I’m currently at my mother’s place through the Christmas holiday, and have noticed that despite having a cornucopia of TV entertainment options available via digital cable, she’s really only interested in one thing: HGTV’s block of prime-time, half-hour home remodeling shows. Every night, one view after another of cheery hosts moving furniture, painting walls and hanging drapes. It doesn’t help that Mum’s lost some of her hearing and thus listens to everything at 90% of full volume. I don’t get it, but she seems to love that stuff, so whatever.
OK, that’s not the only thing she watches. She puts the Weather Channel on in the morning, and insists on checking out Family Feud at lunchtime. But that’s pretty much it.
Come to think of it, my ex’s uncle (a farmer in Zimbabwe) was similarly obsessed; he wasn’t interested in anything on TV unless it had to do with South African rugby. Likewise, the father of my current ladyfriend; it’s the History Channel, and nothing but, for him.
So, I’m curious: anyone else out there have (or know someone with) extremely narrow TV interests, and if so, what are they?
Oh man, thanks for reminding me what I’m in for when my in-laws visit next week. All HGTV all the time. Of course, I’m sure my wife feels the same when my parents visit, then It’s all Jim Leherer.
HGTV is my default station. I luuuurve it and watch it all the time. Except for when I’m watching the Science Channel and their disaster shows. Or Court TV and their true crime shows.
I am in Australia, so the system almost certainly would not be the same. We don’t have pay TV in our house, but based on what is on offer, I can easily see our entire TV watching being spread between
Music Video Channel (probably not MTV) (both of us)
The Cooking Network (or whatever it’s called) (me)
The History Channel. (my wife).
Maybe, just maybe with a bit of Discovery thrown in.
This selection is mostly why we don’t have PayTV. If either of the operators offered us all of that in the base package, we’d get it. But to get it all, we’d have to take their premium packages, and cannot justify that to ourselves.
My mother does, in fact, have PayTV, and for the most part she watches only the Sci-Fi channel, and UKTV (which has all those murder mystery shows she loves so well).
My in-laws also have PayTV, and use it to watch the free-to-air channels 90% of the time.
I just spent a week at my mother’s house, where CNBC is the channel of choice. Nothing like a 24/7 stock ticker punctuated by people screaming to be heard on the floor of the exchange (not to mention Jim Cramer, screaming just to be screaming). You see, as she explained to me, she needs to be watching the market at all times, so she will know what to do with her investments. Admittedly, she does have investments, but it’s not like she’s a day trader who needs to know the prices on a minute-by-minute basis.
Just asking, did any of that watching transfer into makeover projects around the house?
I mean, my Mom’s not really got the energy anyway, but so far as I can tell, not a single thing shown on that channel has ever translated into a modification of the decor at her place.
Not that I ever saw. Admittedly I wasn’t with him so long as to be in on all his home improvement plans. He did have a book with the blueprints and drawings of his “dream house” in it; looked like a pretty boring box of a house to me.
