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My new love affair with cable TV

Posted: Thursday, September 25, 2008 6:00 AM by Anna Chan
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After three long, painful years of having to squint through the fuzz, I finally chucked my rabbit ears earlier this month and now enjoy the crisp, clean picture offered by cable television.

 

It was a bit silly that I was so excited about this development, sure, but the whole time I went without, all I did was mope about not being able to watch some of my favorite channels and programs. I used to love watching “Daria” reruns, indulging in the latest “E! True Hollywood Story,” salivating while the cooks on Food Network whipped up tasty concoctions, laughing my butt off during “South Park” and cheering on animal control officers as they busted animal abusers on “Animal Cops” and “Animal Precinct.”

 

But now that I have more than 75 crystal-clear channels to choose from again, I’ve discovered that what I once really enjoyed doesn’t quite hold the same attraction.

 


Alton Brown's "Good Eats" is still one of my favorite programs on the Food Network.
Gregory Smith/AP

I still love Food Network, but I can’t sit and watch it for hours on end anymore. And seeing animals get rescued from horrible situations no longer makes me happy, it makes me cry that people would purposefully do such terrible things to them. As for my other former favorites, I don’t think I’ve spent even five minutes watching any of them.

 

So what am I watching? A lot of HGTV, a channel I never imagined I’d ever have any interest in. (Guess buying your first home can do that to a person!) Besides that, I find myself patiently waiting for the fall season to kick in on network TV.

 

I mean, who needs “Real World” when you’ve got The CW’s “America’s Next Top Model” and CBS’s “Survivor”? And after learning to live without cable, I’ve discovered that I now can’t do without “Ugly Betty,” “Dancing With the Stars” (Hellooooooooo, Maks!) or “Grey’s Anatomy” on ABC, among many others.

 

So while the vast amount of programming that cable allows me to choose from is nice and I’m glad to have it back, the part I love most is that I can watch Jack Shephard be a hero and not miss a single flex of his manly muscles as he attempts to find his way back to the island.

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Comments

Survivor is CBS's not ABC's, but I can totally relate.  We went through some hard times and I had to give up my cable for more than a year! I thought I'd just die without my design shows on HGTV (it really is a homeowner thing...).  But now, with the exception of the Shield, and Project Runway, all my favorites are on ... network tv!  ack.

Vicki, Sayerville, NJ (Sent Thursday, September 25, 2008 9:07 AM)

Got Cable?  Welcome to 1988.

John Anderson, LA, CA (Sent Thursday, September 25, 2008 9:46 AM)

I just got cable after three years without, too, and I have to wonder how I coped without being able to watch new episodes of House, MD!

Just don't forget to keep reading-- tv only goes so far.

Emily, Lancaster, PA (Sent Thursday, September 25, 2008 9:48 AM)

75 "crystal clear channels" of Drek are still 75 channels of Drek.
Sure, I like Food, and I like Keith and Rachel, too, but I watch them at a friend's house, because i don't think that's worth $49 a month to me.
I have a converter box and a home-made antenna on the roof and I get Digital Teeee-Veeee. Local weather info and Doppler RADAR, and I don't pay for anything but electricity.

John the Luddite, Northern Indiana (Sent Thursday, September 25, 2008 10:03 AM)

Oh my goodness. This editorial could have been written by me. I swore I would never fork over money for cable, but then when football was taken from the poor man and put mainly on ESPN I gave in to my husbands begging and got basic cable. I have to ration my tv time now or else I will watch HGTV for hours ( we also just bought our first home).  Its nice to know Im not the only one who was dependent on the rabbit for so long.

Mindy , Lubbock, Texas (Sent Thursday, September 25, 2008 10:06 AM)

Same thing happened to me.  I used to love Animal Precinct and anything on Food Network and then I went without cable for a few years in college and the only decent reception my rabbit ears could get was PBS.  During that time my morning viewing consisted of Mr. Rogers re-runs and my evening viewing consisted of Antiques Roadshow (aka let's raid grandma's attic).  
I don't know if this foray into kinder, gentler tv softened me up but when I went back to cable, Food Network just didn't hold me anymore and, like you, Animal Precinct reduced me to tears.
Now my tv is pretty much perpetually tuned in to Discovery Channel and its subsidiaries, or the obscure Travel Channel spin-off we get that shows re-runs of the original Iron Chef (the only cooking show to hold my interest these days).
I don't know if we can blame the change in tv viewing habits on the fact that we went without cable or the fact that we grew up, but in either case you're not alone.

Leslie, Albuquerque (Sent Thursday, September 25, 2008 10:12 AM)

The reason you're not interested in those "old favorites" any more is because they're the same episodes you USED to watch - they haven't made substantial new programming in years.  It is pretty sad when the Discovery groups are running programs produced between 1997 and 2005 that are no longer relevant or factual, but they don't have anythihg else to fill the slot.  You'll get sick of HGTV in a year because you will have seen it all by then.  PBS has newer programs than most of the cable channels.  The broadcast channels have new programs but they are mindless drivel.

And if you demand new programming from the cable channels, they'll just raise the number of ads played during the shows.  You can watch the same 4 commercials run over and over and over again every 4 mintues, instead of every 7 minutes.  

Lisa - Germantown, MD (Sent Thursday, September 25, 2008 10:30 AM)

So.... Anna, I am sure that you have heard about this little thing about the Digital Television transition that is happening in February and the Digital Television converter box that would have turned your rabbit ears into to a high quality free television watching experience. I mean... you write about television. I should only hope that you are up to speed on the developments and educating your readers that they do not have to get cable or a new TV or chuck their rabbit ears. Free TV lives on and it is better than ever so you can watch Jack Shephard and not miss his manly muscles. Boo Cable! YEA! FREE!!!!

EducatingAboutDTV (Sent Thursday, September 25, 2008 10:30 AM)

Why chuck the rabbit ears now? The switch is on in Feburary and you can get all of the network channels in HD FOR FREE! This is the best time to kill the cable.

Tony (Sent Thursday, September 25, 2008 10:33 AM)

We recently got full cable after several years of antenna or basic basic cable (local channels only).  When we last had cable we watched a lot of food networkd and HGTV (we owned our home then).  Now that we rent again, those channels just don't appeal to me.

We do find BBC America on almost all the time, but  with the fall season starting, our TIvo is starting to fill up with our favorite network shows again (the Office, 30 Rock, Lost, How I met your mother).  There are a lot of good shows on regular network television.

Next to BBCA (where we watch Top Gear and Dragon's Den), we catch a lot of classic movies on cable, but we don't watch any original series from the cable channels. We also don't have premium channels, so maybe we would catch Entourage if we had it.

Toni, so cal (Sent Thursday, September 25, 2008 10:49 AM)

Whoops - got rid of the rabbit ears too soon!  We've switched to digital over-the-air and love it.  Crystal clear picture, and no monthly bill.  We save HGTV for vacation . . .

Rich, St. Louis, MO (Sent Thursday, September 25, 2008 11:04 AM)

My parents didn't get us cable till I was a senior in high school.  We used to go over to my grandparents' just to get our fix of Nick or on the rare occasion when grandma got the disney channel free preview weekend.  So 17 years of about 9 channels.  Then we got cable.  And a whole new world opened up.  

Since then, when I obtained my first full-time job, I ordered a digital cable box and hbo.  Then it was a dvr box with hbo and showtime.  And I realize I can now never go back.  It doesn't matter that I will never watch 9/10 of all that the 700 or so channels have to offer.  It's the fact that on Sunday, 3/4 Die Hard movies were on.  It's the fact that at any time of the day there is a version of CSI or Law and Order on somewhere out there.  And don't get me started with On Demand.  

Yes, I watch the basic channels - can't wait for the Office to come back or to watch Survivor in HD this year.  But on a night when nothing else is on, a marathon of CSI on Spike is good enough for me.

G, Haddonfield, NJ (Sent Thursday, September 25, 2008 11:19 AM)

I take a lot of ribbing at work for not having cable but every time I ask people what they watched last night, it turns out to be something on free, over the air tv. I love ot see thier faces when I say, "They must not have commercials on the cable version since you are paying to get it right?"

Chuck Dore Portsmouth, RI (Sent Thursday, September 25, 2008 11:53 AM)

My wife and I disconnected our cable at about the time that paris hilton was going to jail, or getting out, I can't remember. You would have thought that she had shot the president, as much as it was on. I said to myself, "we pay how much a month for this crap?" We have no TV at all without cable, being in a remote area. Since then, we do alot more activities together, We both lost about 25 pounds each, and when you dont watch TV late at night, you end up having a lot more sex. I don't really miss television, as much as I miss what it used to be. But for now, I am happy to be without it.

Jim, Kansas (Sent Thursday, September 25, 2008 11:57 AM)

I'd like to give up cable to save some money. If it were not for Home Ec TV (the combo of Food Network, TLC and HGTV) plus two shows on Sci Fi (Battlestar, Eureka) MSNBC (gotta gave Oberbman! and the Discovery channels, I could give it up. Many of my faves are over the air (Chuck, Sara Conner, 24, Heros, House, PBS) so I find myself paying for shows I really don't have to pay for. With kids all grown up, there is no need for Nick, TV Land, Cartoon Network, etc). And even though I have HD cable, I do not have any of the movie networks. I will try to put the my small LCD TV i have in my home office area to on over the air digital, just to see how things go.

Marcus Miller (Sent Thursday, September 25, 2008 1:05 PM)

I don't have cable i have the internet.  With all the free streaming tv on the internet i just hookup the laptop into the TV and bam free cable.

Scott, Joplin, MO (Sent Thursday, September 25, 2008 1:25 PM)

I already got my digital converter since I am an antenna person.  Now I have multiple PBS channels, even one in spanish, and there is the RTN network which shows old shows like hardy boys, fantasy island, etc.  I'm all about free tv!

JEM, Seattle, WA (Sent Thursday, September 25, 2008 4:03 PM)

If it weren't for The Food Network and HGTV, I probably wouldn't have anything to watch. I will give thumbs up for Bravo's Top Chef, Top Design, and Project Runway.

I rarely watch network television; not because of the commercials but because most shows are boring, re-treads of past shows, or just plain stupid. Most times the commericals are more entertaining.

Robin, Las Vegas NV (Sent Thursday, September 25, 2008 4:11 PM)



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