It boggles my mind that television networks still don't get it. Executives have chosen to bring back shows like 90210 in hope it will woo the younger viewers who aren't watching TV anymore. The truth is, we want to watch television, but we want to watch it when we want to watch it. We have been spoiled by the internet.

Television networks are still "time-slot-centric." They chose to strategically place shows on different days to compete with other networks, and to run these at certain times. If television executives really want to land younger viewers they are going to have to become "viewer-centric." That is, they must redefine television technology. With today's technology any episode from any television channel should be available at any time. Not just modern shows, but shows that go as far back as TV goes should be readily available for viewing.

It is this on-demand capability that make youtube so.. friendly. How many times have you turned on the boob tube, flipped through the channels and thought, "there's not a single thing worth watching on TV." How many times have you wanted to watch two different TV shows, but you had to miss one because two competing stations put them in the same time slot on the same day? So what do you do? You jump on the computer, navigate to youtube, and within moments you can find the show. On the other hand, with youtube there's a sense of adventure because I often discover a video of something new and fascinating. TV as it is now just can not compete with this!

My generation wants to go to the History Channel, browse through an endless list of shows, and have the ability to download (or stream) any show that I want to see. I'm talking about true on-demand television, I'm talking about completely shifting the paradigm of TV as we currently know it. I'm tired of being forced to watch boring Ice Road Trucker marathons!

In this type of conversation it's inevitable that someone will mention TiVo, but while TiVo is a step in the right direction it is NOT the solution. Its problem is that you have to schedule when the shows are to be recorded.  There's a certain amount of effort and research to find the shows you might want to see in the future. Then you have to schedule TiVo to record the show, and then find time later to watch the show.

That's too much work! I don't want to do any research at all! I want to be able to turn on the TV whenever I feel like it and choose what I want to watch, right now. I want nearly unlimited options. That's the problem with modern TV, it's old technology that is dragging its feet. It simply can not compete with the internet. The same thing that happened to the recording industry about a decade ago is now happening with the television industry. They need to wake up and smell the technology!

I propose paying for subscriptions to television channels. For instance, if I want to watch just the History Channel, Comedy Central, and the Travel Channel I can subscribe to those for a fee. Preferrably I could choose unlimited downloading of all shows, without commericials, for one fee; and then pay less for a streaming version of the channel with commercials. Why isn't this being done? The problem with TV is that it isn't as tailored to the viewer as much as the internet is. You have to watch whatever it is the channel wants you to watch, and if you miss a show you have to find the next time it reruns and catch it then. People today do NOT want to schedule their lives around TV shows!

Is it any wonder that ratings have dropped for season premiers on all the major networks? It's not that the shows are bad, it's just the technology is lame. More than likely more people are watching the shows, but they're probably downloading it online instead. TV is going to have to evolve, rather quickly, to be as flexible (or almost as flexible) as the internet or continue its inevitable death.