About a month or two ago, my cable provider, Suddenlink, unexpectedly deleted the only channel I cared about – Turner Classic Movies. I was heartbroken and tried to fill the void with HGTV and TLC. I found that beautiful bedrooms and batty brides were no replacement for my black and white classics, but I managed. However, now they have gone too far.
Suddenlink had a falling out with Viacom and dropped the Comedy Channel.
This has become a
major issue in my little household because now my husband is bereft without his evening dose of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, the Huntley-Brinkley of satirical news. (Oh please, really…? Chet Huntley and David Brinkley? The ORIGINAL television news team when news was fact-based and journalists were unbiased. Seriously? Click here for a refresher.)
Anyhow, without Stewart and Colbert my other half is watching a lot more Pawn Stars and is seeking out ways to dump cable and move to this century with a SMART TV. I believe that is an oxymoron.
Last week, I got home very late after an evening meeting and plopped down on the couch then started clicking away my tension by flipping channels. I stumbled on Man Vs. Food and landed in a stupor watching one episode and was slipping easily into a second helping when I pulled myself together and killed the Cyclops. The off button prevented me from watching the host down an ocean of oysters after he had polished off enough fried catfish in the previous half hour to feed a family reunion.
Gluttony really isn’t entertaining. Nor are the other seven deadly sins that are the fodder for television – Pride, Envy, Lust, Anger, Greed, and Sloth. But we watch it anyway.
Will a television that is SMART be any better than the dumb one I have now? I doubt it. It will only be as wise as I am.