The End of Television as We Know It

On Emmy Sunday, former TV academy chairman Bryce Zabel peers into the future of his industry--and finds a technological blur. ¶ Most nights in our house, I'd like to think that everyone in the family—two parents and three kids—is present and accounted for, but that would require a room-to-room search. It was so much easier keeping track of people in the nuclear family of my childhood. Eight o'clock meant prime time. Everyone huddled around our hot new color TV watching the same episode of "Mannix" or whatever was on. The last time that family group thing happened in my house was, well, I can't remember—not even on an Emmy Sunday like tonight. ¶ It's not technically "television" we're watching these days, and we're not "watching" it so much as interacting with it. The prime-time "network" programs weren't scheduled in offices in Burbank or Los Angeles, but here at our house, by us. ... LA Times link