I love when two of my favorite things come together – peanut butter and jelly, chicken wings and beer, television and the Internet.
That last one has brought good and bad things lately. The good part involves my discovery of Hulu.
For the uninitiated, Hulu is a website where you can find full episodes of many television shows, mostly from NBC and Comedy Central. Since I generally eat lunch at my desk now, this service has made me very happy.
Now, I can giggle along with Jon Stewart or catch an old episode of one of my favorite shows whenever I want. It’s one of the things which makes America great.
Just like the ability to talk about your favorite shows with all kinds of people online. I love the ability to connect that way, whether it’s with other fans or with people involved with the show who have a blog or something like that.
This brings me to the downside, however. Sometimes people take things a little to seriously.
I popped in to one of my favorite blogs a couple of weeks ago after a particularly funny episode of “The Office.” I really wanted to share my thought son what happened and where the plot might lead in future episodes.
Then I made a terrible mistake. Well, I didn’t think it was a terrible mistake, but the guy who runs the blog and some of his readers certainly thought so.
I talked about the previews. You know, the little teaser at the end of the show which gets you excited for next week. That, apparently, ruins things for everyone.
My comment got deleted because it included “spoilers.” In case you haven’t run across any hyper-sensitive people lately, “spoilers” are information about future events in a TV show or movie or even a book.
I can kind of understand if you gave away the ending to “The Sixth Sense” to someone waiting to see the flick or shouted out the name of the person who dies in that one Harry Potter book before people have a chance to read it.
But the notion of spoilers has seemed to run amok, and I personally think it’s playing a role in the downfall of civilization. I mean, what is going on in this world when you can’t discuss something you saw on TV at a web site dedicated to discussing things you saw on TV?
My problem with people worried about “spoilers” is that they are, well, spoiled. If people want to live in a bubble and never find out any information ahead of time, I don’t see why the rest of us have to change our behavior to make them happy.
I don’t see why something that happened in a television show should be such a state secret. If you don’t want to be “spoiled,” don’t leave the house or go on the Internet. That’s what I do when I don’t get to watch something live. I avoid places where I might find that kind of information.
And if I do find out before I watch, I somehow manage to cope. It’s a hard cross to bear some days.
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