Football is a main distraction for many UF students during the fall semester, but last week, another traditional fall diversion arrived to tempt students from their books.
TV premiere week found students making adjustments to fit new seasons of popular shows such as "Grey's Anatomy" and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," into their busy schedules.
Katie Privett, a UF sophomore, said she religiously watches "Supernatural" and "Smallville" on Thursday nights and keeps up with "House" and "The Office" on a less-regular basis.
TV is a definite factor in her schedule, she said. She arranged her classes for the fall in order to have Thursday evenings free to watch her favorite shows.
Since the fall TV season has started, she said, she's beginning to make adjustments to fit in her TV viewing, which she estimated is about five to six hours per week.
"Supernatural" and "Smallville" run in a two-hour block Thursday night, so she has to make an extra effort to keep up with her work for the next day, she said.
"If I do have something that's due on Friday, I have to complete it early," she said. "I'm more likely to do my homework in the afternoon if I know that I want to watch TV at night."
Vanessa Vinas, a UF sophomore on the pre-medical track, said she doesn't have much time for TV, but she makes an effort to fit a few shows in.
She left her lab work early last week to watch the "Grey's Anatomy" season premiere, she said.
"I try to make room for it in my schedule," she said. "It's not like I'm going to ditch a test to watch TV, but I make a bigger effort to schedule it in."
Privett and Vinas aren't the only students pushing aside the books for a few hours of TV. College students are increasingly acknowledged as an important consumer group for TV shows.
Nielsen Media Research announced in January that it would begin factoring college students living away from home into its ratings.
According to a press release from Nielsen, the impact on ratings from college student viewing among women was greatest for prime-time dramas with strong female characters, while male students increase ratings for football and animation programming.
Frank Selb, a UF biochemistry and molecular biology junior, said in his apartment, the TV is generally on all day.
Selb said he and his roommates, all of whom are men, "aren't really into the new fall schedule," but that his roommate did skip a Campus Crusade for Christ meeting last week to catch "The Office" premiere.
"I was surprised that he did that," Selb said, "But it's one of his favorite shows."
