I’m not Spoiled by Spoilers (Warning: Post Contains Actual Spoilers)

Despite all the outlets available for watching television, I still watch it the old fashioned way the majority of the time.

Before DVR, the internet, and even VHS, if you missed a show, you missed it and were out of luck. Usually in the summer they would show reruns anyway but everything has changed with the changing technology and we now are subjected to the "spoiler." If you are unfamiliar with that term, a spoiler is a major moment in a show's storyline that gets revealed by people talking about it before you've seen the episode.

I think I'm in the minority in that I don't have much of an issue with spoilers. It's part of our world now. For me, it doesn't necessarily overshadow the enjoyment or suspense leading up to the outcome, and frankly, it's just a television show. If it's really important to me not to know what happened on the show until I watch it, my best bet is to stay away from anyone or off any website where it might be discussed. Since that's rarely practical or possible, however, spoilers are just something we have to deal with as viewers. Google is developing an app to help deter this problem as well.

My best personal example of being slightly annoyed by a spoiler was more about the outcome itself than the premature revelation. When How I Met Your Mother was on the verge of revealing Ted's eventual wife, aka the "mother", it became clear it wasn't going to be one of the core female characters of Robin or Lily. I held out hope it might be Victoria, a memorable (to me) flame of Ted's from a previous season. Alas, it was none of the above (Spoiler Alert) The mother ended up being Tracy, such a previously incidental character. I barely remembered any of her other appearances, despite the apparent clues throughout the series' run. Furthermore, they revealed this in the last episode of the second-to-last season. Disappointment among fans was rampant. (End spoiler alert.)

The way the creators of Grey's Anatomy's handled the exit of a major character is the most recent example of this. But one of the biggest cliffhangers in television history occurred in the original version of the show Dallas. "Who shot J.R.?" was a huge storyline, and with no internet or DVR at the time, it was easy to keep the outcome a secret. Like always, if you haven't watched it in its entirety even 30-some years later, and would like to, stop reading now, otherwise here's a clip of that event.

Who Shot J.R.?