I’m with Eve. There’s a lot of TV that is good (and I especially couldn’t give up movies on cable. I hate going to the show anymore. Waaay too expensive!)
But I could stand to be more selective in what I watch and I should also try to keep up with my other interests, which I don’t do because I’m too busy watching absolute CRAP on the tube. I just have to be more disciplined.
As soon as Angel goes off the air, I want to get rid of our cable. (We live in the mountains, so no cable basically equals no TV.) The more I think about it, the more I’m against paying people to pipe crap into my house. We’ll still watch videos and DVDs (try to take away my Firefly DVDs; just try), but, really, I don’t ever need to watch another re-run of Friends.
I can see why you want to give it up. I have no problems with TV, but that is because I don’t see it as indefinite entertainment. I watch two hours of TV per week, Angel and Alias, and sometimes Jeopardy with my family. However, if I’m bored, watching TV doesn’t even cross my mind as an option to waste time.
If it did, I’m sure I would waste time on it. Instead, I waste time on the internet. I have gone through periods where I gave up frequently frquented parts of the internet (ie chat) to do exactly what you are trying to do by giving up TV. I found it a pretty worthwhile experience, but I was glad to go back when the time I had set was up. It helped me be able to recognize when I was bored and surfing through inertia rather than because I was actually having fun.
I would never give up TV for the same reasons I would never give up reading or going to movies or going to museums or attending concerts. There’s great stuff on TV if you look for it.
I usually don’t. My family does, and about once a month I’ll sit down and watch a show with them, but that’s it. I think I stopped watching tv… right about the time seinfeld ended. It’s just not that interesting, or that funny. And I hate the series thing, I want an ending! I want to see what happens, not wait until next season! The tv in my room isn’t even hooked up so I can watch channels at all, it’s just there for watching movies. However, I do read a book or two a day, and play on the internet, so I’m far from perfect.
I gave up TV when I discovered the SDMB. Now I’m trying to limit my SDMB time. Fortunately the recent upgrade and subsequent unavailability has been a big help in this attempt. 
For the rest, I’d recommend going cold turkey, it’s the only way. Force yourself to go out to a place where there is no TV, then read a book or talk to people.
I would love to give up TV, but I am allergic to fresh air, books have too many words and I think people are idiots.
Just kidding, I work 2nd shift (5 p.m. to 2 a.m.) so because of my schedule I watch very little TV. I wake up around 11 a.m. check CNN and the Weather Channel. Take my wife out to lunch at 12:30, get home at 2 p.m., mess around on the computer or play some video games, get in the shower at 4 p.m. and get to work at 5 p.m. get home from work at 2:30, watch a TV for an hour and go to bed at 3:30 a.m.
I just don’t have time to watch TV.
We had previously fought over time spent watching tv in the past, ended up with no service for a while and, finally, after we moved last August we made the decision to just not reconnect service. We’re a lot happier with it gone-we have a lot more time to do stuff but occasionally I do miss turning it on and being able to veg.
The bigger problem is both sets of parents actually. Whenever they visit, they keep questioning us if we really, really, really have not turned service on for several months. Both sets of parents watch a lot of television and go into withdrawal symptoms when they’re here. My in-laws also seem absolutely shocked that Mr Rocza was fine with no television-I think they believe that I secretly beat him into submission on the topic!
I’m in the minority here, with Eve (well, except for giving up the Internet before I’d give up TV). The station that I watch the most, though, is TVLand; I’ve also got to be able to watch the news.
Life wasn’t always this way, though–while we had a tv when I was a kid, it wasn’t a major part of life in our household. In fact, one year we moved to a town in Western Michigan where you had to have a very large antenna to be able to get any tv reception–we moved in February and didn’t get an antenna installed until the first of May. I think the first thing we watched was the Kentucky Derby! My parents didn’t get a color tv set until I was in college, and even today, my Dad only has a set to watch the news and maybe some videos (he has no video library though!).
I’ve gone though periods where I’ve been without cable (trying to cut back on that ever increasing bill), but the reception is just so poor, and then most of what I like to watch is on cable-only stations. Much of the time it is just background for me, as while I’m on the internet just now; if I gave it up, I’d probably turn to radio as back-up (as it is, I don’t listen to radio at all).
I applaud folks who can give up watching TV, but … well, it’s just not for me. 
Our landlords, in typical slumlord fashion, cancelled the free cable service (that they widely advertised as a benefit for living here) a few months after the lease started. Wasn’t in the lease, so we couldn’t really do anything about it, and we realized we didn’t really care that much.
I realized how much it had become part of our schedule to sit around and vegetate with the TV. Granted, we’re not curing cancer with our new-found free time – we’re on the Internet or playing video games. On the bright side, though, TV is pretty obnoxious with advertising and general idiocy, and so passive. At least with games, there’s social interaction with other players, or strategy, or problem solving.
I could just go over to a friend’s or to a family member’s house and watch TV if I really wanted to. I don’t, really - I turn on the Simpsons but that’s about it.
This is the best idea I’ve heard for a long time. From today I’m cutting my TV watching in half and doing more studying. (Not sure how long it’ll last but it’s worth a try, it can go along with the rest of my new leaf turning (huh?) and my grades should shoot up in no time. I will get into the university of my choice, i will…)