Are you one of the millions of people who have an Apple iPad at or near the top of their wish list this Holiday season? Allow us to offer up a little unsolicited advice from personal experience: The iPad is the worst thing to happen to our television viewing habits since the proliferation of reality TV.
This undeniable fact is something that occurred to us thanks to a recent trip to New York Comic Con that found us absolutely transfixed during a screening of an episode of PERSON OF INTEREST. And while the show’s set-up — which more and more continues to play out like a televised version of The Dark Night courtesy of the monotone heroics of one John Reese (Jim Caviezel), his trusty sidekick Finch (Michael Emerson) and an increasingly colorful collection of cops and robbers probably had a little something to do with capturing our imagination — what really got us was what didn’t. Which is to say, completely devoid of access to WiFi and/or cell reception, the cavernous Javits Center that played home to the NYCC screening served as somewhat of a hermetically-sealed capsule that forced us to — brace yourself — actually pay attention to what we were watching. Which to be perfectly honest, has become more and more of a challenge as of late thanks to a certain four lettered Apple gadget.
Suffice it to say, for all the upside of the iPad, there is one serious downside to owning what many have called the best thing to happen to living rooms since the remote control. Simply put, all it takes is a simple swipe of the finger to find oneself completely distracted. And while that is a huge bonus when you’re watching live television (Sorry advertisers who pay top dollar for commercial airtime) or attempting to get through the five minutes of DANCING WITH THE STARS that ABC insists on running into CASTLE, it’s a huge detriment when one is too busy celebrating an epic triple-word-score in “Words with Friends” to realize twenty-two minutes into a fantastic episode of PERSON OF INTEREST that (a) VERONICA MARS’ Enrico Colantoni is guesting and (b) he’s been shot.
Now at this point, you’re probably thinking, “Umm… TV Addict, are you seriously complaining about owning an iPad?” No, not seriously, after-all, nothing screams first world problem like whining about a device kids in China are selling their kidney for (True Story!) That said, with the Holiday season fast approaching, we did think now would be as good a time as any to warn our fellow TV Addicts to be careful what you wish for! 