Life Without TV

I’ve been a partial TV watcher for almost 20 years.  Since 2004, however, when I gave up satellite tv and its one gazillion channels, I haven’t watched any television regularly.

Just like the addict who occasionally falls off the proverbial wagon, however, I, too, will reach for the forbidden triple-scoop sprinkle-laden ice come in double-dipped chocolate fudge waffle cone. I just do so with very teeny servings, to get just the barest of smells before I whisk myself away from temptation.

My guilty television pleasures are very few now:

• a South Park episode now and then on Netflix when we are between movies delivered by mail and nothing is appealing on watch on demand;
• 10 minute video segments of Jon Stewart on the Daily Show when friends suggest a particularly funny-sounding clip on social media Internet sites, maybe 2 or 3 times a month;
• a Top 10 List now and then from The David Letterman Show;
• Jayhawk basketball, in season and when available;
• very important, life-changing news events, and then only through the Internet;
• some MLB baseball, if available at a sport bar during playoff/world series time.
• super bowl commercials, post-super bowl and on the Internet

The last television show I watched faithfully was Battlestar Galactica, the newer Sci-Fi Channel version.  My nephew and his then-girlfriend introduced us to the show.

But I had already had a history with the previous incarnation starring Lorne Greene. I was completely enthralled and fascinated by the show. Stars Wars entranced me (and the world) and I was at a high point of science fiction in my life. I dedicated myself to Battlestar Galactica, watching every single moment, every rerun, every commercial preceding and after the show, every moment of the credits.  It’s the closest I ever came to being obsessed with anything in a total indulgent unhealthy way.

I had heard that Battlestar Galactica had been remade, with a female Starbuck, and a new cast and new treatment. Upon watching the first episode, my wife and I were hooked. We ordered the first season’s discs from Netflix to catch up and then made Friday night dates to watch the show on a nice flat screen tv screen that had a satellite package at the marina.  Then we found ways to find the show online. And when that ended, I stopped watching commercial television completely.

I’ve never been a fan of football, and I don’t watch the Super Bowl. But I do enjoy creativity, and I will watch Super Bowl commercials on the Internet after the fact.  That may be the guiltiest of all the pleasures of television I have left.  Unless I’ve inadvertently forgotten something, the above is all the TV I watch, and not regularly.  If I go to a restaurant or bar that has a TV on, I will ignore it.  I can tune it out completely.

And daily, as I hear people talk about this TV show and that, especially of the “reality TV” variety, I am glad that TV is no longer coursing through my veins like a drug. I’m reminded of the great movie Network, how prophetic it is now to see network news presented as entertainment. (think FOX news).

So now when I think of turning the non-existent TV on in my home, (it helps not to have a TV if one doesn’t want to watch one), I think of all the other wonderful gifts I have in life that I can turn my attention to:  my wife, my dog, reading, the beach, sailing, writing, design, Internet, games, and so forth.   More about those healthy unguilty pleasures in the next episode of……

Life Without TV.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 14th, 2010 at 5:22 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.