For the first time in my memory, I have NO TV shows, ZERO shows I must see, or even want to see, every week. For the past umpteen years, I’ve had shows I had to program into the VCR, shows I had to watch live, shows I constructed my social schedule around, the tyrants of my life, and now–I’m free!
And freedom tastes like reality. I thought I was still in the game, because I was (nominally) still a viewer of ER and I blindly accepted that I’d be a fan of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, but the abysmal quality of the one coupled with the opening night realization that the other had finally stretched my concept of what disasters could plausibly occur in an Emergency Room (regularly crashing helicopters, I know, should have done it years ago) is what freed me.
Better yet, I no longer really root for a football team or a baseball team, after years of being Mets and Jets addicted, and even the political shows, like Meet the Press, are kinda dull after the Democratic victory. Now there are no pressing issues to watch those for either.
So now I’m free to wach a football game, or a bit from a political news show, or even a snippet of a drama if I like, but with no prior commitment. It’s like being released from a prison of my own device.
