This Ought To Be Fun
So my wife and I decided to do the unthinkable: we cancelled cable! Seriously, we are now without any form of cable television. It also seems that the "air" stations barely come in, if at all. Such is the downfall of living in a valley. Maybe we'll have to get a bigger antenna in order to watch "House" or "24" next season.
Apart from my freshman year of college, this will mark the first time since cable TV became available in Arkansas (my parents were early adopters) that I have been without cable television for an extended period of time. Personally, I don't see this as problematic. TV thinks I'm stupid, and for this, I forsake it by and large. I rely on the internet (which we have not cancelled) for all my news these days, as well as the largest proportion of my own entertainment, thanks to a wireless internet router and a laptop, and a penchant for gaming both online and off. My wife, on the other hand (whose idea this was initially), might have a harder time without HGTV and TLC. Plus, boredom brought on by a lack of TV might inspire her to plan activities for the both of us, thereby infringing on my own aforementioned chosen form of entertainment. We'll see how that goes.
Overall, though, after the initial decompression and withdrawl, I expect this to be a good and momentous thing for us.
Apart from my freshman year of college, this will mark the first time since cable TV became available in Arkansas (my parents were early adopters) that I have been without cable television for an extended period of time. Personally, I don't see this as problematic. TV thinks I'm stupid, and for this, I forsake it by and large. I rely on the internet (which we have not cancelled) for all my news these days, as well as the largest proportion of my own entertainment, thanks to a wireless internet router and a laptop, and a penchant for gaming both online and off. My wife, on the other hand (whose idea this was initially), might have a harder time without HGTV and TLC. Plus, boredom brought on by a lack of TV might inspire her to plan activities for the both of us, thereby infringing on my own aforementioned chosen form of entertainment. We'll see how that goes.
Overall, though, after the initial decompression and withdrawl, I expect this to be a good and momentous thing for us.
Labels: meta
posted by Benjamin at 2:22 PM
3 Comments:
I, for one, welcome our new broadcast-only overlords! Since transitioning to the Land of the Impoverished Grad Student about five years ago, I've only had broadcast channels through my cable company (a requirement to get cable modem, and I LOVES me some cable modem), and life has been good. Granted, I still get the Discovery Channel, so my geek lust is still basically fulfilled, but I've discovered that there's usually plenty to watch on the major networks (not the least of which, I agree, is "House"...friggin' love that). Plus, after splurging on a TiVo about a year ago, TV-watching has become much more enjoyable.
I will admit, though, that I have a thinly-veiled lust for the Military Channel, which I will likely take the cable plunge to acquire once school is done. Have you seen some of that stuff?! Sheer, unadulterated coolness...
Personally, I don't think I'd miss our cable much.
Mainly because my wife and daughter monopolize the channels. This has been going on for a couple years, and now, when I do watch TV, I think "What crap".
You'll do fine. More time to surf the web....
I was the same way. There were exactly 4 shows that "we" would watch -- 24, House, NBC's "How I Met Your Mother" (the only sitcom I've watched since I stopped watching "Friends" about 4 years ago, but it's got Doogie Howser as an evil womanizer, so it's all good), and that new show on Sci-fi, "Eureka" (which is corny-but-enjoyable, I think. It'll probably get cancelled, though). 3/4 of those we can get without cable. There were NO shows that "I" would watch, and the rest of the time, the TV was tuned to her channels (with the exception of the 5:30-7:00 weekday block of King of the Hill. Hank Hill is my personal hero).
The only thing I really, truly miss is Good Eats on the Food Network. Alton Brown, I believe, truly is God's gift to foodies like myself. I mean, he's the freakin' MacGyver of the kitchen! What's not to like?
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