The shared television watching experience.
Sorry for the slight clickbait. It’s a real Game Of Views out here.
Anyway, while everyone either rejoices or complains about the season finale of Game Of Thrones, I just wanted to talk about something that’s been on my mind since the show’s final season began. This is potentially the last show that we will share so widely and ubiquitously with all of our peers. Sure not everyone watched Game Of Thrones, but I believe more people were collectively invested in this show than any show to come in the future. We may never see a shared viewing experience on this scale ever again.
Okay so why do I believe this and why does it even matter. GOT premiered in 2011. 8 years ago streaming hadn’t yet taken off. There was less content and set times to watch specific shows. That world is far gone. GOT had the benefit of premiering before we completely altered the way we consume content. Now, simply put, there are too many things and no one is on the same schedule. In the past five years I’m sure that a hundred shows have been suggested to you. You didn’t watch the hefty majority. Most you didn’t even consider. And for the ones you did watch, they were on your own time. Not 9PM on a Sunday. Just whenever was convenient. I guess that technically could have been 9PM on a Sunday. It just also could have been legitimately any other time as well.
So why is this sad? I don’t know about you but I’ve been enjoying the GOT twitter reactions, memes, and office banter almost as much as I like the show itself. It’s like this extra layer of fun on top. This is going to sound cheesy but it’s been a blast to be a part of the “experience”.
There used to only be a few channels. Only a few shows for everyone to get together and enjoy. All In The Family To Cheers. Seinfeld to Friends. Characters and plots to talk about with everyone. TV watching is no longer a group activity. TV watching is now a solitude act. This comes with many positives from convenience to not feeling left out. But with that, we lose the joy of discussing, joking, and hypothesizing fake realities with all the people in our actual realities. TV could bring people together. Now it will do more to keep us on our own.
For now, OUR watch has ended.
