Nielsen Gadgetry

"Over the years, I’ve seen plenty of good shows tank due to poor ratings, including Sports Night, Wonderfalls, Freaks and Geeks, and Undeclared. And one day about two years ago, I thought all that would change, because my household was randomly chosen to be part of the "Nielsen family.

Not only did my watching or not watching shows have no impact on what made it and what didn’t, but also the Nielsen gadgetry became larger and larger, until at one point our two TVs had so many boxes and wires hanging off of them that they resembled a fifth grader’s technology project, with boxes literally duct-taped to the backs of the TV sets. (Oh, and the technicians had to buy us two new VHS recorders when they managed to drop each of ours within hours of each other.)

The last straw was when Nielsen called and said they would have to come by my house to install some new equipment (for the third time in six months) and it would probably take two days minimum.

There was no telling how much crap they would be taping to my TVs this time around.

So I told them to take all their stuff, because I was through.

And ever since, just as many shows I watch have been canceled, so it seems I didn’t really count anyway."