Who Needs Cable TV?

When we moved into our new home, we cut the cord and gave up our premium satellite package. We opted to give our network channels a try in the interest of saving money and reducing our TV watching time. I'm pleased to say it has worked out quite well. We DO watch less television and the kids don't seem to miss the bazillion channels that we used to have (they didn't really need to watch 24 hour marathons of Scooby Doo or Transformers at 2am). Although, Adult Swim is pretty damn funny. But even South Park comes on a local channel at ten o'clock!

Right now, I'm grooving to John Mayer on Austin City Limits, the original unplugged venue. He's channeling Stevie Ray Vaughan -- another great artist I watched on ACL. PBS really is a quality channel but it gets no street cred. I grew up watching Jacque Cousteau and Sesame Street on PBS. Now, my kids watch Jean-Michael Cousteau and Sesame Street on PBS.

Twenty-five years have gone by but not much has changed: Maria is still on Sesame Street and so is Oscar and Big Bird will always be six years old. They've updated the Street some. The Spanish word of the day is an especially nice (albeit way overdue) touch.

I don't know whether we will ever go back to satellite TV. I miss HGTV and MTV and Discovery Channel but I get more time with my family and I think we get better programming on our local stations. Madhubby hated "House Hunters" and I never understood why. I do now. It's a stupid show. There is nothing exciting about watching strangers looking at houses. The show didn't even tell viewers what they really want to know: how much those damn houses cost?! And "Laguna Beach?" I won't even go there except to say that Kristen Cavalleri wore out her fifteen minutes of fame a long ass time ago. "Newlyweds" was quality programming until J. Simpson lost her damn mind.

Okay, okay. So, cable had its moments of entertainment. But, network TV is easier on the wallet. Plus, I'm getting really good at "Wheel of Fortune" and I know a dozen foods that start with the letter q. So, it's not all bad.