5 Ways TV Has Changed Forever

TV has change so much over the past ten years, so much so that some people have had difficulty keeping up. You might remember a time when you had to watch TV shows live. And if you weren’t home and didn’t want to miss a show, you had to set your VCR and keep a few blank tapes on standby.

It’s a different scenario now. But since change happens gradually, it’s easy to forget or not realize just how different things are today. Here’s a look at how TV has evolved:

We can watch an entire season in a weekend

There was a time when movie rental stores like Blockbuster only had movie rentals. They eventually branched out and began offering entire seasons of our favorite sitcoms and dramas.

Storefront movie rental stores are a thing of the past. Even so, they changed the game forever. If you subscribe to a streaming service such as Netflix or Hulu, you can still watch entire seasons of a show—sometimes in just one weekend.

So if there’s a popular show that you’ve never seen, you can go back to the beginning and discover it for the first time, or relive the magic if you’re already a fan.\

New shows don’t only premiere in the fall

There was also a time when TV shows—whether a new series or a new season—only premiered in the fall. These premieres usually took place around mid or late-September. These shows would play reruns from May until September, and everyone had to wait four months to see how a cliffhanger would play out.

It’s quite different today. While many shows still make their season or series debut in the fall, it is not uncommon to find shows that also premiere at other times of the year, maybe late fall or early winter and sometimes in the spring. It’s also not unusual for a show to make its debut in the summer when other shows are playing reruns.

Some TV shows have shorter seasons

You may also notice that seasons for some of your  favorite sitcoms and dramas have become shorter. Once upon a time, a season would run from September to May. This is still common on certain networks. But other networks take a different approach and have shorter seasons. So rather than air 26 new episodes, some TV shows only air half this amount or less. One season may only run for two or three months.

We don’t have to sit through commercials

One of the best new features of TV is that we no longer have to sit through commercials and waste time. Thanks to DVR, we can tape all our favorite shows, watch them on our own time, and fast forward through commercials.

Rather than sit through an hour show, we can get through a show in about 45 minutes. And in most cases, we can watch a 30-minute episode in about 20 minutes.

You don’t have to leave the house to rent a movie

When it’s cold or rainy outside, the last thing you want to do is leave to rent a movie. Now, you don’t have to.

Streaming services let you catch up on movies anytime from home. And if you want to watch newly released movies, many streaming devices also give this option. The cost to rent a movie varies depending on its newness and popularity. You’ll likely pay more for these rentals compared to what you would pay at Redbox. The upside is that you have to leave your house, so you’re essentially paying for convenience.

Bottom Line

TV has come a long way and it is still evolving. You might think that it can’t get any better. But with each passing year, streaming networks and cable companies provide new ways to improve our entertainment experience.