RIP Must See TVs

David J. Danto

Travel thoughts in my own, personal opinion

eMail: ddanto@IMCCA.org Follow Industry News: @NJDavidD on

RIP Must See TV - September 2025

Generated image If you are old enough you might remember when the television was not just a screen, it was the hearth of the home. The biggest piece of furniture in the living room. The reason dinner got moved to the coffee table. The source of our news, our entertainment, and our collective rituals. We planned our evenings around what was on and when. And if you missed a show, you missed it. Maybe forever.

I remember racing to the store to grab the new issue of TV Guide, especially the fall preview. That little digest held the schedule of America’s evenings, and it mattered. That one channel guide book united millions. It seems quaint now, but at the time it was everything.

Fast forward a few decades, and the idea of TV as the center of life feels as dated as adjusting rabbit ears or yelling “Don’t sit so close.” On most of my business trips these days, I do not even turn on the hotel room television. I used to, checking out the in-house channel or surfing the local stations. Now, as long as the internet is decent (and sometimes even when it is not), I am watching and working from my laptop or tethered mobile phone. That box in the corner of the room is just furniture now.

The role of the TV has been changing for decades. First came the VCR, then DVDs, then streaming. Slowly, the television lost its monopoly on attention. The center of gravity shifted as laptops, tablets, and eventually smartphones arrived.

The first major change was scheduling. In the past, if you wanted to watch something, you had to be in front of the television at a specific time. Today you can catch up on a flight, in a hotel lobby, or while waiting for dinner in another city. Streaming made “anytime, anywhere” possible, and that freedom rewrote our relationship with the big screen. Then came the rise of the personal screen. Phones stopped being communication tools and became portals for everything else: news, movies, music, social feeds, podcasts, and video calls. Instead of people sitting together around a single television, they scattered. One person might scroll TikTok while waiting for check-in, another might stream a show on a tablet, someone else listens to a podcast.

As this happened, the family living room became less about the television and more about each individual’s screen. Even when a large display is available in public or private spaces such as hotel rooms, lounges, or cruise ship cabins, it is no longer the center of attention.

The way we expect entertainment in travel has shifted just as much as how we enjoy it on the ground. A few years back some airlines actually introduced new aircraft without built-in seatback IFE systems only to get complaints from passengers. Travelers felt the cabins were too spartan when the seat in front of them offered nothing more than a pocket and a tray table. Today, if you walk down an airplane aisle toward the restroom you will likely see many people with a ~10 inch screen on the seatback doing little more than showing a flight status map or sitting idle. Meanwhile their own ~6 inch smartphone or ~10 inch tablet, tucked underneath or propped in front, is streaming the TV show or movie they chose. I do this myself: I will glance at the flight map on the IFE but watch a movie on my iPad.

The plane’s built-in screen remains useful for communal information such as progress, altitude, and the “we are over Greenland now” moment, or if someone wants something simple without bringing extra gear. But most of the engagement is happening on personal devices. People bring their own favorite streaming services, their own headphones, tablets, and phones. And increasingly they expect the airplane to simply accommodate that.

This shift has big implications for how we travel. A guest today expects control. They bring their own content and want the places they stay to support it. That means hotels need to offer reliable WiFi, simple casting, and seamless streaming. Cruise lines and airlines face the same challenge. Travelers are less interested in what channel lineup is offered and more concerned about whether they can watch their own services without hassle. When those expectations are not met, the large television is ignored. In some cases it becomes little more than furniture on the wall. The real screen of choice is in the traveler’s pocket.

For hotels, airports, and other travel providers, this means the big screen is not enough anymore. The television is still part of the experience, but it must serve as a companion to personal devices, not a replacement. Good design means enabling people to feel comfortable with the technology they already use. Can they connect without fighting with a remote? Can they stream without calling the front desk? The television is not disappearing, but its role is evolving. It has shifted from centerpiece to supporting actor. Instead of being the reason people gather, it quietly enhances the environment when needed.

The age of “must-see TV” has passed. Television once commanded our evenings, our living rooms, even our social schedules. Today it is background, optional, sometimes not even turned on. Entertainment has moved to the screens we carry with us everywhere. The cultural ritual of gathering around the television has ended, and in its place is a world where we watch what we want, when we want, on whatever device we choose. RIP Must See TVs.

As a follow-up to my blog last week about United’s inability to operate effectively during irrops, I have two additional updates. 1) United eventually replied to my initial complaint (when I first arrived home) with an apology and another travel cert. The total compensation they sent for the debacle now adds-up to $300. 2) The following week, on an SFO-EWR flight, we were supposed to land in terminal C but after hitting the ground it was switched to A at the last minute. The C baggage carousel was to be #6, and that was never changed on any app or display. (United doesn’t have access to A6. All the bags came out A3 – something that was never posted.) There is a distinct lack of intelligence at United’s EWR Baggage Services.

This article was written by David Danto and contains solely his own, personal opinions.

All image and links provided above as reference under prevailing fair use statutes.

++++++++

As always, feel free to write and comment, question or disagree. Hearing from the traveling community is always a highlight for me. Thanks!