Watching TV before cable
Not everything is great about selecting from a program menu that dwarfs even the Cheesecake Factory’s
By Tim Wilson
When you think about what was different when you grew up, there are few things in everyday life that have seen such surprisingly momentous change as the experience of watching television.
What’s that? Cell phones, you say. Pshaw! We saw that coming on every episode of the original “Star Trek.” But could Capt. Kirk and Mr. Spock put their feet up and click through 100-plus stations without getting out of their chair? Nope.
Remember how one of your first and most important jobs at home was to get up, walk over to the TV and change the channel to whatever your dad wanted to watch. Don’t forget your other awesome responsibility of adjusting the rabbit ear antenna on top of the set to fix the picture after “Gunsmoke” turned into a screen full of snow.
Just think of all the opportunities for exercise that have been lost since cable arrived on the scene. The sedentary lifestyle was cemented in America not simply because you could find something to watch on the boob tube all hours of the day. It’s also because the only body part that had to move when the TV turned on was the thumb. And with voice-activated remotes now available, the thumb’s job has been displaced by the tongue.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy to enjoy the array of viewing options available via cable or streaming. For sports fans alone, TV is a 24/7 smorgasbord – even when there’s no game on live. Just peruse the never-ending variety of replays and highlights available to watch from yesterday or yesteryear.
But not everything is great about selecting from a program menu that dwarfs even the Cheesecake Factory’s. Just as I get the appetite for one offering, I make the mistake of scrolling a little further and get intrigued by something completely different. It’s like being a maniacal window shopper who just can’t bring himself to commit and walk into a store.
Options are great but there was something about just having three commercial networks, PBS and maybe a couple of UHF channels to choose from (remember that second circular antenna for UHF?). When you went to school in the morning you couldn’t wait to talk to your buddies about “Lost in Space”, “Happy Days” or “Welcome Back Kotter.” Nothing was funnier than laughing at your one friend who could remember every line from every skit on “Monty Python’s Flying Circus.”
But do you know what really makes me crack up when I think back to that time of transition in the late ’70s, early ’80s when cable made its way into homes? We all thought the idea of people paying to watch TV was hysterical and doomed to fail.
Take a look at the bill for your cable or streaming service and you’ll see who’s laughing now.
About the author: Tim Wilson is a lifelong resident of Massachusetts. He is passionate about his family, Marquette University, bicycling and all Boston sports.
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