TV is a Friend Indeed.
The Neilsen Ratings and Cancer.
I’ve been a Neilsen household for 3 years now. I can say that because Neilsen was purchased by BBM in Canada and the equipment was removed from my house a few days ago. I don’t have to be sworn to secrecy any longer as they are no longer collecting data from my tv watching habits.
What has the Neilsen Ratings and cancer have in common? Not much really, but watching television sure helped my recovery as I sat in an almost comatose state for months on end in front of the tv while recuperating from surgery, gangrene and the myriad of other physical ailments that plagued me.
When Neilsen first contacted me, they were so excited to find a middle-aged woman, not only single, but also living alone in the suburbs. They told me that my statistics resemble at least 10,000 middle-aged single women. They also warned me that networks such as Global would pay me to watch shows like Prison Break … so I was very careful about not letting people know about the box with the red flashing lights next to my tv.
I sure hope those other 10,000 women didn’t get cancer like I did … that would be sad.
I wonder what the Neilsen Ratings think of my television watching habits … and apparently 10,000 other women just like me. You see, I like wacky reality television: from Survivor and Amazing Race to National Geographic to the best reality show ever, The News.
I got tired of series’ that would get cancelled (Quantum Leap, Dark Skies, to name a few) … or shows like The Sopranos that would start when the writers felt like it … and quite frankly, I really don’t care why Tony Soprano is a murderer … what was in his childhood or what formed his personality … don’t care! If I want plot and character development, I would read a good book to escape into the characters, not turn on the boob tube. So reality tv is great because I don’t have to care about plot and character development ever.
I think The Sopranos was the last time I watched any kind of series, and I didn’t watch their last season for the reasons I mention above.
So farewell to Neilsen … I hope BBM comes back to my neighbourhood and scouts for new homes … although I hear they’ll be using some sort of paging system that people have to wear … it doesn’t sound very practical to me.
If you ever wonder how the media claims that there are 20 million people watching the Oscars, now you know … not me though: I and presumably the other 10,000 women like me don’t watch awards shows either.
See you on the flip side …
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