A life without Buffy, The Shield, and Football is not a life I wish to live.
Since moving to Houston about a month ago I’ve been without broadcast or cable TV. Since I’m still job hunting cable just isn’t in the budget and I havn’t bothered to pick up a set of rabbit earsyet. Before moving the only reason I had cable is because it was required if I wanted a cable modem but time warner doesn’t require that kind of bundle so I happily save the cash. I just use the TV for watching movies on DVD/VHS.
Admittadly I do miss the few shows I used to watch: Junkyard Wars, Daily Show, Enterprise, Simpsons and Southpark. Though one thing I have noticed that I really like is not feeling that weird internal pressure to be at home when one of The Shows is on. I’ve never cancled plans or scheduled real life activities around TV before but I always had a nagging, low level feeling of guilt or loss when I was missing one of The Shows. Now that watching them isn’t an option that feeling of guilt/loss/pressure is gone and I like it. However now that Southpark is starting to show new episodes again I’ve made plans with some of my new friends to make a weekly trip to their place to watch it with them, which IMO is much better than sitting around watching it alone anyway. I think I may eventually get a set of rabbit ears so I can catch Simpsons reruns watch PBS from time to time.
Also, like a lot of other posters have mentioned, I can’t stand having the TV on as background noise, bugs the hell out of me. A former GF that I lived with for a while liked to keep a TV in the bedroom so she could put on a movie at bedtime and fall asleep with it playing. Used to drive me up the wall, and led to a lot of arguments. We eventually reached a compromise where she only got to do that when I didn’t have to work or go to class the next day, so it only screwed up my sleep habits on the weekends. Suffice to say when we broke up I was very happy to see her TV set go with her 
For background noise I personally like to have music, usually classical or Jazz, playing. That’s how I relax right after a long day of working or whatever, just lie back on the couch for a while letting the music consume me. This preference has led to the added bonus of exposing me to NPR programming since moving to Houston, as one of the classical radio stations is also the NPR affiliate.
I turned it off for a year once. A real eye opener. After a time I noticed myself in conversations that I had no clue about. Mainly prattle about what J.R. had been up to, etc. I noticed I was definitely out of the loop but it was actually a good experience. My mind had refound some bearings that were usually substituted with garbage. I watch now but I modify my channel selections so I don’t even surf through a lot of the junk. TV is evil.
I haven’t owned a TV for nearly 8 years. I don’t miss it. I playu DVDs on my computer.
I’ve been without TV for more than ten years.
I unplugged it, and put it in a crate in February 1993.
Occasionally, I’ll see a bit at my folks house, or when visiting a friend.
Unlike what you might expect, I am not idealogical about it.
I’m trying to think of how to express this next part.
About two years into the whole experience, I used to be very much an idealist.
“Television is all bad” I used to say. “You ought to disconnect yours” and, “Boy I sure feel smarter now that mine is gone.”
These days, I couldn’t be bothered. I don’t feel that way at all. Honestly, I couldn’t care less.
I am just not that interested in much that’s on TV. My husband watches a lot of war/nature/history documetaries and my daughter loves Disney channel and Nickelodeon programming, so the TV is usually on if they’re home. I sat up the other night and watched a Cosby Show retrospective (which I enjoyed) and I will rent videos and DVDs if there’s some movie I’d like to see. I have a vague anti-television agenda in general, but I’m not (at least I don’t think I am) militant about it. I just totally fail to understand the appeal of most television programming.
It’s just a television and is only a part of the furniture, I watch things like “Daily Show” Penn&Teller:Bullshit! some cartoons some movies either vhs or dvd, and the occasional video game.
i have mine in my bedroom and there are three in this apartment. Time to go play Vice City, Bye.
I’ve never purchased a TV. When I lived in the US I had my parents cast-off set with an old cable box a friend gave me. Neither the TV or the box had a remote. 8 years ago I moved to the UK and never bothered to buy another. I rented a house for a while that had a TV but no cable, so I’d watch maybe 2-3 hours per week. We have a TV in the lunch room at work which is always on CNN, so I use it to check the latest war updates. When a big sporting event is on I’ll go watch it at the pub. I use my PC for watching DVDs.