When you were a child, was it ever a custom for your whole family to watch a weekly TV program or movie together? Do you think families still do that?

I think we watched Kung Fu with Carradine

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My family wasn't big on TV watching when I was growing up, but after the news every weeknight we watched a quiz show called Sale of the Century. It fuelled my love for trivia, and years later I went on the show and won some cash and prizes. Didn't get as far as the car though...

A few other shows we often but not religiously watched together were Family Ties, the Paul Hogan Shthe Cosby Show, Benny Hill, Yes Minister/Prime Minister, Minder, and George & Mildred. Good times.

We watched Columbo, It Takes a Thief and The Wild Wild West together. I wasn't too fond of those shows, although I now love Columbo, but with only one TV and being the child in the group, there was no choice. When we got a color TV, my mother would let me watch my favorite shows or sports on that. I don't think families still watch together in general because there are so many platforms out there and most families I know have 2-3 TVs, several computers, tablets, etc at home and are on different schedules. Times change. My slide rule is pretty lonely right now.

We watched sitcoms together back in the 80s. Cheers, Family Ties and those kind. Nice memories.

Streaming has changed everything. I watch TV with my kids but we don’t do anything on a regular schedule every week. This has its drawbacks. A few months ago forexample I got them into Mr. Bean. We watched all the original shows, the movies, and then all the animated shows within a few weeks. Then they quickly lost interest and moved onto the next thing that got their attention for a few weeks, and this cycle keeps repeating.

So whereas when I was a kid being a fan of a show was a weekly thing that would stretch out for years and be mixed with other stuff (ie each day of the week a different show would be scheduled), now everything gets watched in these intense but relatively short term bursts.

Not sure on balance if this is better or worse. It complicates Christmas and birthday present shopping immensely though since their interests change so quickly. I have some Muppets presents for them that I bought last month when we were having fun watching their movies, but they’ve already moved on from that and I suspect those gifts will fall a bit flat….

The wife and I still do watch together almost every night. The TV set is in the living room in front of a sofa and connected to Netflix, Prime, YouTube and others. Right now we're working through "Broadchurch."

Excellent choice! Broadchurch is absolutely fantastic and both Olivia Colman and David Tennant are chef's kiss in it.

@Trevor:

Preceded by the Bugs Bunny Road Runner Show at 4 p.m., by which time we had to wrap up the street hockey game taking place -- on the street.

The wife and I still do watch together almost every night. The TV set is in the living room in front of a sofa and connected to Netflix, Prime, YouTube and others. Right now we're working through "Broadchurch."

Showing my age here but yes, on Friday afternoons after school, we'd bike down to our local Blockbuster and rent a movie to watch in the evening with takeout.

Yes. Then my parents would turn off the TV when Elvis was on.

We only had three channels back then and had to fiddle with the rabbit ear antennas with aluminum foil. I thought TV was great. Now it’s a wasteland.

”What’s wrong with people these days? Let’s play Scrabble.”

5PM, every Saturday, dinner on the dining room table and everyone watching the TV in the living room showing Hockey Night in Canada.

The carol Burnett show was something we could all enjoy.