Who needs TV?
Today at coffee with a group of active and retired farmers we got to talking about TV. I found it quite interesting, as we only have 3 channels here at the farm, and they barely come in due to only having rabbit ears for antenna.
These guys grew up either without TV or in the early years of B&W. Now they have dish and HDTV plasma sets.
I posit that one can exist just fine without paying $50/month+ for digital TV. What do you get for the extra money? Just more commercials to flip through...
At the hotel the last weekend for the family get-together, I went back to my old ways when we had cable and started flip-flip-flipping through the channels, looking for something to waste my time on. More time than not I was going past commericals or Spanish language programs than actually finding something worthwhile.
Oh sure, the History Channel comes to mind as something that I like on dish or cable. But is it worth spending so much a month just for that channel? I'm not much of a sports fan, and I can keep up with the news pretty well on my XM radio. So what's the point?
As I just mentioned, I have XM. IMHO, its worth the $15/month or so for it. So is my DSL Internet service for $35/month. So, I guess we're already spending that $50/month in lieu of dish/cable. However, at least with Internet I'm getting more out of it than sitting around gathering dust on the couch. I can at least pretend to be a world-class writer on this blog! :)
These guys grew up either without TV or in the early years of B&W. Now they have dish and HDTV plasma sets.
I posit that one can exist just fine without paying $50/month+ for digital TV. What do you get for the extra money? Just more commercials to flip through...
At the hotel the last weekend for the family get-together, I went back to my old ways when we had cable and started flip-flip-flipping through the channels, looking for something to waste my time on. More time than not I was going past commericals or Spanish language programs than actually finding something worthwhile.
Oh sure, the History Channel comes to mind as something that I like on dish or cable. But is it worth spending so much a month just for that channel? I'm not much of a sports fan, and I can keep up with the news pretty well on my XM radio. So what's the point?
As I just mentioned, I have XM. IMHO, its worth the $15/month or so for it. So is my DSL Internet service for $35/month. So, I guess we're already spending that $50/month in lieu of dish/cable. However, at least with Internet I'm getting more out of it than sitting around gathering dust on the couch. I can at least pretend to be a world-class writer on this blog! :)
posted by bgunzy at 11/30/2006 06:22:00 PM
3 Comments:
I agree. I have high speed internet and XM radio. They provide me a lot more entertainment than TV does. Anything good on TV, I can find somewhere on the internet.
I have broadband Internet and satellite TV. While I don't really watch much of anything you would consider “network television” I do watch stuff like the History Channels, The Learning Channel and all of those types of documentary types of programming channels. As far as regular televisions type of shows there are only a couple that I regularly watch. Most of the shows on your regular NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX etc. is just so much crap. I just have no interest in sitcoms or or even what passes for drama on the networks. It's just horribly written and panders to the lowest common denominator.
I will say there is one bright point I have found and that is the new re-make of Battlestar Galactica on the Sci-Fi network. I'm not a real sci-fi fanboy but the series is quite intelligently written and well done. OK. This week was a little over the top with the whole gyno-mythology boxing thing but normally it's extraordinarily good especially when compared with the rest of the dreck on television at the moment.
Oh and old Andy Griffith Show re-runs on TV land are great. The black and white ones. If Andy is in color keep on goin'
Agreed, anonymous - when NBC would occasionally show Battlestar Galactica, the "reimagined" series, on prime time, I tried to catch it. I think its great stuff. Same as the documentaries, History channel, etc. The problem is, you have to pay for the crap to get the gold nuggets that pass through the system.
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