I used to be a huge football fan, especially where the University of Texas was concerned. Nothing would keep me from an actual or televised game. For decades I planned my weekends around the games scheduled for teevee. Decades, I tell you.
But about eight years ago I stopped watching television. This was mostly due to freaking out in my personal life, rather than any conscious decision to abandon the medium. And when we moved to the wilds of Taos County, there simply wasn’t any to be had. Now we have it, 215 channels’ worth, courtesy of our landlord, and today I decided to see what the Texas/Ohio State game felt like. I lasted for a single series of downs and one change of possession. Hook ‘em, Horns, yahoo.
The game itself was okay, but the pointless flashing, spinning network graphics turned me off. In between every snap was a different idiot injecting fake drama that had little to do with the action on the field. And then I remembered that those were the reasons I’d begun to taper off from football even before I stopped watching television. Bah! I was already comfy on the sofa, so I switched to a PBS nature show about Madagascar while I dunked a fig bar in my coffee.
That was easier, and I watched for quite a while, but eventually the anthropomorphizing got to me. The goddamn lemurs were “irritated,” “lazy,” or “happy,” and reduced to pawns in a tiresome narrative that stressed the apocryphal struggle for existence that nature show producers have been stuck on for 50 years at least. And so I turned it off without learning whether the lemurs had “won.”
Might watch the next episode of “Deadwood,” though. Moderation in all things!
Heh.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Been off TV completely for over a year now. On a strange day I bought a large plasma HD set. I am excited about baseball after listening to a lot on the radio this season, and was hoping to catch the playoffs.
It’s sitting on my floor right now. Looking at such a tight, pretty, amalgam of high tech. It’s like a portal or something.
But I haven’t even turned it on. Nope, I’m afraid of turning it on and being disappointed by all the crap all over again.
Well, it isn’t the teevee, it’s you. I mean, it’s about how it makes you feel, you know? Your motivation sounds pure enough.
Nothing wrong with being excited about baseball.
Too often I sound like some kind of ascetic weirdo when it comes to teevee. But being off the medium for a long time does increase one’s sensitivity to certain aspects of it, which increases the difficulty of accepting it again without making judgements. Take commercials, for instance: once upon a time, I’d watch this one or that and think, “wow, that’s clever,” or “hey, that’s funny.” But now I just don’t want them going into my head…