In Praise of 'Casting'

24 Jun, 2016 By: Stephanie Prange

Recently, I’ve abandoned TV and have been watching streamed content.

It’s been a gradual process. My teenaged daughters have been doing it all along. While my youth consisted of watching “The Tube” and putting up with commercials, my kids have been watching YouTube without the ad breaks almost their whole lives.

It was hard for me to let go of traditional TV content, but the allure of on-demand, no-commercial entertainment finally drew me in.

For me it started with an interest in the latest “The Nightly Show,” “The Daily Show,” “Last Week Tonight,” Bill Maher and “Full Frontal” comedy news episodes. After I got comfortable Chromecasting episodes from my phone to my TV, I was hooked. That connection from the Internet to the TV was the beginning of an obsession.

I would turn on the tube and yearn for something more compelling, something I could “cast” — without those ridiculously long and growing advertising breaks. Why not turn off “The Tube” and find something I chose to watch without those annoying commercial breaks?

When watching snippets of something fed to me, I would yearn to “cast” the rest of the show I missed in making dinner or picking up the kids.

I wanted more control.

Recently, ESPN conducted an experiment that seemed aimed right at me. They made “OJ: Made in America” available on the cable channel as well as via a streaming app. I’d watch 40 minutes of an episode of the series on cable, and yearn to see the rest on my own timetable. Eventually, I figured out how to “cast” the episodes to my TV, like I had other YouTube channels.

I could watch this amazing series, on demand, on my own time. It’s a very long series, and I’m still not finished, but I will finish it — when I have the time.

In Praise of 'Casting'

About the Author: Stephanie Prange