Random Thoughts on TV Shows

Another Friday.

It is the end of the week and it is a time for rest. Blantyre is showing "signs and symptoms of money" and the traffic jams are worse off  than those on a typical Friday. Ambiri zalowa ndithu and it is a fun weekend as people are rushing to watering holes and all sorts of fun places. Others are preparing for some benign fun like eating ice cream and chicken (while taking pictures for Instagram) but the point is that people are taking a break from work or school for the weekend. Tivine ma bridal shower and of course tionere mpira.

Apart from the above mentioned things that people use to pass time, there is this thing of watching (and discussing) TV series (or shows.... whatever) that has been keeping a lot of eyes and minds busy of late. Game of Thrones, Arrow, Scorpion, blah blah. Some of you know what those are.

To some of you who do not know what these TV shows are, they are basically movies with long story lines that are spread through a series of chapters called episodes unlike the typical movies which tell the whole story in a once off 90 minute or two hour clip. Something like that. The other thing about these series is that movie companies release yearly collections of episodes and this bunch of episodes is called a season. I am pretty sure that these are just useless details for the know it all audience I have which comprises of college students and young graduates whose lives revolve around TV series above many other things.

Despite having resisted the temptation of watching these endless and addictive series, I succumbed to the pressure and joined the series bandwagon when I started watching the then newly started series, Arrow. That was it and soon I have dived all the way in, watching series right, left and center. That meant I began watching all manner of series from action, political drama, history, espionage, thrillers and western (probably other genres too).

There is one interesting detail about series watchers and that is the types of watchers as classified by how they watch a series in relation to the release dates. A typical series would have about 10 or so episodes that are released at a certain period of the year with one week intervals in between. In this regard, a regular watcher "consumes" one episode at a time immediately after releasable a binge watcher waits for the whole season and watched it in a once off manner. Yet another piece of useless detail but that will be important when we get to the meat of the article.

As already noted, watching TV shows had become a habit for many. For the single, it is one thing for blacking out loneliness and for the married and dating it is one thing people use to spice up the enjoyment of each other's company. It is a hobby that offers get away moments for those at work and in schools.

Good as it is, the habit of watching TV series is not without it's down side. People will tell you of how what you watch in these TV series (and movies and music videos) are secret illuminati messages aimed at dragging watchers to hell. No comment on that. The issue I have with these series is their addictive effect and their capacity to derail one's focus from things that really matter. This of course comes when binge watching becomes superior to important things like work, studies, sleep and spiritual activities among other things. I have seen people who have back to back and six to six series watching sprees with forced  meal and snack breaks in between seasons. In fact the only reason some don't watch series 24/7 is the lack of consistency of power availability.

The other issue is that of unnecessary social media discussions about plots of TV shows. There are some of us whose Facebook timelines and Twitter handles are just summaries of plots and link banks to TV shows. We have turned ourselves into official fans and critics. Some have even made Facebook, Whatsapp and Telegram fan groups for TV series. Fun? Sure. Necessary? Your answer is as good as mine. Sometimes we just forget that not everyone is into this habit of watching TV series when we blast into spoilers and plots of the same. Si tonse amene timapanga zibwana zoonera mafilimu opanda matherozi so let's check the audience before bursting into series talk.

Away from binge watchers, there is another group that gives other people trouble when it comes to TV series. This is these fraction of non-watchers who think that the fact that they have not set eyes on a single (or particular) TV show entails massive maturity. That's nothing beyond a misconception. Ineyo ndatero.

Signing off...

Series are good for entertainment but they should not turn into our primary occupation or religion. Let us watch in moderation. Ideally I would have said it's not good to judge one another based on what we watch, but some of us go beyond the normal limit when it comes to the content and amounts we watch in a unit time.

For those who did not get the memo, there was an interesting statistic at the start of this year's season of Game of Thrones. Objective stats have it that the number of porn hits online drastically dropped drastically during the airing of GOT S07E01. That may or may not say much about the typical Malawian watcher who doesn't watch online but rather waits for one Atanazio Mgunda and share with a friend before it gets to them.

By the way, the new seasons of the Last Ship and Ray Donovan have started. You might want to check those out if you are a fan. As of me, I am looking for Season 4 of the Americans and the latest season of Black Sails.

Random questions...
Has Joyce Banda been arrested yet? Been some time since we saw the arrest warrant.

And who misses articles by the Venomous Hope? Because I do.

Have a nice weekend, everyone.