By Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban
In the good old times when we were young, TV shows only came in black and white at certain unmovable times and if you wanted to watch them you must fit your schedule to theirs.
That changed in the 1980s when videos came out. With them it was possible to record a TV show in a video cassette and watch it on your own time. You had to remember to put a new video cassette though, and learn to program the VCR.
Then came Tivo, which I never used, but I do have now a recording option with my Verizon account and have no longer to remember to change the video cassette or even program the VCR. I just tell my smart TV to always record the shows I like and it remembers on its own. Given the state of my memory these days that is a good thing.
Even if you don’t have a recording option you can watch most of the shows On Demand, a day or two after their air date and for some weeks afterwards.
Both options allow you to skip the commercials which is a big deal for me.
But despite all these possibilities of watching a TV show, we may well be the last generation to do so on the TV screen. The younger generation seem to be doing so on their computer.
Both Hulu and most TV channels allow you to watch their shows on their website. Plus you can watch extras like interviews with the actors, clips, and oh so much more!
And if that wasn’t enough, I just found out that Hulu has a brand new show, Spy, you can only watch on Hulu. http://www.hulu.com/spy. A show its followers are calling “Brilliant”.
I watched the first episode and liked it well enough. So I plan to watch the rest.
If you like British comedy I highly recommend you watch it too. In your computer. When it pleases you and for free.
Welcome to the XXIst century!
You’re welcome!
I haven’t made the switch to watching films and TV series on my laptop. Somehow, watching a great show for an hour or more while enjoying a bowl of popcorn doesn’t appeal to me if I have to sit in front of my laptop at my desk or sit on the sofa with the laptop in my lap taking up the place reserved for the cat. 🙂 Until I get a setup to play Hulu videos on my TV, I will happily suffer the inconvenience if it’s the way I must watch SPY. I viewed only the first episode, but I think I’m hooked. The story premise is preposterous but funny, the young Marcus is precocious and almost too cynical to be believable, and Tim’s exaggerated naivete is hilarious.
I never would have known about SPY if I hadn’t read your post. Many thanks!