To view or not to view…is there anything good to watch on television these days? It first hit me during the recent holiday break, when even the average television viewer tends to watch the “boob tube” more than usual once the initial festivities with family and friends subsides. So many channels, movies and television shows to watch on cable, Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video and the like, yet nothing to capture my interest.

Is it possible to have too many choices when it comes to leisure entertainment? Or perhaps it was fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic when we were all shut in our homes with nothing to do but watch television?

Are you with me on this?

   
  Calling All Binge-Watchers

We know that you are probably a devoted binge-watcher and regularly schedule your programming time, so you don’t miss an episode of your favorite show. Do you have a “can’t miss” TV show or streaming service? Do you have a loyal lineup of shows that you DVR on a regular basis? Or, like me, are you stuck in a television rut? Send me your thoughts at dbreeman@jobson.com and we’ll use your comments and responses to shape a future Today’s Read. 
 
   

The very thought of this concerned me greatly. After all, had we all not been plodding our way through the daily work grind for 12 months with the very goal of finally getting some down time to catch up on all the “hot shows” we missed during the past year? It was time to find out what all the fuss was about, wasn’t it?

But no sooner had my backside hit the couch and the remote sank into my hand that disappointment began to creep in. Was I going to let this happen? Twelve months of anticipation had suddenly and without warning turned into unwelcome anxiety.

As a career journalist, I decided to take matters into my own hands and do some investigating, firing up the laptop and desperately searching the internet for articles, charts, surveys or anything else that might help me make some sense of all this.

 
 
My first stop was a Business Insider article titled “The Golden Age of Streaming TV is Over,” in which the author zeroed in on Netflix while attempting to answer the question as to why streaming TV has become boring and perhaps a bit out of touch. Some of the answers provided here included the introduction of ads on the platform, the lack of compelling original content as the pandemic subsided, the possible results of layoffs at companies like Netflix along with trimmed budgets. Yes, that made sense.

All compelling arguments but I wasn’t completely satisfied. I had carefully planned out my few precious days of leisure with just myself, my smart TV, and my trusty remote and I wasn’t going to take this lying down (well, not until I found something engaging to watch, anyway!) I needed more answers!

Stay with me.

My next stop was Yahoo News and an article similarly titled "Is the Streaming TV ‘Golden Age’ Already Over?” This smartly-written analysis offered some of the same explanations, namely the increased cost aspect, along with some insightful tidbits and predictions from the “experts.” Opinions and forecasts ranged from “The Dream of Streaming is Dead” to “Fears of the End of Streaming are Greatly Exaggerated.”

With opinions wide ranging and conflicting at times, I decided to literally take things into my own hands one last time and give the remote a workout it hadn’t seen since the previous holiday season. First it was Netflix, then Prime Video, then Hulu, and finally the ridiculous number of channels on paid cable television. Sadly, the outcome was more of the same, with few, if any, movies or series holding my interest.

Then, attempting to pull myself together while pondering a few more days of “channel surfing,” a quick upward glance from the couch in my living room and toward my bedroom provided the answer I had been seeking. There, shining like a beacon in the night sky, the forgotten book I promised myself I would make time to read months ago, “Bobby Orr: My Story,” the autobiography of Boston Bruins hockey great Bobby Orr. A treasure for sports fans like myself.

I carefully put the remote back in its rightful place under the television and proceeded toward the bookcase, where I found several other lost treasures I had been neglecting since Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime had muscled their way into my living room.

To view or not to view? For now, I think I’ll pass.