Mouse Watches TV

Dear Friends and Family,

Monday night was the series finale of the TV show Alias. My friend got me hooked on Alias years back, but I stopped following it when the TiVo had to choose between it and Survivor. The people dynamics on Survivor fascinate the organizational behavior major in me, and the trade-off was easy once they killed off Michael Vartan's character. Fortunately for me, when they brought the show back on the air (post Violet's birth and Jennifer Garner's maternity leave), they brought the show back on Wednesday, so I figured I might as well watch.

Well, this post is about the interesting change I've seen in my TV watching behavior since early May. ABC started offering episodes of Alias online, free of charge, with "limited" commercials. On average, it's three 30-second spots brought to your by one sponsor. I've seen Ford, Tylenol, Zyrtec, Suave, Jennifer Aniston's movie - The Break Up and a couple of others. So, it's interesting, much more brand impression than "normal" TV would leave me with.

The quality of the stream is iffy at night. With cable broadband, if my neighbor starts hitting the pipe hard, I get some buffering. It's happened once or twice, but not enough to be a nuisance.

So, just so you understand the trade-off... Both are on my time, since both TiVo and ABC queue the show. I hit the play button and watch, pause, etc. But, TiVo is hooked up to a TV screen and surround sound. ABC.com is hooked up to a computer screen and computer speakers. No one's questioning the sight and sound trade-off here. Clearly the Home Theater set-up should win. TiVo has no commercials, ABC.com has three. TiVo doesn't need buffering. ABC.com did on a couple of occasions. So, the clear winner should be TiVo, right? So, tell me, why have I been watching online and not on TV?!?!

Hmm...

Okay, before I sign-off, one of the Ford commercials was really cool. They have a site for Warriors in Pink. I commend them for doing something so different. It makes me think more of them as a brand.

Oh, and one other site, then I'm done. Promise. Mr. mouse found it. I'll watch it from time to time. Woot's Beta Wine Site.


Cheers!
mouse