I was thrilled the other day to receive an invitation from Nielson Television Ratings to participate in a survey about my TV viewing habits. Finally, I would have a say in what gets on the air! As a lifelong TV addict, I've always felt my voice was tragically lacking from the ratings conversation.
So I go online, and start answering questions, How old I am, What race I am (I was so tempted to write in "Irish"), How many cell phones I own, etc. And then just like that, it's over. Never once was asked about my favorite shows, least favorite shows, how many hours of TV I watch a week. The closest it came to anything relevant like that was when it asked, in the vaguest terms, "What type of shows do you watch?"
God, no wonder According to Jim is still on the air.
8 comments:
The problem here is that the first question was age. Once they found out you were older than 24, they didn't care anymore and fed you filler questions.
That's really weird! A guy from Nielson came round to our apartment yesterday asking Future Mrs Imaginary Reviewer and I to join in the ratings group. Our discussion went like this:
"Maybe if we do it the next Joss Whedon show won't be axed..."
"Let's do it!"
Oh, and they give you money and a free landline. Sweet!
When I was like 12 years old, my aunt and uncle told me they got free cable b/c a company was monitoring what they watch on TV. Whether or not this was true, who knows. All I know is that late one night when I was sleeping over, I turned the TV on and saw naked people, and immediately freaked out because I thought this company would report to my aunt that I was watching Skinemax. Ah, naive youth.
My roommates and I were just talking about Nielsen the other night. I was saying how I've never met anyone from a "Nielsen family" and she said her family was one when she was younger. She is the first person I've ever met from a Nielsen family...I was amazed. I was starting to think it was all a big lie.
This reminds me of the episode of Roseanne when the Connors become a Nielsen family and they just leave on the Discovery channel 24/7 so they'll seem smart. That show was so awesome.
They probably had too many people of your demo already. That's a bummer. Between you and TIR we could have saved Dollhouse!!!
Actually the age question divided it up into like, under 35, between 35 and 50, and older. I was considered young and hip on this thing!!
"God, no wonder According to Jim is still on the air."
And yet Arrested Development is not. The American public sucks.
I too am a Nielsen viewer. It's perhaps my proudest achievement. Unfortunately, I barely watch TV.
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