As usual, since I’m a man bereft of inspiration 95% of the time, this week’s question has been prompted by someone else’s thoughts: in this case, JustStark’s. Elsewhere, we’ve been discussing the demise of ‘the water cooler moment’:
…my point, and it’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while, is that one of the great things about TV used to be that it was a type of shared culture, something you could talk to other people about, like we British talk about the weather.
Nowadays, though, that’s no longer the case. The last programme I can remember actually having an ‘I wonder where it’s going’ conversation about with someone in the pub was State of Play — since then, discovering someone else watches what you watch is such an unusual experience it is actually remarkable when it happens.
So yes, I understand that the [TV business] model now is different: it’s about getting fewer people to pay more, rather than making a little money out of many millions. But I can’t help thinking something has been lost in the process.
So this week’s question is: do you miss water cooler moments? Have they gone altogether or have they evolved? And have we lost something along the way?
As always, leave your answer below or on your own blog
