Random TV watching

Working where I do, I'm in touch with people who take their television a lot more seriously than I do: Netflix, TiVo, premium channels... I usually don't watch television, but sometimes I just watch whatever catches my eye when I happen to be doing something else that allows me to keep half an eye on the TV. The random nature of occasionally finding something on TV that interests me is kind of amusing. Case in point: As I write this, I'm currently watching Saturday Night Live, for the first time in a long time. (I love James McAvoy, but did they just get lazy and decide to put him in every sketch?) In recent weeks I've seen a bunch of Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, including The Avengers, Captain America: Civil War, and Doctor Strange. (Three times I've surfed to Doctor Strange, each time at exactly the same scene - when he unwisely begins to manipulate time with a spell from the Book of Cagliostro, without realizing that the warnings are written after the spell.)

Tonight I saw most of Rogue One, for the second time ever. It's a hell of a ride, and probably my favorite Star Wars movie. It's most effective when seen immediately before the original Star Wars (a.k.a. A New Hope.) Suddenly Luke and the gang seem like a bunch of bumbling bumpkins who got off a lucky shot and were awarded participation trophies for their accomplishment, while the heroes of Rogue One - all of them - made incredible sacrifices that made the destruction of the Death Star possible and were promptly forgotten, relegated to a footnote.

When I was a kid I would study TV Guide each week to see what was coming on, what might interest me. Now I just watch the news, Chris Hayes on MSNBC, and the occasional random movie that happens to be on when I have time to watch. In a few years, with current trends, who knows what television will be like? Maybe this form of watching TV will seem as quaint as the TV Guide era does today.