Entertainment to blight on cable and sattelite

Hello. My name’s Moshe and I’m a TVholic.

That’s what I could have said just a few years ago. I was a TV addict (maybe not of the worst kind but) who could compete with the best of them on sitcom trivia. When cable TV first came to this country I totally drowned in it (unfortunately so have many others which could explain the level drop I see in education and Jewish/Israeli culture but that’s an issue for another day and another posting). At a certain point though I just cut it off cold turkey. No it wasn’t for religous reasons (though there are certainly enough reasons there to justify doing so but simply because

1) it was taking up too much of my of time just because (as Edmund Hillary
said in another context) it’s there
2) for half the price of a monthly subscription to a number of English/Hebrew channels and a larger number of foreign language channels or channels I won’t watch for other reasons (which costs you roughly 200 nis a month give or take a bit) I could get a deal at my local Blockbuster giving me 2 movies a week.

3) with all the reruns and other junk being put on (or these days being moved to the extra package channels that you have to pay additional money to get) its unlikely that you’ll find more than 3 hours (2 movies worth) of must see TV in a month on the basic channels anyhow if you’re honest with yourself.

4) News media in English can be seen online when you want it (www.cnn.com www.bbc.uk
etc.) assuming you find it critical to see cars as they blow up and people being arrested for whatever reason rather than just hear about it.

5) there’s stuff even on the kids channel that I wouldn’t watch let alone risk my kids getting to it. Not for religious reasons but for low level trash reasons [anyone remember "the rebels" ("hamordim") for example]? Using a video and DVD gives me a filter whereby I can spend the otherwise monthly 200 nis or so on educational TV programs (or at least not smut) instead of sitting them in front of the cartoon network.

So I decided to take my TV viewing into my own hands and have never looked back. I’m not saying this will work for everyone (yes it was hard to cut off TV cold turkey) but I can say that
1) I find it harder to justify even movies that I really want to see to the extent of walking over to get them so why should i spend time zombied out by movies I don’t want to simply because they’re there?
2) my oldest child is at the top of her class (advanced group) in math and
Hebrew and has been reading and writing English and Hebrew since age 5
without going to a class and without any structured teaching whatsoever by
myself (and in case you were wondering my wife’s Israeli and speaks only
Hebrew to them) thanks to videos such as sesame street and between the lions
etc. bought with money not spent on cable or sattelite and
3) I have been asked to work for 2 different publications during that period of time
covering news based on what they saw as my awareness of up-to-the-minute
news. So yes one can survive even if one has to resort to radical measures
like reading books for entertainment occasionally.

And finally here are some refutations to likely arguments against this option
1) “Well not everyone has a high-powered career that takes up all their
time”
Answer – I’ve never had a high-powerd career and even while unemployed I saw no need to stare at whatever the cable/satellite people think I ought to watch. There’s family to be with (and no – watching TV together with the family is not actually communication), meals to make, dishes to wash, laundries to do etc. etc. and of course blogging for you readers whoever you may be.
I’m amazed and even quite jealous :- ) at the sheer amounts of free time that so many apparently have to not only watch all these programs they mention but debate about it online – and still have time for all the other necessary activities of life. I wish I could budget my time that well!

2 ) “I’ll miss my beloved (fill in program) too much”
Many of the top English language programs have their whole series on DVD at
blockbuster. OK so maybe I’m a season or so behind on the likes of 24 and
the sopranos but I’m also getting things done instead of sitting around
“just to see what comes after the episode” of whatever I wanted to watch.

3) “Walk to the DVD place?…it’s such a shlep…”
Answer: if you’re not excited enough about watching something you yourself
CHOOSE to see then you’re probably not that in need of watching anything and
are just doing it for something to do. Buy a few DVDs (you can buy 8-10
used ones for the price of a month of cable) you really like and when you
just want something to veg in front of then put one on. You’ll either get
into it (and then no loss) or get bored and go find something else to do.
If you really HAVE to watch something it’ll be enough of a goad to get you
to go to blockbuster.

It’s up to you. Either you can stay at the mercy of the 2 monopolies (cable and sattelite) and watch whatever they give you for whatever price they offer or you can take control
of what you watch when you watch it and what you have available for your
kids to access in your home.