My laptop, my shows

I am like 26 percent of all TV viewers, according to a recent study by Integrated Media Measurement Inc. We watch some or all of our prime-time series online, at our desktops or on our laptops. Last week, when Fox announced the renewal of the poorly rated "Dollhouse," one factor the network considered was the show's impressive streaming numbers through fox.com and hulu.com. And as more shows stream for free over websites, and more people question cable and satellite costs during the recession, the number of people watching TV online grows. Our commitment to TV stories crosses platforms and stays steady, even if - beep - our focus is - beep - spotty.

That beep, by the way, is my life calling - an editor reaching for a story, an old friend reaching across decades, an e-scam artist reaching into my wallet. And I respond like Pavlov's dog. Sorry Cancer Izzie, sorry Bloody George, but the beep beckons, and I quickly click away from the melodrama at Seattle Grace.

We live in that in-between moment when our TV screens and computer screens are still in separate locations - literally and psychologically. Maybe you, like me, have a tech-savvy friend who has already connected his HDTV to his laptop and streams TV shows from the couch; but most of us still have designated screens. That means the people who are watching TV online are doing so at their desks, or in "desk mode."

I find the difference between watching TV online versus on a TV set profound - almost as qualitatively different as watching a movie in a home theater versus a theater theater. To catch up on a missed episode, or to re-watch an hour of "Lost" for a second round of clue fishing, TV online is a useful service. But useful is the key word, because most of us are in a more utilitarian state of mind when we engage with our computer screens. The show, or the fragments of shows at hulu.com (which streamed more than 24 million videos in December), become subject to our multitasking instinct, alongside Facebooking, making an iTunes playlist, and browsing for a restaurant. And if we see an ad online, we're already poised at our work station to place an order on the spot - a readiness that TV-online advertisers may want to exploit.

When it comes to catching up with "Saturday Night Live," of course, or "Dancing With the Stars," being able to split your attention can be a nice benefit. You can check off your to-do list with host Tom Bergeron enthusing in the background rather than the foreground. Obviously, many shows we love don't quite merit full captivation. They deserve the level of concentration we might bring to a YouTube clip, to be viewed as a fragment of entertaining information. In that frame of mind, the TV show is on a par with an e-mail queue and picture-in-picture graphics and blinking icons. They hit us at close range, all at once.

And they hit us alone, generally speaking. While TVs are part of the public property in a home, our computers are usually our personal havens. Even if you're watching TV on your laptop in the den, odds are you won't be sharing it with anyone else in the room. The potential for community during online TV viewing is strictly virtual. If you groan at Joan Rivers on "Celebrity Apprentice," you will groan alone, to yourself.

For me, watching TV in the den on a TV set is a fuller experience, and I try to save the best-written shows - "Rescue Me," "Breaking Bad," "Lost," "House" - for that room, even while they are available online. I am in an entirely different pose in front of a designated TV screen, literally and figuratively. I am more able to become engrossed, to let the story and its visual elements work on me. If a show is top-notch, it can reward full consideration. I know, I know: Watching TV is far from a sacred act. But the more engagement we offer good TV shows, the more we reinforce quality work by their writers and producers.

Such is life between models, when the easiest and least costly way to watch a missed (and not DVR-ed) episode of a TV show is on our computers. I love the convenience, but I'm looking forward to the more common presence of streaming TV screens. It may only be a few more feet to the den, but it's going to be a few more years before our TV on-demand culture reaches its peak.

Matthew Gilbert can be reached at gilbert@globe.com. For more on TV, visit www.boston.com/ae/tv/blog.