I've cut way down on my TV viewing and this forum is one of the main reasons. Ever since joining a few weeks ago, I've made some new friends here and shared a sense of camaraderie with a great group of people who are articulate, intelligent, funny and knowledgeable, not only about firearms but a range of life experiences.

I know we come from all walks of life, a few rich, a few poor and mostly many in between, from all parts of the country and around the world. A diverse group, indeed, but sharing common bonds of interests.

To the point: Because I've spent an hour or two each day here, I have less time for TV, which has turned out to be a plus. Like many of you, I have dozens of channels to choose from but have become much more discriminating in my viewing habits. For example, I routinely watch the Outdoors Channel, a little golf (in season), some football games (the Packers for sure), Turner Classics (love the old black-and-white film noir classics) and not much else including the mainstream media. If I want to check on the news, I go to the Internet.

Over the past few weeks, I've gotten to know some of you personally and it has been a pleasure, especially because this is one of the best forums on the Net, thanks to the diligence and wisdom of the mods who have given us just the right amount of space to speak our minds and keep it family-friendly.

So, not to sound hokey, thanks to all of you for enhancing my life, now in its 70th year, and keeping me away from the boob tube.

Good to have you, Joe. Whereabouts in WI do you live?

Andy

Up North, in a little town called St. Germain, about 20 miles south of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. No stop lights, a couple of four-way stop signs. 3 diners, 3 taverns, a couple of supper clubs, and about 1,200 year-round mainly happy residents.
St. Germain

My town is similar. I like the Packers also -My brother-in-law owns a share of their stock. I always thought it was great that the fans owned the team.

My TV is pretty much limited to NCAA football(evenly matched teams only, and only when I don't care who wins -eliminates jittery nerves and high blood pressure). I don't have cable, so I miss the better offerings anyway(e.g. history, military, etc.).

Andy

Football...NFL.
Nightly news couple times a week.
History channel from time to time.
Thats about it.

Green Bay is about 120 miles away from us and we have relatives there. Been to Lambeau once, but can't get season tix. There's a long, long wait.

My Dish Network receiver went belly up about a year ago & all of my local and cable stations went through Dish. UPS screwed up Royally and didn't deliver the new receiver, and gave me BS answers when I tried to track it down. After 3 months with No TV, Dish Network called and wanted to know if everything was all right.

When I told them that I still was off line, they said they would send one of their tech's the next day to install the new receiver, no charge. I told them that I had been without TV for 3 months, was getting much more accompilished and wasn't pissed at anybody, because I didn't have the talking heads to tell me who I should be pissed at.

This was the most relaxing election season that I have lived through because I saw NO campaign speaches. What a great way to live. I have spent much more time here on the forum which, thanks to Lee's wisdom and determination to keep everything Civil, I'm a much more relaxed individual.

I am reading a lot now and don't even watch TV when I'm at friends house. Why I ever spent all of those mostly usless hours watching people telling me how to think is something I don't want to do again.

LONG LIVE THE S&W FORUM, LEE AND ALL THE DEDICATED MOD's. I LOVE THOSE GUY's............:-)............:-) (But not TV)



Art

I don't watch much tv and mostly just listen to Christmas music on the radio. I listened to some talk radio before the election but I'm burned out on it now. I like Encore western channel and I'll turn it on if I'm not busy in the afternoon. They run Wagon Train at 3:30, Rawhide at 4:30 and then back to back 1/2 hour episodes of Gunsmoke. My dog Barney loves to lay on the foot of the recliner and Squirt finds a good soft spot. I like Justified but I never seem to know when it's on. always figured I'd get the whole season dvds sometime.

I love college basketball but the ESPN announcers are hard to take. My teams are U of L, IU and Bellarmine Knights and my favorite way to follow the games is listen to the radio call and follow along on the computer with the play by play box score.

If I had to chose between cable tv or broadband internet I'd give up tv without a seconds thought.

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God spelled backwards is dog.

Allot actually. I watch TV while surfing the net, and perusing the Forum...

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RIP Shipmate

I have a lot more fun on this forum that TV can provide. I enjoy old movies, old westerns and that's about it. Was a die-hard O'Reilly, Hannity and Greta fan but since the election I know what they're talking about so what's the use. Network TV is the pits and so is most every other channel. Seriously, can you believe some of the **** that's on now? So, I sometimes just let it go while I've on this forum. I enjoy this forum and the Glock forum. Some very nice folks on both.

I usually have the tv on for background noise because I have tinnitus, if it's quiet the ringing is very annoying. A little white noise makes it much less noticable.

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"Shall not be infringed"

My wife and I watch our "stories" at night after the boy goes to bed.

Currently watching, either Netflix or purchased on Apple TV (no commercials on either):
Walking Dead
Glee (don't laugh...)
Terra Nova
Hell on Wheels
Sons of Anarchy
Mad Men
Archer (animated 007 spoof, very funny)
Breaking Bad

We DO NOT watch any normal network TV, all is rented or purchased.
We have no cable.
We watch NO NEWS at all, none. It's all BS.
We see one or two episodes a night of our stories and go to bed.

Our son (3yrs) watches no TV during the week, ever.
We have movie night on Fri for all of us w/ plenty of popcorn and he gets to stay up "late" (past 7pm).
Saturday morning he watches cartoons while we make a big breakfast, then we eat and head out for the day.

Sunday is a school day so no TV for the boy.

We: 5-7 hours a week of rented/bought TV shows.
The Boy: 4hrs a week (2hr Fri movie, 2hr Saturday cartoons)

I normally don't participate in threads like this, but the thread got me thinking, and I wanted to add it all up.

Now that I have, I think 1hr of Saturday cartoons is plenty, so we'll start that from now on. I think I've gotten lazy on my Saturday mornings! 3hrs a week is plenty for any kid.

Too much boob tube' for sure, besides my morning & evening news' I
mainly watch TCM (Turner Classic Movies) & The Encore Western Channel. I really like 2 or 3 of the retro' stations that air the classic westerns' & police dramas, in fact I'm about ready to watch an episode of "The Fugitive" I recorded last sunday night. About the only modern stuff I like is the PBS stuff "History Detectives" "American Masters" & the Ken Burns stuff, once in a while I'll do "American Pickers" but I mainly stay in the 1960's or earlier, I even love the silent films.
.. Oh', and little sister has me trying to keep up on Dexter' & Homeland' but I could live without those, although homeland is ok*

~ Joe

Don't have a TV
But I watch this every chance I get:

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Buy American
Vote Responsibly

I haven't had a working tv in about 10 years, I would be lost without broadband though. Forums are much more entertaining. If you like old movies try Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free Books, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine for old no longer copyrighted movies.I also like to download audiobooks from the local library website and listen to them while loading or doing other bench work.

Nice fire Bush...but it looks like a repeat....

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Thirty characters. Exactly...

I don't watch TV. I have one but no cable, no antenna.

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Un-Reconstructed Southerner

Sounds like, again, I am in the minority.

We have cable, and I don't know how many channels we have, but, as I understand it, there are hundreds.

I just wrote out the check to pay for the cable and my Roadrunner bill, over two hundred dollars each and every month.

We have free movies only channels, movies we can pay for, and TMC, AMC, The Men Are Pigs Channel (that's Lifetime for those of you unfamiliar with it's nickname) and about a gazillion others.

And I almost never, ever watch it. My wife turns on the 70 some inch flat screen thing for about two hours each night and I cower in my reloading room or hover over the computer.

When she's not here, the TV almost never is on.

I'm thinking I could save some serious money by cutting out most of the cable channels. But, there might, someday, be a show or series I am interested in so I'll just keep writing those checks, and writing those checks and ....

Bob

Ala carte is the way to go Bob.

We pay for what we use, and we save a lot of money and hassle.

The bonus is:
-no commercials (not being manipulated by marketers is wonderful).
-watch what you want when you want.
-if you really can't live without the bobble-headed goofs called "news" you can still get it).

Dump the cable, live a happier life with a fatter wallet.

PS:
you may find that there are shows you agree on to share with the wife instead of spending evenings in separate rooms. Just a thought...unless you need the space, then by all means, remain in the reloading room! ;-)

My ex wife was one that had a tv running every waking moment.Since the divorce,I rarely turn it on.I really like my peace and quiet ;-)

Two to three hours a night - from 7 or 8 until 10 or so. But it's all DVR'd TV shows so the commercials get axed. Mostly crime/detective/mystery. White Hat vs Black Hat - good guy prevails and I'm off to bed.

No Sit-Com's. Years ago someone pointed out to me how the laugh track determines what's funny and that it tells you when and how hard to laugh. Listen for it, he's right!

I'd disconnect the thing but I cannot contemplate a life without NCIS.

Exactly 55" worth,measured diagonally of course.
f.t.

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South Carolina-God's country

I watch a little t.v. middle of the morning, one hour before my colon treatment, maybe two hours at night. Thats it

unless their is a marathon of a favorite show or documentary on then i would watch it all day.

I am a lifelong news junky, but frankly, after the "event about which we shall not speak" earlier this month, I can't stand watching any news program. That's one of the reasons I came back here after a couple of year absence.

I do like Turner Classic Movies, the retro-TV station (I can't pass-up a Perry Mason or episode of The Rifleman) and, laugh if you want...an occasional show on the Food Network. The only sport I have any remote interest in is Reds baseball. But, when our 16 year old moves out in a few years, the cable will be cut immediately.

Many years ago, I used to watch the half-hour comedies while reading or reloading. Now, I watch hardly at all. My wife has a TV which is visible from our dining-room table, and we have very basic cable for that, mostly lamestream network and PBS. When she turns it on, I go upstairs to the computer, as I have no interest in being bombarded by the ********* *****-******** who dominate network TV, and, of course, PBS.

I don't watch much TV because there's very little on that I want to see.

I hate sports, so that probably knocks my viewing down 50% from the average person.

I don't find most "entertainment" TV at all entertaining. It's mostly just stupid, and or stupid propaganda for ideologies I don't support. Almost the only fictional TV I watch is Fringe, Bob's Burgers, Family Guy and Royal Pains and Falling Skies when they're on. Lately, I've been watching The Wild, Wild West reruns on MeTV. Nostalgia.

I watch a lot of old movies on TCM. I hate most current movies for their stupidity and lousy writing.

I mostly read, and mostly nonfiction (history, especially military history). I can read an Edgar Rice Burroughs "Mars" novel and imagine things that no studio could afford to film, even in the computer.

I watch very, very little on TV anymore. Most of it is propaganda, offensive, or blasphemous, or just plain stupid or uninteresting.

If I remember I watch Myth busters. Got a crush on Kari Byron


Ted

Less and less this time of year. But what I do watch is just plain goofy.

For good stories, I've always watched NCIS. When I need a good, silly laugh, I watch The Big Bang Theory.

But a few years back I was working off the living room, and my wife was into this 'dancing show.' I came out to see what all of the fuss was about. Periodically, I'd catch an entire show.

Then I got hooked, no kidding. I am now a avid fan of Dancing With The Stars. I do tell all of my friends I just watch it for the skimpy costumes on the girls, so don't blow my cover...

I try to watch as much Honey Boo-Boo as time will allow. Generally I may watch City Confidential, some Bio. Channel, I really enjoy the Famous Dogfights (animation) they air from time to time. The Five, The Military Channel, Dateline, Marshall Dillon (black&white) episodes, The Mentalist, Justified, and Longmire.

My TV has been turned on maybe twice in the last 3 or 4 weeks. I'm not kidding. More channels simply mean more rubbish. I like to watch a good movie, but they all seem to be repeats. I don't mean they were shown a few years ago, I mean in some cases last week. or the week before. My satellite dish picks up UK TV stations here in France. Game shows, cooking shows, buying a house or selling the contents of your existing house, and sorry to say it but dancing with the stars or would-be stars. It's enough to drive you to drink. My ex used to do that but now I have to drive myself! Hic.

Gone are the days of The Prisoner, Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, Taxi, and even the laid back Rockford Files and Ally McBeal. I used to scan the channels most evenings to see if there was anything that appealed to me. Don't bother now.

Someone mentioned an election. Has there been an election somewhere? Don't tell me Ronny Reagan's been re-elected. Now he made a good film. Or am I thinking of Awesome Welles. My memory isn't what it used to be.

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Kill it, cook it, eat it.

Average one hour per day. That's all [:-))

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the world is round everywhere

Man, what a buncha grumps. Are you guys telling me you didn't love watching The Beverly Hillbillies, Gilligan's Island and I Dream of Jeannie growing up?

My wife and I like some entertainment to wind down with. There are actually a fair number of sitcoms now that do not have laugh tracks, and those seem to be the ones we like. Seems like it really got started with The Office with its faux documentary format, but there are other more conventionally shot sitcoms (such as 30 Rock, Community and Raising Hope) that do not have laugh tracks. The 30-minute sitcoms are good because they're small enough chunks that they don't require a substantial time commitment, especially with using the DVR to fast-forward through commercials.

Virtually everything that we watch on a regular basis is DVR'd and watched at our leisure. What a great device! About the only real-time we watch is having the HGTV channel on for background.

We also like Glee which is the main way that we kinda know about current music, besides gleaning a few bits here and there from the grandkids. Grimm is an interesting show and we got into it at the start.

Then there are the so-called reality shows, but we don't care for the the major ones like American Idol or Survivor. SyFy has one called Face-Off which is a movie/TV makeup competition show. HGTV has another competition called The All-American Handyman, and History Channel has Top Shot. Then of course there's Mythbusters and Dirty Jobs (haven't seen any new Dirty Jobs lately - I guess Mike Rowe is making too much money doing nice clean Ford commercials.)

I love TCM but it's too easy to fill up the DVR with movies that I don't have time to watch.

The biggest drawback to our TV viewing is that my wife is a morning person and I'm a night person. When we sit down on the couch she might get through one sitcom, or maybe even an hour of Grimm, but she usually conks out after that. I let her know what I've watched and she does her TV viewing in the morning before I get up - her alarm is set for 2:30am!

That's why I have a DVD recorder instead of a DVR.

Movies I can't keep are worthless to me.