When my husband and I moved into our apartment we were trying to find ways to save money. We had to have a landline phone, despite both having cell phones because my husband is a police officer and it’s a requirement by the department. Given I was planning on working from home, internet was a must as well, so our major sacrifice became cable. We said we weren’t going to have cable, and even though the phone company tried to get us to bundle satellite with our DSL/phone we refused, because it would still save us $300 a year. We figured we have an extensive movie collection, and a playstation and the internet, and most of the shows that we’d been watching: Buffy, Angel and Firefly and Star Trek were all ending and we had absolutely no interest in reality T.V. so why would need television?
Ah, we were so wrong. Even though we don’t have a current television feed we’ve found ourselves keeping up with more shows than ever before.
For the longest time the majority of shows I watched were from Japan, as I’m a big fan of anime, but the source of this was the fact that two months after we moved into our apartment I wound up not working, my health was taking a toll towards the end of my pregnancy so I wound up home before we anticipated it, and unable to do very much except sit around. So, I searched the internet for things to peak my interest, and I really wasn’t in the mood to read subtitles at that time.
My husband was a big ’24′ addict, and so I caught myself up with that show, then I looked for other things. We borrowed the first season of ‘The 4400′ from my husband’s parents, and then I tracked the rest of that down. I remembered a friend mentioning how good ‘LOST’ and ‘Supernatural’ were so I went looking for that as well. I caught a commercial for the new series of ‘Doctor Who’ because I’d loved the show when I was small, and other series that I hadn’t seen completely because I’d been in college and there was no cable up there, like ‘Voyager’, ‘Battlestar Galactica’, ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’, ‘Smallville’.
So, now, that I’m all up to date on all these shows we scramble for ways to keep up with the ones which are still playing without succumbing to actually getting cable. On a weekly basis we’re acquiring episodes from seven T.V. shows, as our interest has also been peaked in ‘Rome’ and ‘Heroes’ as well as the other ones, and trying to find ways to watch before friends spoiler us. It’s funny what becomes a sanity saving necessity even though you were convinced that you could do without it. My husband was playing ‘Oblivion’ a lot and the recordings were piling up unwatched, at the middle of the second week I threatened him with a frying pan if he turned the computer game on and we couldn’t watch ‘our shows’.
To think I didn’t use to believe my mother when I was ten and she told me I was a ‘telly addict’.
Well, you know what they say… the first step is admitting you have a problem.
Surfing in from the carnival… great post!
We splurged on a DVR through the cable company and I can’t live without it now.
I’m right there with you on the no cable thing. Sometimes I wish I had it, there are shows I’d love to watch that aren’t available, but I’ve found plenty of them to peak my interest on basic TV.
I’m a total telly addict too. It’s on 24/7 here. Sometimes just for the noise factor.
I could not live without my satellite tv. Well, I probably could but it would suck.
It seems like you are keeping pretty good in the loop. And Supernatural rocks! 
heh we watch far too many shows to be able to see them all on a regular basis. they all come on at the same times it seems and we are forever switching back and forth on commercials.
I think there are about 5 channels we watch regularly…the rest I could do without, but they don’t let you pick and choose!
Quite recently, we went just over a year without television, and it really didn’t seem to be too terrible for any of us!
Between the internet, movies, and video games – we were pretty set!
And then, of course, there’s books! Heehee
I want to rent 24. It looks sooo good. I don’t watch tv much. We rent dvd’s once in a while. I didn’t know your husband was a policeman! No wonder you don’t like the scary shows like I do.
We don’t even have basic TV *L*
We do like the scary shows, as long as they’re fantastic. Hubbie doesn’t like to watch things like CSI and everything because he’ll poke holes through them in how things they show are “not accurate” and for me, it’s just not wantting to see him doing those things…because I have a very good “imagination”. I had a dream where he got shot on duty and lost his memory of me…and since then NOT WATCHING ANYTHING LIKE THAT *L* but give me something semi-real as long as it has an element of fantasy and I’m set, hence “Heroes” or something like that.
I totally know what you mean here. I hate Japanese TV programs (I really CANNOT STAND them), so when I’m living in Japan (which is about half the year), I have to find other ways to, ahem, “acquire” the TV shows I want to keep up with!
Not a TV addict, but sure do like this blog template!~
I can’t imagine living without my 600 channels (of which I MIGHT watch 5-6 regularly lol) on satellite! Funny tho, how most of the time I can’t find anything worth watching
I think the DVD boxed sets are the best things since sliced bread!
Oh, I hate it when my hubby does that to a show I’m watching. He’ll pick it all apart while I’m watching it! I just want to smack him!
I know exactly how you must have felt without a TV at home. When my housemate left last year, he took his TV with him, and I found myself surfing and blogging through the nights.
But now that I’ve gotten a TV myself, at least I stay away from the PC for some time in a day! Hhaha