The Good Parts of Weekly TV
I love fantasy fiction settings and anime. One way I enjoy spending my free time is reading fantasy fiction, occasionally dipping into sci-fi, and watching anime series. My childhood is filled with many fond memories of the Gundam series, Dragon Ball Z, and Raymond E. Feist's epic fantasy series, to name a few.
Dungeons and Dragons has been a part of my childhood as well, so I've been following Critical Role's success over the years, and was thrilled when Amazon Prime started producing their campaign as an animated series. Not only that, but I'm fortunate enough that my wife has been enjoying watching these shows as well.
It's a great way to wind down after a long day and be transported into an epic adventure with our heroes. It's a platform that allows for shared connection, but its value is only realised when we are mindful of time we spend watching shows and balance this with real-world experiences.
It's not just anime or animated series that we enjoy watching. YouTube is a favourite app of ours due to some of the content creators and groups that can be found there. We've laughed hilariously over the weeks at the OG Crew's dad jokes and have been enjoying the 'try not to laugh' videos that the Toni and Ryan podcast produces.
If our minds are a bit frazzled, or we don't want to watch a 45-minute series, then laughing out loud for 15 to 20 minutes is a great way to unwind and prepare for bed.
We have watched some wonderful series over the years. Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon, The Mandalorian and associated tie-in series, White Lotus, Spy x Family, Cyberpunk and Arcane, to name a few.
Whilst these were great shows, it was enjoyable because I was doing this with my wife. We were both watching the same show, at the same time, together. Laughing. Enjoying. Feeling. Invested in the storylines.
It's a shared experience. Not only that, but when a series has a controlled release date, you can also experience it with others. The day after you can chat with colleagues about what has happened. It's a great way to foster connection in a light hearted way over a shared interest. As such, I have always enjoyed the weekly release of episodes, rather than the full season drops. People watch at different paces, and it becomes harder to have a broader group of people to experience a series with, because you might have watched three episodes, and others one, or five, of them all.
You can contrast this with doing individual activities in the presence of others. You are both on your screens, experience different things, which can't be shared or felt together. You are together, yet apart.
Despite all of this, we still have to be mindful of where we are spending our time. As enjoyable as a great television or anime series can be, there is much more to life than staring at a screen. Particularly with YouTube, it's very easy to be sucked in to the next video once you have finished something. We can have many subscriptions and lengthy watchlists, so I understand the desire to watch everything. To invest time to be up to date with the latest popular series.
But we have to be careful to not overindulge, which is what I view TV as. There are other more important things that we can be doing, so we have to be mindful with how we spend our time. We have to be selective about what we watch and how long.
Life happens in the real world with interactions and experiences with others. Whilst we can enjoy others' company and share a show together, we don't connect or develop our relationships unless we engage in discussions and activities afterwards.
So whilst TV is a great way to spend some leisure time, particularly if we are watching shows together, we should also move our focus back to in person discussions and experiences. To create moments rather than consume them.
That is where the real magic happens.