My late wife was a great TV watcher, me a lot less so. But I enjoy a quite a bit of sport, some
political stuff, but prefer radio.
Sport, game shows, Netflix, the US TV crime 30/40 year old endless repeats, cookery, antique roadshows are all a no-no for me and mostly for my wife. Programmes are created by under 40s and designed for that age group.
So that’s 90% of TV? Its dumbed down especially main channels at the weekend.
U-Tube can reveal some worthwhile things to watch. My choice to look and listen to something.
Being positive: BBC4 TV sometimes. Off topic: BBC Radio 3 and 4.
cinema is just one of the most recent media, in my opinion.
Television is the instrument that allows you to enjoy that media.
In my opinion, cinema is not very different from books, music and photography, in fact in some ways it is the evolution of these three.
In fact in films these categories are combined and elevated.
If we are talking about Opera of a certain depth (very rare in fact), the codes and languages are combined, and, depending on personal knowledge etc., a different level of understanding of the Opera itself is possible.
Like books, for example.
Then there would also be something to add about representation, acting and theatre.
To have it or not to have it, in my opinion, is a personal choice, as is having it and making a more or less questionable and acceptable use of it.
I personally have it, even if I use it very little and mainly to see what I want to see.
I don’t watch any kind of sport, apart from very rare boxing or martial arts matches.
I don’t watch news programmes or anything.
I basically only watch movies, TV series and documentaries.
As well as YouTube videos that I watch on my TV.
As with music, to have a good experience you can’t just use any television in any room with any system.
But if you have something of average quality and you watch something of a certain quality, you can really benefit from it, just as you would from a good film or record.
Logically, as with books and music itself, even the TV is not essential and necessary.
I like a lot of writing (screenwriting) and photography, as well as music, and in some films and series, as well as documentaries, I find interesting and/or noteworthy things.
The writing of films and series has the same rules, the same tricks and stratagems as literary writing, but it can be implemented with the other languages present.
It is curious that historically, cinema began as an evolution of photography (which in turn evolved from drawing and painting), and was born as a realistic and faithful medium for representing reality. Then, as has often happened in the history of media, its final destination was decided by the way people used it. And in the end it was mostly used for the opposite of what it was born for, i.e. fiction, science-fiction etc.
about the series you mentioned:
Like all trends in all fields, most of them are junk or almost junk.
If you have to have a television to watch Squid Games, in my opinion it’s better if you don’t get one, but if you want one for The Wire, that’s a different matter.
I have Game of Thrones but I still have to find the time to watch it.
But given my passions, even if only for the photography and the 4k HDR quality, it’s worth watching.
Beyond that, not having seen it I can’t express an opinion.
However, almost all the series produced or commissioned by HBO are worth watching, just to name one other besides the aforementioned Games of Thrones and The Wire, I would definitely say The Sopranos.
Breaking Bad has something interesting and is well made up to a certain point, but then it has some incredible falls, almost embarrassing in some writing choices etc.
Very overrated without mentioning that after getting a certain success it has been a bit too boastful and glorious of what it was, ending up being redundant and self-exalting.
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Interesting that lots of those who don’t have tv are listening to R3 and R4. Happily subsided by those of us with TV licenses. 
I have a tv but haven’t watched an advert in years. Sky Q avoids the need to ever watch them.
We watch lots of music programs, BBC 4 on Friday night has lots of interesting old stuff and Glastonbury, for example is great.
I also watch sport mostly cycling.
I also like watching films. With the sound through the stereo it’s a great experience.
Perhaps you can write a long post next time?
I’m pleased to hear you are happy subsiding my R3 listening .
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One of the few things Mrs. M and I can’t agree is the choice of evening entertainment. Mostly TV and films or shows I don’t care about for her, music she doesn’t care about and books for me.
The few hours I spend in front of the TV are together with our children. Interestingly their choice of programs is more in line with my taste.
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We seem to spend and inordinate amount of time each evening trying to agree on something to watch… I mean we can often spend an hour trying a few mins here or a few mins there before, finally, settling on something (and, invariably, after watching deciding that was 1-2 hours of life wasted).
People think that because you don’t watch telly, you don’t have those ‘wasted’ hours. Not true. I have read a book about the history of Japan, twice in last six months. Also read a book on Game Theory. Probably twenty or thirty hours of reading. I can remember very little from either. If someone was to mention something about ether subject, I would understand what they were talking about, but I couldn’t start a conversation about either. The history of Japan would be a good mini series documentary, maybe more easily remembered, but the book doesn’t have adverts, which is good.
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I find I’ve got to have a real keen interest in a subject before any of it will stay in (my head). When I was 30-50 years younger it was never an issue. Nowadays it’s a problem finding subjects where I really have a keen interest. HiFi is one of the few but since HiFi-less (due to house sale/purchase saga) that subject’s also out of the window 
This series of books by Oxford University Press are very good. They have hundreds of subjects, very diverse. I’ve read about a dozen. A history of mathematics, dinosaurs and The Dead Sea Scrolls were ones that stuck, but Dada and Surrealism went over my head, or maybe I ducked.
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I was about to ask about the game theory book, thanks for sharing.
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