For the first time since 1995, I own a television. Hard to be believe, but for the last 15 years, my residences, regardless of living situations, have been TV free. There’s a long and convoluted story behind how that started, which stemmed from childhood issues. Not my own, mind you, but childhood issues.
Keep in mind, lacking a set does not equal watching zero minutes of television programming; I grabbed the occasional episode of South Park or Family guy at a neighbor’s place. Between hulu.com and the news sites, I had a basic sense of what was happening in entertainment and politics, which apparently are one and the same these days.
Thinking about this “absence” now, I can’t say I really missed having one, even though a common exchange when others uncovering my secret went something like this:
Unbeliever: “You really don’t have a TV? What do you do at night?”
Sam: “Read. Write. And chores and whatnot so my weekends are free for relaxation.”
Unbeliever: “But like, what do you do?”
Sam: “It really depends.”
Unbeliever: “You’re Amish, aren’t you?”
Sam: “Episcopalian. But very close.”
Amazon.com ran a one day sale, free shipping and no taxes, so I took the plunge.
In a way, I am part Amish.
After, still no cable. But the DVDs look pretty damn good on a much larger screen.
What TV did you get? HD, I assume? Brand? Size?
Now all you need to do is get netflix and hook some kind of player up to it (xbox360, Roku, MacMini) then you’ll be set.
When I went to college, the first month or so, I missed TV, but after the 2 semesters were up, I didn’t miss it at all and actually couldn’t stand watching it. Commercial interruptions and lack of quality programming made me want to do other things like read or compute instead. I got my first TV in 10 years when I got my new place last year, but I only use it for videogames and DVDs/Netflix and I have no intention of doing anything with Cable except use it for internet access.
Toshiba HD 1080 32 inch. There’s a cool theater mode that increase the picture size substantially, which is helpful for movies in letterbox format.
The plan here is gaming and DVDs, too. If we’re definitely going to stay in the apartment awhile, a basic cable package could work.
I actually got rid of my cable awhile back and haven’t regretted it one bit. The reception from the antennae is actually better anyway, since the cable signal strips a lot of the signal, even the HD channels. And now I don’t have to deal with stinky Time Warner, which is the best thing.
Plus lots of programs can be streamed off the Internet.