I just finished reading Chapter 1, “Spoiling Survivor” in Convergence Culture by Henry Jenkins and I found the concept of spoiling to be quite interesting. According to Jenkins, “The word spoiling goes way back – or at least as far back as you can go- in history of the Internet.” (30) Then he goes on to talk about how people on the east coast and on the west coast would see a series at a different time, then in the international markets shows would be seen much later. People weren’t talking about it so they were able to experience it for the first time.

I found this to be really interesting because I have to admit, I have searched through blogs and chat rooms just to find out what will happen or has happened in a television show. Never did I think about how the television markets were “helping” viewers spoil the shows. Of course someone who has watched a show on the west coast will blog about the show or tell someone what happened and then spoil the experience for someone else. It’s too easy. Also with the technology we have now to be able to communicate with so many other people in various ways, it’s super easy.

I feel that people do enjoy finding spoilers about television shows and other forms of media. How many are music albums leaked before they release? And how many people do we know have those albums playing in their cars already? I have tons of friends who are guilty of this. This is just one example, but there are many other examples of how American culture embraces the spoiling world. It’s true what Jenkins says viewers “ are determined to figure it out-together-before the producers reveal what happened.” (25) I have to admit before the Real World Australia season began, I did search for spoilers. I was interested in who the cast and wanted to know what craziness would happen this season. The information was out there. There were sites with the links of the cast’s myspace sites and tons of other information that I read. The day the last book of Harry Potter came out, I couldn’t help but know if Harry lived or not and went to Wikipedia to read a shortened version of what happened and was satisfied. Sounds crazy? Yeah, I know! I feel as though that society has helped me to turn into this kind of person and be ok with because we are never satisfied with waiting and always have to know something as fast as we can.

In ‘Speculation on Spoilers” by Jonathan Gray and Jason Mittell they say, “Watching a serial television drama is a huge time investment … For fans of such an ongoing series, there may be a question as to whether the temporal investment will be worth it – will I get the narrative payoff I desire?” This is very true! I feel this way about Grey’s Anatomy this season. With all the changes that have occurred on the show, I feel that the time I have invested in the series has gone down the drain. A lot of my peers who watch the show feel as though it is not worth watching this season. We all agree to watch the 1^st episode of the season but after that we probably won’t invest a lot of time as we did in the past. Reading this quote, it really clicked. I feel that I won’t get the narrative payoff that I desire from Grey’s Anatomy this season. For example, if there is no Burke, how can it possibly work with Cristina? How the hell is George going to be an intern again? Why is McDreamy and Meredith’s “new” sister are linked to something romantic (gross)? I feel that I got want I had needed from the narrative and now since I can no longer devote the time I once had, now it my time to spoil!