What We(‘ve) Watch(ed)

I (STILL) haven’t watched a television show in the traditional sense since August of 2005. I’ll watch the occasional hockey or baseball game with my son, but not a single “show” over any broadcast medium other than that.

I haven’t missed it a bit.

I have been watching “shows” nearly every night, however. My wife and I grab the laptop, pop in a DVD and watch an (yep, just one) episode of something.

What we’ve watched in the past 24 months (a few of these things were viewed before — but I’ll be damned if I can remember):

1. NewsRadio (Season 1)
2. NewsRadio (Season 2)
3. FireFly (Complete Series)
4. Reno 911 (Season 1)
5. Reno 911 (Season 2)
6. Family Guy (Season 1)
7. Family Guy (Season 2)
8. Family Guy (Season 3)
9. Dead Like Me (Season 1)
10. Dead Like Me (Season 2)
11. Arrested Development (Season 1)
12. Arrested Development (Season 2)
13. Friends (Complete Series)
14. Arrested Development (Season 3)
15. NewsRadio (Season 3)
16. NewsRadio (Season 4)
17. NewsRadio (Season 5)
18. The Office (UK)
19. The Office (US) (Season 1)
20. The Office (US) (Season 2)
21. The Lost Room
22. Reno 911 (Season 1)
23. Entourage (Season 1)
24. Entourage (Season 2)
25. Entourage (Season 3)
26. Heroes (Season 1)

The point of all of this, is that I think television does not work any longer. The advertisements have gotten out of control. The good shows get cancelled, which works well for my manner of watching as we get nice, neat packages of shows in which to purchase. I do think that the right people are more likely to get paid when I buy these — although I don’t care enough to really research that.

All I know, is that it’s a much more fulfilling (and condensed) way to watch good TV — yes, I’m including “Friends” (guilty pleasure).

Broadcast television (in its current form) is in its end days.

An Open Letter to “RanchoManana” on the terroristic RNC/GOP Television Ads

Not watching television any longer, I wanted to see what the GOP was doing for television ads in these weeks preceeding the election. I found terrorism. Flat-out terroristic messages.

A quick definition for you:

ter‧ror‧ism  /ˈtɛrəˌrɪzəm/ Pronunciation Key – Show Spelled Pronunciation[ter–uh-riz-uhm]–noun

1.	the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, esp. for political purposes.

2.	the state of fear and submission produced by terrorism or terrorization.

3.	a terroristic method of governing or of resisting a government.

---

Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.Using “terrorism” to “terrorize” us — Delicious.

“The Republican National Committee is responsible for the content of this advertising.” You said a mouthful there.

I proceeded to another ad — also terroristic, based on a straw-man argument…

…and commented:

“Yeah, it’s a lot better to make our kids (and their kids and their kids…) pay.
This is a ridiculous ad. This is one screwed-up country.”

I got a couple responses and tried to respond to one of them thoughtfully, but YouTube limits responses to 500 characters (and here we are).

First the response that prompted my lengthy retort:

You’re right. Wht don’t you get out and go live in France or Germany where the governments confiscate up to 60% from the average working class income earners for “social welfare” programs. 8.9% unemployment rate sound like a plan to you? dolt.

the font is a mess, but love the message

…and they haven’t the reasoning or listening skills to realize they are being lied to.

But mostly the stupid part.

This World is Sorely Lacking in the Fred Rogers Department

Please watch this.

Here’s the backstory:
In 1969 the US Senate had a hearing on funding the newly developed Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The proposed endowment was $20 million, but President Nixon wanted it cut in half because of the spending going on in the Vietnam War. This is an video clip of the exchange between Mr. Rogers and Senator Pastore, head of the hearing. Senator Pastore starts out very abrasive and by the time Mr. Rogers is done talking, Senator Pastore’s inner child has heard Mr. Rogers and agreed with him. Enjoy.

What do you do with the mad that you feel
When you feel so mad you could bite?
When the whole wide world seems oh, so wrong…
And nothing you do seems very right?
What do you do? Do you punch a bag?
Do you pound some clay or some dough?
Do you round up friends for a game of tag?
Or see how fast you go?
It’s great to be able to stop
When you’ve planned a thing that’s wrong,
And be able to do something else instead
And think this song:
I can stop when I want to
Can stop when I wish
I can stop, stop, stop any time.
And what a good feeling to feel like this
And know that the feeling is really mine.
Know that there’s something deep inside
That helps us become what we can.
For a girl can be someday a woman
And a boy can be someday a man.
© 1968 Fred M. Rogers

TV is back (sort of)

Last week, we reintroduced limited use of the television in the house. We’re giving the kids a half-hour in the morning after breakfast (so we can get stuff done) and a half hour before dinner as this can quickly turn into tantrum-time making it more difficult to actually get them the dinner they need to get past it.Ang and I still are keeping our distance, although we watched the “Firefly” DVDs during the month of January. Good stuff.

So I’m not thrilled about it, but it will help keep tempers down a few of the hectic times during the day. We went just over 5 months. I personally am not looking back.