The future is finally here.
Not today's future, but the one from about 8 years ago.
It was at that point everyone started announcing the Internet was the wave of the future and we would be able to do everything we would ever want in this brand-new and exciting way. They said it would force television into obsolescence and put newspapers out to pasture.
Fortunately, none of those things have happened.
We still have television to feed our need for weekly serial dramas about people stuck on islands that bear a remarkable resemblance to Hawaii and we still have newspapers to provide us with our daily dose of ink on dead trees.
The Internet hasn't made anything go away. It has just given us new, and sometimes better, ways to do the things we've always been doing.
Thankfully one of the more recent things the Internet has made possible is a better way to watch television.
ABC rolled out its flash-based television show streaming solution near the end of the last television season. This television season, CBS and Fox have joined the mix with their own versions of the technology. These services enable people to watch episodes of shows they might have missed for free with extremely limited commercial interruption. Seeing what you've missed is something that's becoming more and more important as our television presentations begin to resemble those of movies, and fewer commercials is something we can all agree is a good thing.
I'm a horrible snob, but I love television. I like "Lost," "Grey's Anatomy," "Gilmore Girls," "Veronica Mars," "The Colbert Report," "Penn & Teller" and on occasion even "Survivor."
I love television but I hate being chained to it every weeknight.
Now I don't have to be. Before the only people who had this type of freedom with their television viewing were the people lucky enough to have a TiVo-like device. But for college students who don't have money or control over their television system, TiVo's aren't available.
This is why I say the future is finally here. Thanks to the magic of the Internet, anyone with a fairly decent Internet connection speed can watch all sorts of television they may not have had time for before. I haven't watched "Survivor" since the second season but now I get to watch it and enjoy it at my leisure with 30-second commercial breaks. I couldn't tell you what time it airs or on what channel, but I can tell you I'm enjoying the experience. That is what television is about for most people.
If you like the idea of free television on-demand, think about surfing to Fox.com, ABC.com or CBS.com and giving it a try. Television on-demand is something that people have been claiming to want for a long time, and I would hate to see it disappear from a lack of consumer demand. I can tell you from personal experience that it works wonderfully on the dorm Internet connections, and you have nothing to lose because it will cost you nothing.
Every season I find myself watching more and more television than I have before. This television season is no exception, but I've also been busier than I ever have been before. Thanks to the Internet, these two things don't have to conflict.
John Rozewicki is a junior telecommunications major and writes 'Supreme Narcissism' for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper.
Write to John at jjrozewicki@notarrogant.com.
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