Talk Back

Ronnie goes on quite a diatribe against Baby Boomers.

To answer Ronnie's Question:

"And did they [baby boomers] really not watch The Sopranos? Or Deadwood? Or 24? Six Feet Under? Studio 60? The West Wing? The Simpsons?"

Here are my answers (and these answers, at least the yes/no part, are good for WS too):

• The Sopranos: No, don't even get that channel, but wouldn't bother watching it if it was on network TV. What I want to do is watch a show about a bunch of gangsters - not.
• Deadwood: I don't even know what channel it is on - Nope, never watched it. Have no clue what it about, so couldn't even speculate on whether I might want to watch it.
• 24: Okay, we have watched this, and even enjoyed one season. It has become obvious though that a person has to suspend all disbelief while watching (or do cell phone batteries really last that long except in our phones? And can one actually fly from LA to Las Vegas and back again in an hour? etc. etc.). We now watch it mainly to make fun of the obvious gaffs in the plot line.
• Six Feet Under: Um, never even heard of it so I guess that means we haven't watched it.
• Studio 60: Ditto - see previous answer
• The West Wing: Nope, never had any interest. I get enough fictional politics from the papers and politicians, why in the hell would I want to watch it in TV?
• The Simpson's: Nope, I hate having to suffer thru ads for the show. I have no interest in watching an imbecile family that has a snot-nosed brat of a kid. I don't think that show was really made for Boomers anyway, but I could be wrong.

Then Crabby gets into the Ipod issue:

There’s hardly a boomer alive who doesn’t own an iPod and they aren’t marketed to anyone over the age of 19 if the music in the commercials is any indication.

She seems to be using this stretch of statement as "proof" that the survey participants must be lying because boomers say that they don't watch (or tune out) commercials that are market for younger people; how can they possibly know about iPods? Ever hear about those things called magazines, websites, catalogs? I get all kinds of catalogs (both paper and email) from electronics suppliers. Even without watching much TV, I have no problem knowing what iPods are or where I can get them. Additionally, I must know every single boomer that doesn't own an iPod because I can't think of anyone that uses one at the present time.

Not sure why Ronnies post seemed to strike such a nerve, maybe because I have read so much lately how everything is, was and ever will be the boomers' fault (including the extinction of the dinosaurs as well as the little ice age and environmental shifting global warming on Mars).

Comments

[rita]

We watched 24 the first season, but then it got boring. There's only so many plots that can be gleaned from "Oh No! Timmy fell in the well & terrorists are going to blow him up!" Occasionally watch The Simpsons, but the rest of the list? No thanks.

We don't own an IPod either. Who wants to go to all the trouble of mixing songs & loading them when there's satellite radio?

[Cop Car]

Food fight! Food fight! er...I meant...Generational fight! Generational fight!

Perhaps the type of people who would willingly live in NYC, among whom Ronni has lived for so many years, differ from those who live "in the sticks" or "in the midland". Too, Ronni has been much more plugged into the types of goings-on that have TV/mass entertainment at their center. (Many of us wouldn't be caught dead spending so much time even thinking about media. For one to expect others to spend that kind of time on it would be like my expecting everyone to groove on airplanes and the aircraft industry!) I suspect that much of the description of generations that some of us fail to recognize are more nearly descriptions of people who are large-city-aficionados.

I give Ronni much credit for the research that she has willing put in to dig up facts on pending legislation, et cetera. Our life-experience of the generations is just vastly different. Good rebuttal, Bogie. (Even if I am predjudiced!)

[Matty]

Must go read Ronni's post,,,I too don't watch those shows,,,I'm a baby boomer and I don't own an Ipod or a cell phone.
Having kids and grandkids I'm well aware of what they are!

[bogie]

I thought maybe we wre just weird. Not that we aren't weird, but we seem to be more normal about the iPod thing than Ronnie suggested.