Cutting the cable

September 28, 2005


I’ve lived a decent life: I’ve never been without shelter, I survived college intact, I’ve been fortunate enough to travel and eat gourmet foods, and I’ve got a plethora of great friends. Through all of this, there’s been one constant – one thing that I’ve always had as part of my life and really took advantage of throughout that time.

Cable television.

And, starting with our next billing period, we will no longer have it. I am going to be officially out of the loop as far as cable television goes.

I’m kind of scared.

Here’s the deal – I don’t watch TV anymore. In fact, I would have gotten rid of cable months ago except I was under the assumption that I needed it in order to keep our cable internet connection. I’ve started reading books when I get home at night, and I don’t use our TV for anything but movies and NBA Live 2006 during the day. Kerrie has told me that she would like to get rid of cable because all she watches is the Food Network and whatever random reality show she happens to get caught up in while flipping channels.

Still, it’s always been there. It’s always been right there, hooked behind the television, ready to pipe that sweet cable goodness onto our screen.

There will be times I’ll miss it – I’ll miss the NBA on TNT. I’ll miss watching eighteen Law and Order reruns in a row on Sunday nights. I’ll miss ESPN, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and the History Channel.

But you know what? I never get to watch any of this, and even if I did I can still get every single NBA game on Sirius radio, as well as any ESPN news. Aqua Teen Hunger Force is on DVD, as is Law and Order, and the History Channel is just 95% World War II anyway.

I won’t miss the countless reality shows. I won’t miss feeling obliged to turn the TV on during some quiet moment in our house. I won’t be drawn into watching some lame show during the afternoon because I’m too lazy to do anything else.

Right now we’re paying $35 per month for something we use only a few hours a week. That’s enough to make me feel a lot better about my decision.

But I can’t help but to be a little scared. I’m sending myself back to the dark ages, as far as information goes. I’ll be completely shut off from sweeps month, and from 24-hour hurricane coverage, and from Iron Chef. I’ll no longer be able to catch an episode of Golden Girls, or a rare appearance of The Family Ties. In fact, I’ll be closed off from all of the mind-numbingly horrible shows that pass as “situation comedies” these days.

Hmm. I guess maybe this was healthier than I had thought.

Tags: Vilhauer |

Comments

7 Responses to “Cutting the cable”

  1. dawnne gee on September 28th, 2005 122 pm

    The cost of basic cable is, in my humble opinion, worth being able to watch The Daily Show alone. However, since that’s about all I watch, cable news being somewhat of an oxymoron, and cable newscasters being largely moronic, besides some sports, what else is there, indeed? I’ve been thinking of dumping it myself, especially since you can get the good parts of The Daily Show on RSS feeds anymore. Good luck with your cable-less venture!

  2. wick on September 28th, 2005 751 pm

    If you need a cable tv fix, try unpluging your cable from the cable modem, and screwing it on your tv, I don’t know if this still works, but worth a shot.

  3. Corey Vilhauer on September 28th, 2005 851 pm

    That would work, except the cable modem is two floors below the tv.

    However, if I can’t get the Superbowl in with my bunny ears, I could certainly try that.

  4. steph on September 30th, 2005 1008 am

    Corey,
    I am in the same spot as you, I rarely watch cable TV, and if it was not for Russel’s love of Cartoon Network I would definately press the issue about disconnecting cable alittle harder. I think you will eventually realize that you don’t miss it at all. However, there will probably be some time of withdrawl, but I think you will come out of it just fine.
    (PS- If you are really hard up you can always come to our house for now:)
    Steph

  5. Corey Vilhauer on September 30th, 2005 1254 pm

    Sweet… I’ll be over in a few minutes — the Golden Girls is almost on.

  6. roberta on October 3rd, 2005 846 am

    kerrie told me about the cutting of the cable. today is the day. the sad day that you bid farewell to the crap that keeps me sane. i love tv, most importantly i love TIVO and I would only be able to TIVO like 2 shows if I didn’t have cable. that would be dumb and shameful. the TIVO needs to be able to continually record crap that is only available on cable. congratulations on having better things to do than be obsessed with TV…wait, you are obsessed with Sirius. Anyway…happy cable-less life to you.

  7. Corey Vilhauer on October 3rd, 2005 1203 pm

    Yeah. Sirius is keeping me sane.

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