Life Without TV

Most television series have a pilot.   If you don’t know what a pilot show is, watch Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction for a great description of a pilot.  Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) tells his partner Vincent Vega (John Travolta) just what a television pilot is.  The pilot for this blog should be a mini-series, or maybe a two-hour TV movie, but then that would defeat the purpose of Life Without TV, now wouldn’t it?

Often a television show will start out with a small sequence of clips from last week’s episode to bring viewers up-to-date with the story.  The show itself is often followed by another sequence of teaser clips from next week’s show.   Since a pilot usually precedes the actual series premiere, we’re working a bit out of order here.

To reiterate:  the purpose of this blog is to explore just what life has to offer without watching television.

I remember as a kid that Friday nights used to have a dynamite TV lineup. In the early 70s, that meant The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family.  Later, it was The Six Million Dollar Man. Cultural Icons all. Today, at this point in my life, I’m happy to forego Friday night television to get a great start on the weekend.

In our house, Friday night is date night.  Last night, we went to Bali Hai, a polynesian-themed restaurant on Shelter Island in the north bay of San Diego Bay.  While I didn’t partake of their specialty Mai Tai, it’s a must for the first-time visitor.  We were afforded a spectacular view of San Diego just as the downtown lights were turning on and as evening deepened. Slightly to the north of downtown, an eerie orange glow hovered above the city, the moon through the marine layer, like a muted flashlight shining through a kid’s blanket during a game of camping in the living room.

We don’t usually know in advance what date night will bring.  Last night, the water called to us, as it usually does. The marine layer kept the heat in, and we took a beautiful night walk along the bay.

Another purpose of the Pilot Episode is to introduce the audience to the main characters:

Vinnie - played by Vinnie
QT – played by QTPie
Moby - played by Moby-Dawg

And a large cast of supporting characters.

More about all of us–you guessed it–in the next exciting episode of…… Life Without TV.

Imagine walking down a street–suburban, city, rural.  Kids are playing hide-and-seek, tag, hopscotch, or riding bikes, jumping rope.  The sing-song of children’s chants mixes with traffic noise and the smell of lasagna or sausage or vegan fare wafting through open windows, and mothers yelling “Johnny!” or “Susan!” to come in to wash up for dinner.

“Aw gee mom, just one more game, just one more inning.”

“Your mother said now,” says gruff-voiced father, as he carries the trash out to the curb.

“Awww, okay. See ya later, Tommy!  Bye guys.”/ ”Aww, okay, bye Tammy.”

Through the curtained windows of most houses, you might see the glow of a television for the rest of the evening and deep into the night. In some, you might see three or four glowing rooms.  In many others, the glow never fades, like nuclear waste.  It glows and glows day after day, decade after decade.

In fact, you’ve probably seen that scene described above….. on TV.

* * * * *

Imagine another scenario:

On that curb, all up and down the block, all over the neighborhood, piled high in every lot, on every corner, overflowing in every garbage can is the television.  Many televisions.  EVERY television.

Idyllic scene turned fantasy turned lunacy!   What!?  No television!  Say it ain’t so, Joe!

* * * * *

I actually don’t wish for an end to television.  It has its place.  It’s the media tool of the 20th and 21st centuries, perhaps rivaled only by the telephone, or personal computer, maybe even the cellular phone.  It’s been in our lives for many important events. . . .

It has helped us through crises, inspired us to help others, motivated us to exercise, to buy, to shop, buy shop buyshopbuyshop, and to watch watch watch for hours gone by oh look at the time I’m going to be tired for work/school/church tomorrow, damn, 3 am!! you’re absolutely sh*ttin’ me! go home my beer-drunk-snoring-friend, off my couch, I’ve gotta sleep, I have a test/a meeting/an important something or other that I’m screwed for tomorrow!

But I no longer watch television.  And my life is infinitely richer without it.

Television: that once glowing tube, that now flat-panel 30 – 60 – 100 inch behemoth, as the case may be.

(I also only barely have a cellular phone, and I know my life is better off without one. I don’t ever have to worry about slamming into a pole while walking.)

But I’m no Luddite. I like my electronic gadgets, my toys. I’m interested in technology.  But I’m infinitely happier without television, commercials, television programming, even cable and pay per view.  My life is fuller, more complete, and happier than those who watch a lot of television.

Am I just an anomaly?  I don’t think so.  I’m not starting a movement.  I’m not following a movement either.  I’m just following my instincts.

There comes a time when someone, anyone, has to say enough.     Enough of all the things television brings you that you don’t want, don’t need, can’t stop, and all the crap that dries up your mind and makes you a mindless robot, a motivationless zombie.  There is a reason they call it being a “couch potato.”  So I say, enough.

Enough of what, you say? That’s what I hope this blog will show you.

“But what do you DO if you don’t watch television?” That’s what the rest of this blog is about.   Tune in, every day, to find out.

“LIVE, it’s every night!”  (with apologies to SNL)

Life without TV.  For a happier world. For a happier you

Picture a glass cathode ray tube: snowy. Watch the camera pan back.  See a giant piece of living room furniture with a teeny tiny CRT in it.   See that television change shape, rotating through many different models, as the focal point rests on the screen itself, still snowy.  The screen gets bigger, the case gets smaller, the screen gets wider, with 16:9 ratio, 24 inches, 30 inches, 60 inches, 108 inch LCD flat panel television.

Everything clears for a second, then images whiz at blurspeed across the screen, dinosaurs to space shuttles.

And then you see a woman, looking mischievous, on the edge of the screen, standing next to and leaning against it.  She twitches her nose. The LCD display disappears.  All that is left is a sea of white.

She giggles and snaps her fingers and disappears.  You hear off screen, “Samantha!!”

(Some of you will know this “Samantha.”  The rest of you, look it up!)

COMING SOON:  Live without TV.  For a happier world.  For a happier you.