Falling For Fall TV

Although it may seem as if I’m discouraging the use of cable television,  this fall my DVR will be used like no other. The lack of human interaction this fall is possibly going to last until all 119 new and returning shows go on hiatus, which is around Thanksgiving (perfect).

Now every magazine and network is going to tell you that they’re show is definitely worth watching but some of the following picks are going to take up a lot of space on the DVR.

Laughter is a necessity and returning this fall, this past Tuesday to be exact, New Girl and The Mindy Project have successfully brought minutes of giggles, which new shows are going to need to live up to in order to take up valuable DVR space. Listing only two shows which took a lot of constraint but then again listing all 119 would be ridiculously long.

NBC’s Some Fun Night airing October 2

Casey Lewis writes in 7 New TV Shows You Need to Watch This Season for Teen Vogue

 “Wednesday nights are about to be, well, super fun! Rebel Wilson stars in (and impressively serves as the lead writer for) this comedy about three single besties and their social misadventures in the big city. Bonus: Ashley Tisdale plays Rebel’s little sister, which is just so unbelievably perfect.”

ABC’s The Goldbergs airing September 24

Lewis gives a description of what the new show will be similar to.

“ If you’ve already powered through The Wonder Years on Netflix, you’ll dig this nostalgic family sitcom. Filmed from the viewpoint of a quirky little brother, this set-in-the-’80s show is based off real footage the producer took of his big, loud family as a kid.”

This is only the first week of fall shows premiering, there’s about to be a whole lot more on dramas and comedies to come. For now here’s a video previewing what’s to come on NBC.

The Termination of Television

As Arnold Schwarzenegger said in Terminator 2: Judgment Day “Hasta la vista, baby!” but in this case instead of being said to a cyborg, its in reference to the decrease of  basic cable TV. The increase of smart TVs being put on the shelves has significantly shifted the way shows and movies are being watched. Along with smart TVs homes are now equipped with internet making the televisions compatible with online content. In an article written by Dan Mitchell in the Tech section for CNN Money he gives some insight into the percentage of households converting to internet content.

“56% of all households with broadband Internet access — now have at least one TV set connected to the Internet, according to a report from Diffusion Group, “Defining the In-Home CE and Network Ecosystem 2013.” About two-thirds of the nation’s homes have broadband.”

Although there are households that don’t have smart TVs the use of gaming consoles like the Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360 and the PS3, assist in viewing online content on Netflix or Hulu, or independently.

“About 62% of households own such a device, which are used about a quarter of the time for TV viewing, on average. But smart TVs are coming on strong, growing faster than dedicated Internet-to-TV devices like Roku or Apple TV (AAPL). About 14% of broadband households own a dedicated device, while about 25% own a smart TV. Ownership of smart TVs has doubled over the past year, while ownership of dedicated devices grew by only two percentage points. But only about two-thirds of smart TVs are actually connected to the Internet, according to the report.”

Not only is the ownership of gaming consoles and smart TVs leading to a decrease in the use of cable television but it will soon affect the use of blu-ray players and discs.

“For now, more people are connected through Blu-rays than through smart TVs, but that’s swiftly changing — another sign of people moving away from movies on discs. The NPD Group report, “Connected Home,” also found that 40% of households with Internet-connected TVs watch videos from Netflix, 17% watch YouTube (GOOG) videos, and 11% watch movies and TV shows via Hulu,” according to a report from an NDP group.

The end of cable television may not be coming soon with companies changing their ways and allowing content to be streamed from portable devices but the decline is significant enough to make cable companies rethink their customers desires.

Cord-cutters V. Cord-nevers

The way people are viewing television has significantly changed since the price increase of satellite and cable television. While Generation X or more commonly known as Gen X, which are people born between the early 1960s and the early 1980s, are more likely to be those “cord-cutters” and Generation Y or those know as The Millennial Generation, who are born between 1980 and the early 2000s, are “cord-nevers.” The way today’s society is consuming media is ever changing. In an article written by Jenny Xie, in December of 2012 for PBS’ MediaShift, she explains how significant the change in consuming television has been in 2012.

“2012 brought more fears of cord-cutting — that is, people quitting cable and satellite TV. A recent report by Nielsen found that a segment of the U.S. population has a broadband connection but no cable and watches half as much TV but streams twice as much video as the general population. Although this group represents only 5 percent of all U.S. households, it has grown 22.8 percent in 2012.

The industry is also talking about “cord nevers” — the young people who only know Internet video and who will dictate TV viewing patterns of the future. TV providers are trying to reach this audience by making shows more social, hoping to bring engagement back to the television screen. In the upcoming year, TV providers also need to pay attention to the ways consumers mix and match modes of TV watching, including not only Internet streaming, but also time-shifted TV and mobile viewing.”

The trend of cord-cutting still continues today as newer technology becomes available to the public. As for those cord-nevers the new technology provides a convenient way to stay connected with their television shows not only on their mobile device such as cell phones but also on their laptops and tablets.