Posted by Serenity in things I love, You Say Things Now | 16 Comments
I’m going to miss having a life
When John was a toddler, we decided to get all frugal and cut unnecessary expenses. So we shut off cable. At the time, I was a little bit devastated. I felt less hospitable without cable. My younger siblings sometimes came over, and it bummed me out that they wouldn’t be able to crash in front of the Cosby Show. Eventually we just got used to it, though. My in-laws bought us an antenna for the house, so suddenly we had four, three, two (without snow) channels. Every one of our must-see shows are on ABC because of this. We simply didn’t know about the others.
Well, thanks to a conspiracy between the government and the cable company, we’re about to lose that. So we decided it’s time, and got cable. The hook-up guy came when just the boys and I were home, and he can’t possibly have ever seen three people more thrilled to see him. (Jake didn’t care). Despite my internal drama over how I would continue to raise boys who like to play outside, and even read sometimes, I was mostly just anxious to find out what time Little House on the Prairie was on.
We’ve lived in cable bliss several days now, and we still manage to take showers and get our hours completed for the summer reading program, and – you know – work. So I think it’s working out okay. It’s the key to easily-pleased children really. Just deprive them for years and years and years. Suddenly Spongebob equals a little piece of heaven. And when I said of new phones and gaming systems that exist today, “There’s a lot of fancy stuff out there,” John added, “Yea. Cable…”
Anything else I’ve been missing for ten years? I already know I should check out Gilmore Girls. And I don’t plan on missing another awards show as long as I live. But feel free to turn me on to other gold mines. I promise to still get the novel written somehow.
p.s. Little House on the Prairie? Five p.m., TV Land, every weekday. My first episode was “For the Love of Johnny Johnson”, and I sighed with delight.
You’re going to like Scrubs reruns (think: quirky); that show celebrates friendship well. You will want to check out all those TLC tragedies, I mean reality shows. My kids love iCarly and it makes Dan and I laugh, too.
We have cable. Lots of channels. Nothing’s ever on.
I mostly watch shows on hulu.com, but sometimes there’s an episode of Man vs. Wild or The Simpsons I don’t want to miss. Plus I get to see Primeval (BBC America) via OnDemand.
Sadly, I don’t know of any channels still airing The Gilmore Girls, but it is a MOST EXCELLENT show. I want to own it on DVD but can’t justify the expense for a show I’ve already seen every episode of, most of them more than once. I was terribly sad when they aired the last episode because I didn’t think the storylines were finished yet!!
If you like food with your travel, you’ll love Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern on the Travel channel. Tony is a little uncouth, foul-mouthed at times, but 100% honest in his opinions and assements of the countries he visits.
Enjoy your cable!
We enjoy Discovery Channel. Lots of bugs, mud, explosions…… you’re boys will love it! (And they won’t even realize that they are being exposed to math and physics!)
HGTV’s Divine Design with Candice Olsen … she’s a perfect mixture of humor and design goddess! :-)
I know you already know Friends and I also know you’re above reality TV (I think). Gilmore Girls is a good choice. I’ve heard good things about Friday Night Lights too.
My absolute favorite thing about cable, though, is reruns and movies. Especially if you have good movie channels (inc but not limited to Hallmark, Lifetime, Showtime, etc). Also, you’re bound to get sucked onto TLC. It’s better not to fight it – just go with the flow.
Happy not-having-a-life:)
Sarah, it’s awfully sweet of you to think I’m above reality t.v., but I can’t promise that exclusively. (You know about my Dancing with the Stars obsession surely). Still, I do love the reruns and the movies. They’re much more my style. And, Carol, I think I found Gilmore Girls on ABC Family? I really want to start at the beginning though, so I’ll have to wait until it starts cycling through from the beginning.
oh brother. for us, what was the most difficult was to go to bed at night and not keep watching the history channel. and discovery, yes indeed. and TLC–oh heavens. little people big world is my FAV. and TMC–getting to share great old movies that my kids don’t know about with them… holy cow.
oh yeah, you’re in BIG trouble.
Yes, Zanne, I think we are.
Yes and Gilmore Girls is on twice daily on ABC Family at 9 AM and 4 PM- you must meet the girls you will never be the same again. (I have not had time to watch them this last year but I think they are still on.) I have all of them on CD if you want to borrow them! Have you found all of Friends reruns? We also watch Scrubs at least once or twice daily (Kenton’s fav)
Heck yes, I want to borrow them. Since I’m used to movies and my Friends DVDs, I am totally appalled by the sudden bombardment of COMMERCIALS on television. Any time I can avoid them, I shall.
Mary’s message explains why I didn’t know Gilmore Girls was running in syndication. 9 AM and 4PM, I’m still out fighting corporate America at those hours. On the rare day I stay home sick, I watch Little House, TLC and The Food Network. :-)
I just watched the ENTIRE seven seasons of Gilmore Girls this winter/spring. It’s fabulous. I do highly recommend going through it from beginning to end – it’s like a novel in TV form. Brilliant.
P.S. I checked out Before Green Gables from the library. So excited!
I sincerly hope this doesn’t mean less blogging :( Or book reviews… I count on you for that stuff you know!
Rog and I actually got rid of our dish cause we found ourselves watching the same stuff over and over, (i.e. reruns), and figured it wasn’t worth $60 a month. We went back to reading books, me, doing needle work, planting flowers, etc. and joined net-flix. Got high speed internet, and we know where that has led :) But it works better for us.
Also, I got sick of commercials, commercials, commercials…………… UGH!! Haven’t missed it yet. BUT it is hard on Nic when he comes to visit, as he is now SURE we are “old”! Enjoy!
Be careful with the DVD’s of the Gilmore Girls! I borrowed them from my mom all at once and I kept putting off every responsibility I posess for the sake of squeezing in just one more episode…and then another…and another.
I’m just saying maybe you should set some rules for yourself first.
Oh, and at our house Kevin votes for the NFL Channel most of the time, but I vote for lots of TLC, Hallmark, ABC Family, WE, and Lifetime. I record some shows from those channels. And we second the iCarly nod. Madison LOVES Carly and Sam and can’t get enough of them. Don’t worry. You can fold laundry and match socks AND watch cable. It will be ok.