Rotting the Brain with Television??? by Robin Janney

I have a confession: I did not watch the Oscars.

Shocking, I know.  But I have not had television in almost five years.  The Mister and I live off our DVD's and Netflix.  This isn't a purposeful lifestyle choice, like how some people frown on television as if it is something evil.  It's more of a cost efficient choice.  As in, we can't afford cable or Direct TV or Dish, so we do without.

best viewing is when the sun goes down...

The night of the Oscars, I became so jealous watching Facebook posts and Tweets about them that I just gave it up!  I shut everything down and went to bed to read.  I had thought about following up C.P.'s post about movie husbands with one about movie presidents but instead I've decided to talk about television.

Sometimes I miss it.  Like the news - well, just a little.  Like The Big Bang Theory.  Those guys speak my language, not the science, but the geek speak.  And Criminal Minds!  NCIS.  CSI: NY.  Anything Star Trek (except Voyager - I was never able to get into that).

My husband and I will start watching CSI: NY on Netlfix and watch show after show.  After a few Netflix will ask us if we're still watching.  While I understand why they do that, the last time it happened I said to Mr. Janney, "You'd think they'd know us better by now."  He just laughed.

never buy a big box of fruit for 2 people...ever

Some will argue that TV rots the brain.  And while I agree that some of it is pretty rotten, kind of like the oranges taking root in my kitchen, not all of it is.  And I even once made the argument, to my eleventh grade English teacher of all people, that sometimes our brain needs a rest.  I love reading, and imagining different worlds...but sometimes life is just too much and your brain needs to let someone else do the imagining for you because you're just too numb. An interesting side note is that this particular teacher agreed with me, although that may have had more to do with the fact that he was a fellow Trekkie.

We all have stressful days.  Spouses, and children, pets and co-workers...and bosses.  Things break, people get sick.  Watching TV might not be the answer for everyone.  But for some of us it is.  When I need to just be I'll cue up a favorite show on Netflix and just let them play.  Once my brain feels more capable of breathing on its own, then I'll pick up a book or my pen and let my imagination roam free.

And my biggest disappointment about not having any "real" television...is because my favorite sitcom isn't on  streaming for Netflix and will probably never be.  You'd never get me away from the TV then.  M*A*S*H is my all time favorite.  Alan Alda has the best laugh ever.  I much prefer the TV series to the movie that was made two years earlier.  The show with its antics and pranks makes me laugh, and as we all know...laughter truly is the best medicine.  And...confession time: I didn't like the series finale that much either.  I don't know who that guy was, but that was not the Hawkeye Pierce we knew and loved.  I cried when Colonel Blake died on his way home from the war...I remember how the directors withheld that information from the actors until the scene was taped, so that those were real reactions we got to the news.  And when Radar left to go home as well, the scene where Hawkeye saluted him even though Radar was a lowly corporal and Hawkeye outranked him still tears me right up.

Of course, as Mr. Janney will tell you, I tear up plenty during CSI: NY as well.  I'm just a sap for those moments I guess. :)

What shows do you like to watch?