I'm serious about this. One of the first things I did when I got home from work Tuesday night was delete a handful of shows from the DVR that I hadn't gotten around to watching yet and cancel all of the upcoming recordings were scheduled. It didn't even hurt when I deleted the unwatched Heroes or canceled future recordings of The Closer and Saving Grace.
Now, when I watch TV, it will be to watch a DVD that I have. If someone else is watching TV, I won't go out of my way to avoid it. But I'm not going to seek it out anymore.
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The only time I ever miss it is when I can't participate in work related conversations beginning with, "did you see [show] last night?" In my mind that's a very minor annoyance.
Given that I didn't miss it enough to try and replace the television immediately, after a few months I canceled those plans. It's nice to not have a cable bill and I think I'm better off for not even owning a television.
(Okay, I did eventually buy one of those portable 5" black/white numbers, but that's strictly for power-off emergencies. Other than an initial check of the operation, it's consistently been up on a shelf above my desk.)
1) A sports broadcast
2) A DVD
3) A game console logo
That's pretty much it.
And The Closer and Saving Grace seasons are over anyway. Those are short-season (10 eps? 13?) shows, like Monk and Eureka and Psych.
I've vowed not to let the TV interfere (well "vowed" is too strong of a word), and to really USE the DVR.
It's not that I'm against TV. I'm against passive viewing, which is what I used to do a lot of. The DVR made my viewing more active, but still....