Ode to an Idiot Box
This weekend I returned home after spending almost two weeks on a great American road trip. Back in my apartment for the first time since July 3rd, I can truthfully say that I’m glad to be home.
My best friend in the world as a kid
While I’m filled with my fair share of wanderlust and I’m perpetually looking forward to my next road trip, nothing feels better then coming home after being away for a few days. From opening your mailbox to find an overflow of coupons and bills to peaking into your refrigerator only to realize you forgot to throw away the milk, everything about a homecoming is exciting.
Since being introduced to the wonders of a DVR, catching up on my missed “stories” has become a post-trip ritual for me.
As much as I’m a fan of movies, I’m an even bigger fan of television. As my past as an overweight child may have suggested, I grew up on a steady diet of television.
As a kid, I would devour anything on TV – usually with a giant bowl of junk food sitting on my lap. It didn’t matter what was showing, I would watch it.
I would watch TV until I got sick – my muscles starting to ache from not being used all day and my stomach rebelling against the fifth glass of soda I had fed it.
As I got older and my schedule started to fill up with school activities and the burgeoning existence of a social life – as stunted as it may have been – I discovered that I didn’t have the time to watch as much television as I used to.
Faced with the prospect of ending my relationship with my boob tube buddy, I did what any self-respecting television junkie would do – I bought a VCR.
After saving enough allowance for a new VCR, I quickly started hording up on blank VHS tapes. While my friends where experimenting with sex, drugs and rock and roll; I was experimenting with which recording speed maximized tape length and quality.
I recorded everything I had previously watched and more. On Sunday mornings I would pounce on the newspaper, rip out the TV Guide and read every page like most people read the sports section. I actually started to highlight the shows that I wanted to watch, making a planning calendar for my television consumption.
If you haven’t noticed by now, I was a troubled child with an addictive personality.
Realizing that I didn’t have enough time in my nights and weekends to watch everything I was taping, I even managed to convince my ninth grade history teacher to let me watch my recorded television after I had finished my daily assignments. At the time, I thought I was so cool – getting away with watching TV in class. Looking back, I realize that she probably saw me for the screwed-up little kid I was and took pity on me.
Now, as a responsible adult with a full-time job, I don’t have the time to watch as much TV as I used to. I still DVR an insane amount of programming – often reaching my hard drive’s capacity level on a weekly basis – but I don’t often watch what I record. I only make the time for the shows that consistently keep me entertained. And when I do watch TV, I limit myself to hour-long intervals – making sure to get up and do something physical after every program.
I still read the TV Guide as if it was my Bible, though.
by “stories” I hope you don’t mean soaps
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Twitted by tvsoaps said this on July 19, 2009 at 09:32 |