9:21 PM// Cable TV

Cable Television. Oh how I wish for the early days of television when there were four broadcast channels only. I currently perceive two main problems with cable television today:

(1) Cable Television is expensive. There are 65-70 channels in a typical basic cable package. I believe there are anywhere between 100-200 channels available in the fancy new digital cable packages. I have to wonder why anyone would pay $40-$50/month for 70 channels. Who needs 70 bloody channels? Local/national/international news, a few favorite situation comedies, informational shows like Discovery and The Learning Channel, but what else? I own an antennae for my TV for one sole purpose: to watch new episodes of The Simpsons 24 hours before I finish downloading them.

(2) There is nothing on. I'll be damned if I'm going to pay $50/month for 100 channels with nothing worth watching. 60% of Americans are overweight and getting worse. I attribute this mostly to our 100 channel+ fast food society. People plop themselves in front of the TV for hours and hours at a time, accumulating fat all the while. And why are we watching TV? Is there something interesting on? Did we plan on watching for hours? No -- sadly we watch TV for the sake of watching it. My reason for switching the TV on is to watch something. The so-called channel surfer is no friend of mine. So if you're going to "veg out" in front of the tele, at least turn to something worthwhile. Too many TVs are switched on for the sake of the glow and not for the show.

Point in case to my last paragraph: last time I switched on the tele during the so-called "primetime" hours, the antennae was tuned to "Fox". It was a game show involving two contestants who tried to outdo each other with physical feats. The highly dramatized feat d'jour was this: who can hang onto handle bars suspended above a swimming pool with cold water raining down for the longest period of time? That's right folks, a man and women each bet he/she could hang in the air longer than the other. We watched them dook it out for about 5 minutes with dramatic music playing and fancy camera angles swooping and diving around them. And network television has reached a new low. There's unimaginative, uncreative, and then there's just plain brainless.

One more point before I close this rant: 25% of all television consists of commercial breaks. If you're going to watch TV -- and there are a very few quality programs out there -- record it, buy it, or download it. Out of every 4 hours of broadcast television, 1 hour is pure commercialization. Ugh.

Added 2004 August 31:

A satellite dish company called me in an attempt to persuade me to give them money in exchange for a satellite dish TV service. I love it when television and long distance telemarketers call me because if you argue with them instead of hanging up they think there's a chance you'll be convinced to buy their service. His main argument went something like this:

Him: Do you subscribe to cable TV currently?

Me : No.

Him: Well if you did, our service could be as much as $10/month cheaper

Me : But I don't. So your main argument is that your service is $40/month more expensive than what I have now?

Him: Don't you want to be able to watch TV?

Me : I do watch TV. And it doesn't cost $40/month. I have an antennae.

Him: Well with an antennae you only get a few channels. With our service you get over 70 channels on the most basic package, and over 150 with the best package.

Me : Do I get BBC World Service?

Him: We have a package that gives you BBC America.

Me : Well that's all I want.

Him: You get 10 HBO's and 15 ESPN's.

Me : I'm sorry, I only watch good TV.

I found out later that the package that gives you BBC America is the most expensive package with over 150 channels. Something like $70/month if I remember correctly.