PORTLAND, ORE. — Derek Fallow, 37, who famously does not own a television and would like you to know that, arrived at a dinner party Saturday with fully formed opinions on the fourth-season character arc of a show he has categorically never watched, sources who were there confirm.

Fallow, a UX consultant and owner of exactly zero televisions, is reportedly current on fourteen prestige dramas, three limited series, a docuseries about a defunct sandwich chain, and both seasons of a Norwegian maritime thriller that has not yet been released in the United States. He has not seen any of them.

"Derek is what we in the field call a 'purity-maintenance viewer,'" said Dr. Constance Brilley, Associate Professor of Aspirational Self-Narration at the Greater Portland Institute for Recreational Identity Studies. "He has fully decoupled the act of watching television from the social and intellectual apparatus of having watched television. It is, from a purely academic standpoint, impressive."

Fallow confirmed to reporters that he does not own a television, citing the medium's passivity, its corrosive effect on attention spans, and a conviction that the news cycle rewards anxiety. He then asked whether anyone had caught the penultimate episode of a premium cable drama, which he described as "doing things formally that you almost never see."

"I'm not saying don't watch it. I'm just saying I personally find that I don't miss having a screen in the home. Anyway, did they explain the briefcase or not, because I have a theory."

Witnesses confirm the theory was detailed, structurally sound, and approximately nine minutes long.

Fallow's laptop, which he uses exclusively for work, has a browser history that flatly contradicts several statements he made between the appetizer course and the entrée. He watches television on the laptop, sources said, adding that Fallow refers to this practice as "reading about film."

His roommate, Priya, declined to comment except to note that the household's streaming subscriptions — four of them, in Fallow's name — are "for podcasts, mostly."

Colleagues report that Fallow is a generous and perceptive conversationalist on the subject of television, provided the conversation is framed as anything other than a conversation about television. Acceptable framings include: "storytelling," "the current moment in serialized narrative," "whether prestige drama has replaced the novel," and "this thing I heard about."

He has requested, through an intermediary, that this article not quote him directly discussing specific shows, as he feels doing so would imply he watches them. This request arrived in a text message sent at 11:47 p.m. on a Tuesday, which is when the show in question airs.

Fallow did not respond to follow-up questions but did forward, unprompted, a podcast episode in which two television critics discussed the season finale of a drama he has never seen, with the note: "thought this might be useful, haven't listened yet."