, why dontcha) is, arguably, it's one of the most dynamic and interesting series ever aired on television. As usual, Lights Out gets canceled because the viewership was slow to pick up. On Pirate Bay and EZ.tv, however, it was quite popular- not garnering a penny for FX, but building up a large fan base interested in further character and story development. Interesting article about viewing numbers on basic vs premium cable and the fact that producers of Lights Out are shopping around for a savior.
So what is the answer to sustainable and vibrant tv making? I believe it begins with dumping the behemoth networks. I've been torrenting shows since 2004. That's 7 fucking years that tv networks have been given a chance to figure out a way to use the web. Time and time again, they fail. And we, the audience and fans are the ones to suffer. Because after all, tv is not a luxury, it's a right. Right?
