College Student's Guide to Television

First off we should discuss the types of TV shows that you may want to watch.
There are, I would say, 5 major genres of television show; comedy, drama, reality, game show and news.

Comedy
Comedy is a favorite form of television among most college students. It is my personal favorite and most of the people I know enjoy it as well. The reason is simply that when you are in school and going through all of the daily grind it is nice to have an escape. Another benefit is that because more people tend to like comedies, it is something that you can do with all of your friends. For example, this year the TV show GLEE on Fox was pretty much on once a week for a majority of the year. Every week 8 of my friends and I would gather in someone's room and watch it on their TV.

Drama
Dramas are more about who is doing what to whom. They tend to be a little annoying for my personal taste. My main reason for this is that I would rather laugh than have to try to deal with a person who is cheating on their girlfriend with her best friend. That having been said, it is nice to completely indulge yourself once in a while and immerse yourself into the lives of the dramatic characters on a show. Especially since it makes your problems seem like nothing.

Reality
Reality shows are supposed to be "real life." The major reality shows tend to be things like American Idol and Dancing with the Stars. However, in more recent years the Amazing Race and Jon and Kate plus 8 (now Kate plus 8) have made their way into our television sets. These shows are basically for the times when we want to completely envelop ourselves in a character. The reason that these have become so popular is because they are real people, and real situations and real life. This makes it that much easier for us to feel what they are feeling and feel as though we are connected to them when they fail or succeed.

Game Show
Game Shows have been and always will be popular. Shows like Deal or No Deal, Jeopardy and The Price is Right are incredibly popular. The reason for this, I believe, is that we do not ever know what is going to happen. Most shows have at least a little predictability. Depending on the show there is more than likely a happy or sad ending. However, with Game shows there is no predictability. These are fun to watch with people around campus because it is fun to succeed or fail with the people on the shows. Also it is fun to see if you can compete with them.

News
The reason I put this last is that, even though it is more popular among adults, I do not particularly enjoy the news. The reason is that I feel that the truly important things that are happening in the world, I will find out about during class or while talking to someone. The news tends to have too much bad news for me. However, it also is helpful when keeping a person in touch with the world around them and helps for people to know the goings on in life.

In order to enjoy the college Television experience you will want a few things
What you will want
Laptop
Speakers
Headphones (or Earbuds)
TV (or friend with a TV)

Laptop
The reason that this is the first thing on the list is simple. Of my friends there were only three people who had a TV. I personally did not, nor did any of my roommates. Therefore, the majority of my television watching was on my laptop. Websites like Hulu and Blinkx Remote, were hugely helpful in my TV watching experience. Television on a laptop is not quite the same as a television set, however it is a close second in my opinion.

Speakers
I highly recommend some speakers for your laptop. The reason for this is that when you are listening to it with multiple people, they tend to make noise. The problem with this is that most laptops do not have very loud speakers. Speakers is that they do not have to be pricey. There is also a choice between portable and non-portable speakers. I have both portable and not and I did not spend that much money. I got a pair of USB Speakers and a pair of desktop speakers. The USB Speaker that I have is amazing. It plugs right into the USB port on the side of my laptop and I can take it with me anywhere. On the other hand, the desktop speakers I have plug directly into the headphone jack and have incredible sound quality. The only reason that I do not use these ones as much is that they are not portable. I would recommend a set of speakers, whether they be portable or not, for your everyday laptop use as well. Whether you are listening to music, a movie, a television show, or even relistening to a recorded lecture; speakers are a great accessory for your laptop.

Headphones (or Earbuds)
Headphones or Earbuds are essential for a personalized television experience. I personally enjoy the earbuds, or in-ear headphones, because they tend to have at least a little bit of noise cancelling in them. I got mine for like $20 and they are very good noise cancelling Earbuds. For those people who do not enjoy earbuds, around ear headphones are also a great thing to have. The around ear headphones help to make the noise a little bit louder, because it engages the entire ear instead of going right into the ear.