Monday, February 25, 2008

The T.V. Should it Stay or Should it Go?

In early December, halfway through an episode of Grey’s Anatomy, I announced to my husband that I would watch the rest of the show, but then I would be turning off the tv for good. I told him he, of course, could continue to indulge in a bit of tv goodness now and then, but me and tv were done. What caused the break-up? Was it just the fact that I couldn’t stand to watch Meredith and Derek go through yet another hard time? While that has caused me irrational sadness in my heart (They’re perfect together! Beautiful people! Smarts! Doctors! Why can’t they figure a simple thing like a relationship out? How hard is this?!!!), the real reason behind the break up was two-fold. First, the ads had begun to cause me actual, feel-able nausea. I couldn’t take another cell phone ad or Macy’s ad or Target jingle. We don’t have TiVo, so the commercials just came with the package. Second, I didn’t like the ability the tv had of sucking me in for an entire evening of pointless entertainment. It was the brink of winter and I knew if I didn’t pull the plug, I would succumb to the usual winter pattern of sitting down to ‘just watch one show’ and find myself still watching a couple hours later. This despite the fact that I only actually liked two shows, the Office and Grey’s. (Jill has told me that this whole turning off the tv thing is awfully convenient what with the Writer’s Strike and all. She may have a point.)

So, that brings me to today. Last night I tuned into the Oscars for a bit, mostly to see if "Juno" got the props it deserved (it didn't), but that was the first time I had turned on the tv since the big shut off in December. I also wanted to see if, by turning off the tv, I was missing something. As it turns out, I really don’t miss it and after last night's lapse I feel even stronger about my tv blackout. I like my evenings full of reading or knitting or, gasp, talking with my husband. Which begs the question, should the tv stay or should it go? Our tv is a little 13-inch thing that my parents used to have in their motor home. It was a side-grade from our black and white tv. I say side-grade because it wasn’t exactly an upgrade (the black and white had better reception, though you had to tune in channels with a needle nose pliers) and it wasn’t really a downgrade (after all, this tv has a remote, so we can quickly and easily surf the 3 channels we get in our cable-less house). It’s not like the tv takes up a lot of space, but, still, a cubic foot of space in a small house is nothing to dismiss. So, I ask you, fellow purgers, if a tv isn’t being watched, does it still deserve a space in my house?

2 comments:

Rachel said...

Like a battery powered radio in a disaster survival kit, you should keep the TV. You may want to check the news if the world comes to an end or watch a little if you break a leg. I don't mean to sound so dooms-day but I always consider the what-ifs.

I also gave up on fiction TV during another dysfunctional episode of Grey a year ago. I wonder if the show's producers would like to know how many TV viewers gave it up because of the idiotic characters...

Jim said...

Excellent point about the world coming to an end, especially here in a town where tornadoes are a possibility, but our town has no tornado siren (so random). I guess the TV will stay, dusty in its little corner until we need it in a crisis.

Indeed, I think the producers of Grey's should know that there are at least a handful of people who gave up, not only on their show, but on TV in general because of the downslide of their show! So funny.