Monday, August 22, 2011

Do you talk to the TV?

If my husband is home, the TV is probably on. Even if he isn't watching it, it his background noise of choice. If we're settled in for the evening or a rainy afternoon and I don't like what he is watching, I move to another room. If not, chances are that one of us will end up talking to the TV. He will often ask if people are really that stupid (hello? what does it say about us that we have this so-call reality TV show on?) or I will comment on old TV shows like westerns from his childhood. I can excuse the perfect makeup, hairdos and ironed dresses from that era. I think viewers were so happy to be entertained by the box in their living rooms back then, those implausible details didn't matter. That doesn't mean that I won't be snarky and ask which wagon carried the stylist and which one sold Victoria's Secrets. Where did they get those pointy bras on the trail to the gold rush? 
U-verse Cable is a good/bad thing for a couple like us. An admitted TV addict and a potential one. We record shows, sometimes 4 at a time, and watch them at odd hours, breezing through commercials. I would be hard pressed to tell you what time or channel some of our favorite shows are on. 

Remember when the TV season ran from September through May? Summer reruns didn't matter because we were probably outside anyway. If we were in for some reason, seeing a few shows for the second time wasn't such a bad thing if we really liked Andy and Barney or Lucy and Ethel. Now that we've reached the age of delicacy, we're inside after the mosquitoes come out. I don't like being a delicacy on their menu. Humidity has me inside more than it used to also. Instead of just sweating glistening, now I often get a sinus headache. With the luxury of central air, something we didn't have as kids or the first half of our marriage, we choose climatic comfort in the hours before bed or even all day on a particularly retched weather day.
Cable channels tapped into addicts like us and began offering summer series. Last year I watched way too much TV. This season I dropped a few shows that I had watched last year. Rookie Blue and Covert Affairs are two of them. They were ok last season, I just wasn't that hooked and wanted to shorten my viewing list of recorded shows. Another one that I dropped was Hawthorne.
Between hearing endless commercials with upcoming promos and hearing enough of the actual show while hubby watches it, I feel like I am still tuned it and this has me talking to the TV from another room! What the heck is wrong with her character? I haven't disliked a character this much in a long time. Three people have recently told me that they feel the same way but are committed to finishing out the season. 

Good grief!

We should all be so committed to our personal relationships, and talking to people instead of at TVs, right?

I'd have more to say but an I Love Lucy marathon is about to begin and I need get a diet Coke and claim my chair. 

5 comments:

Sewconsult said...

Are you sure that we aren't twins? Except for watching Lucy, I think that we are just too similar not to be. The main (and my real reason) for building our sunroom was that I could not stand to be in the hot humid TN air and be bitten by all the mosquitoes. I have developed such a sensitivity to them that if I have a bite, the air swells up about the size of a silver dollar. Remember those? Thanks for the chuckles.
Beckie

SkippyMom said...

One of my fondest memories was when my children were small and the youngest was just a baby. In order to get lunch together and nurse the baby I would turn on "I Love Lucy" followed by "Andy Griffith". They loved those shows and the giggling was infectious. One day they came running into the kitchen, all four of them, while I was holding their sleeping baby sister screaming "Mom, Mom. We have color TV now!!! Did you know? It is color!!! How cool is that?"
Seems that is the day that the syndication of Andy Griffith had started to show the newer episodes that were shot in color. heehee

When I read your post title I said "YES!" Evidently I talk to blogs too. :wink:

Debbie said...

Well, first, I stand convicted as guilty with you as to the talking to the TV. I do it on the news, mostly.

My four favorite words: Are you KIDDING me? I apply it to nearly any topic. I'm always so flabbergasted. Why? I do not know. It's always the same story!

As to leaving it on, I stopped that. Earlier in the year, I decided to try a "turn off" season. I didn't miss it. I like the silence better.

But now, when Lucy comes on? That's worth watching. I think years ago, we didn't have the QUANTITY of TV, but we certainly had better QUALITY.

My favorite old show is "My Three Sons".

Blondie's Journal said...

I don't talk to the TV but I do laugh hysterically at some of the things they say and do on reality shows. But shhhh...I am addicted to many of them! It doesn't really bother me...I watch TV very rarely, I just like to read more. But when I do, it's really a lot of fluff! I have to be able to pick up in the middle of a season if need be, so there really doesn't have to be a lot going on! Just mindless entertainment!

Thanks for another funny post...I like the cartoons, too!

XO,
Jane

KTW said...

Yes, yes, yes I do! Why not? I mean surely those characters need some coaching from someone with a little common sense, right? But my favorite time to talk to it is during baseball games. Those umpires DEFINITELY need my help, don't ya know! ;)