My spouse is watching the British home-hunting show "Location, Location" - one of an ever-expanding genre. This got me to thinking just how much TV programming these days involves our watching other people doing various jobs: police detectives, lawyers, and now realtors. Both scripted dramas and 'reality' programming tend this way. Now there are 'reality' series about 'Dirtiest Jobs,' and 'Undercover Boss' where a CEO poses as an entry-level job seeker, both to see how front line workers are treated by supervisors, and to get a feel for the demands of such jobs. In that particular case, we're watching someone do someone else's job for a while.
There's also the burgeoning array of home renovation shows where we can watch people choose backsplash tiles, wield sledgehammers (cue Mike Holmes: "This is all going to have to come out!"), and make everything better with power tools.
So after putting in a day's work at our own job, somehow our great escape is to tune in
Besides watching other people work, of course, we also avidly watch other people play: football, baseball, basketball, golf, tennis, but also poker. It's been a while since I've seen TV bowling, though I here that's still out there.
