Television

For the majority of my life, I've only had broadcast television to watch. My childhood is filled with memories of wrestling with bunny ears, trying to balance myself against tiny televisions. Now, I know it's only T.V., but when you start mucking about with all of the cable channels, it starts to feel a lot more like work than leisure. There's something to be said about the simplicity of only having a handful of channels to choose from; I just can't think of it because I'm too busy watching Adult Swim at 4 AM in the morning.

The upside to only having broadcast is that you become an expert. You know what's on at all times. You know exactly what it is you want to watch. There's very little channel flipping and if there's some kind of interference with the regularly scheduled programs, you know about it because you've been there for all of the commercials since they announced it two months ago.

You also get the pleasure of being able to get a little taste of every new show. Everything gets a shot because nothing is particularly unmissable. At a young age, I became a critic before I even knew what a critic was. When I tried out a new cartoon and liked it, I made it my new choice for that time slot. If I thought it was garbage, I never watched it again. I might not have been able to articulate why exactly I made these decisions, but I was sampling pretty much everything and I was forming opinions on all of it.

Then my mother got a decent job and I convinced her we were the only people in the world who still didn't have cable. I almost regret that day. I feel completely different about my T.V. watching now. It isn't about what I have to see anymore; it's about what I happen to land on when I have enough down time to watch T.V. I'm no longer an expert. There's no way I could be. No more could I say I was an expert on books than I could say I was an expert on television programs. There's just far too much content.

Of course, with all of the extra shows, when I finally do find something I like, it's much more personal. I feel like an explorer, discovering new worlds in the triple digit channels. And when I do find something special, it's almost always better than what I find on broadcast T.V. It's not just some generic show made to suck up every demographic imaginable for that time slot. It's made with a specific audience in mind and with that focus, it's better able to serve that audience.

So yes, these days, I find myself watching more cable than broadcast. I'm a big fan of Sons of Anarchy and much of the other original content on FX. I also spend a lot of time watching the Discovery Channel. And of course, my standby, the channel that comes on when I power on my box and the channel that usually stays on all day and all night, is ESPN. Really, the only time I ever venture over to the broadcast world anymore is for local news or football games.

I'm no longer an expert; I can no longer say I know I'm not missing out on anything better when I settle on a program, but I think I have a much more enjoyable T.V. watching experience all the same.