moriarty@uw-june (Jeff Meyer) (05/14/84)
Well, let me first thank all 46 people sending in responses to the TV poll... The response was excellent. I'd also like to apologize for the waffling on my part for rules for poll responses... when I do this again next fall (God, I need a rest after putting this together), there will be VERY explicit rules on entries. I also think I'll open this to net.misc next time to get even more input. Oh, and before I forget, special thanks to Stewart Wiener and William Malloy for their interesting, detailed comments... many were too long to include in the poll results, but believe me, they certainly made the reading of the poll much more interesting!! Below are the questions to the polls, followed by some comments by me, the answers, and quotes from the responses. Many people asked not to have their names quoted, and those people's quotes have no name after the quote. Quotes have "" around them, my comments have brackets <>. ****************************************************************** >Following a similar (and interesting) poll in net.startrek, I'd like to >conduct a poll on what type of television this group watches (it seems we >have quite a diverse interest range). Below are a list of questions; please >answer each, adding comments if you like. If you do not wish me to quote >your comments, please say so. > >#1: What 3 current Network TV shows do you enjoy the most? (please, no soaps > or afternoon shows; late-night TV is fine (David Letterman, SNL, etc.). > Please list in order of preference. With both questions #1 and #2, I gave 3 points for first choices, 2 for second choices, and 1 for third choices. I've listed the names by point totals. WITH 52 POINTS: <No one even came close!> Hill Street Blues "I love the fake realism." "It's been declining in quality lately though" William P. Malloy "except reruns, I hate to watch them when you know what is going to happen... <Picked HSB> for the fresh way they portray an interesting subject & the social statements they make." Bruce A. Bernhardt WITH 28 POINTS: <A distant second> St. Elsewhere "I consider <Hill Street & St. Elsewhere> two fine examples of absurdist story telling, a very rare TV commodity." Mark Nelson WITH 20 POINTS: Cheers "The characters are a bit too broadly drawn, but what the heck? Coach has some good lines." WITH 16 POINTS: <Well, I'm just thrilled...> Late Night with David Letterman WITH 13 POINTS: Remington Steel WITH 10 POINTS: <Lots here, in Alphabetical Order> Dallas "I know, I know, but I have this weakness for a little smut in my life" Bruce A. Bernhardt Dr. Who Masterpiece Theatre 60 Minutes WITH 9 POINTS: Simon & Simon WITH 6 POINTS: Cagney & Lacy Fame Magnum, P.I. "because it's on the same night as HSB and Hawaii looks nice." William P. Malloy The Tonight Show w/ Carson WITH 5 POINTS: The A Team Kate & Allie WITH 4 POINTS: Family Ties MacNiel/Lehrer Report (sp?) Mike Hammer WITH 3 POINTS: CBS News w/ Dan Rather Dick Clark's Bloopers Friday Night Videos Knot's Landing Nightline w/ Ted Koppel Scarecrow & Mrs. King WITH 2 POINTS: ABC Nightly News Automan Falcon Crest Shakespeare Plays WITH 1 POINT: Airwolf American Playhouse Compleat Gilbert & Sullivan Dynasty Good Morning, America "I like watching something that doesn't take any concentration when I'm getting ready for work." tektronix!moiram Hart to Hart Knight Rider Monty Python's Flying Circus Riptide Saturday Night Live Trapper John, M.D. 20/20 ****************************************************************** >#2: What 3 shows you have enjoyed the most over your TV viewing past? > (again, in order of preference). One major note: many (almost most of the) people responded suggested that 3 choices was just not enough, and I agree, 6 or 8 would have been better... this will be rectified at the next poll. It was a dead heat for first place, won by... WITH 37 POINTS: Star Trek "My enduring favorite for about twelve years. Not so much for the episodes themselves as for the vision behind them, the Star Trek universe which saw its best actualization in a scant few episodes plus a lot of books, fan fiction, and ST2:TWOK." Stewart Wiener "Although I'm a Trekker, I'm MUCH too DULL to be a Trekkie" William P. Malloy WITH 35 POINTS: M*A*S*H WITH 17 POINTS: Hill Street Blues WITH 12 POINTS: Saturday Night Live WITH 10 POINTS: Dr. Who WITH 9 POINTS: Monty Python's Flying Circus "British humor is something completely different (to coin a phrase), and this troupe has produced some absolute classics." Stewart Wiener <This show was an awakening for me, the one showcase and release for a weird sense of humor that has followed me around for since my first exposure to it. It has, cliches aside, changed my life. I am now extremely cautious around bunny rabbits and sheep.> WITH 7 POINTS: The Bob Newhart Show The Mary Tyler Moore Show WITH 6 POINTS: Late Night With David Letterman Leave It To Beaver "I could see its relevance when I was growing up." Bruce A. Bernhardt The Paper Chase WITH 5 POINTS: Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In WITH 4 POINTS: Battlestar Ponderosa (whoops, Galactica) Masterpiece Theatre NBC News Overnight The Prisoner WITH 3 POINTS: The Age of Kings All In the Family Batman <Holy Low Score!> Dallas The Dick Van Dyke Show Family Gunsmoke Lou Grant "Lou Grant was good, but too preachy. I felt like I was being given a sermon every week. The episode with Jesse Jackson giving a speech at the end finally teared it. I can go to political rallies myself, and I won't have to listen to commercials either!" William P. Malloy I Love <you love, we all love...> Lucy The Man from U.N.C.L.E. The Monkees The Odd Couple Rocky & Bullwinkle <what a wonderful choice!> WITH 2 POINTS: The Avengers Dark Shadows Fernwood/America Tonight Great Performances The Greatest American Hero "...was fun, but got real dumb real fast." William P. Malloy Lost In Space Mork & Mindy Mission: Impossible St. Elsewhere SEARCH Space Cruiser Yamato Square Pegs The Steve Allen Show Taxi The Twilight Zone <expected higher for this...> Who Pays The Ferryman? The Wild, Wild West WITH 1 POINT: The Advocates The Bugs Bunny / Road Runner Hour The Carol Burnett Show Columbo Fame Get Smart The Jackie Gleason Show The Night Stalker Tonight show w/ Carson U.F.O. Urashiman Voyagers WKRP in Cincinnatti (sp?) ****************************************************************** >#3: Do you watch afternoon soaps? (Curious, as a lot of net.tv seems to be > soap updates...) 23.91% of those responding said they were currently watching soaps. Many of the non-soapers were pretty outspoken about it (lucky we created net.tv.soaps): "ACK. *urp*" Chuq Von Rospach "NO, NO, a thousand times NO." John Hobson "NO! NO! NO! (hate'em)" Ariel Shattan "I wouldn't touch one with a ten-foot battle lance." Moi "Nope. Never have. With nothing else on TV in the afternoons, I'll go read a book." Stewart Wiener "BARF!!!! People who watch soaps probably like VMS." William P. Malloy "No! Editorial: Blech!!" abnjh!mlh "no, NO NO NO NO NO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" sdccs6!ix21 ****************************************************************** >#4: How many hours of TV do you watch a week? Mean time was 14.67 hours weekly with a standard deviation of 10.16 hours. ****************************************************************** >#5: Do you subscribe to cable TV, and if so, do you belong to any pay > channels? (i.e. HBO, Showtime, etc.). 44.44% of those surveyed said they currently have cable television; of those, 81.16% belong to pay channels (i.e. you pay extra, over the flat cable rate, for these stations). A few comments: "Chicago is too archaic to have cable, City hall hasn't divvied up the graft & corruption rights yet." Matt Crawford "...I have doubts that I would subscribe. From looking at cable listings it appears I can get the same movies for $2.00 each at my video store. I might subscribe for some of the specials however." John B. Rottersman "...if I just want to watch the BOOB tube I turn on MTV. (This bothers me a lot, MTV is truly stupid most the time). But it's addictive, like popcorn. Besides I like the MUSIC, it's the rest of it which is insipid (especially the VJs).... MTV, cotton candy for the mind." William P. Malloy "I get MTV with one of the cable packages. I really enjoy it as video wallpaper." Eileen Schwab ****************************************************************** ****************************************************************** Once again, thanks for your input. Please send any comments, suggestions or flames (few of those, please, I'm of a sensitive nature) to me -- I'm looking for other suggestions, besides those noted at the top, about how to improve the fall survey. "DANGER is my BUSINESS"| Currently residing in | UUCP: MORIARTY | {ihnp4,decvax,tektronix}!uw-beaver!uw-june!moriarty | ARPANET: AKA -jwm- | moriarty@washington