Living with an Antenna

Two years ago The Captain’s employer decided to make some changes that temporarily severely affected our finances. Like many families in our country, we had to make some tough choices to stay afloat. The one that initially seemed hardest to swallow was cancelling our satellite television service. Not just reducing the services, but cancelling altogether.

The first thing we did was sign up for Netflix, which was a significant cost reduction compared to satellite. Then a friend told us about hulu.com, which made me a bit happier as I was having serious withdrawals from my prime time dramas and sit-coms. When our finances leveled off a bit we added the Hulu Plus service so we were able to stream some of our favorites through the blu-ray, albeit a day later – or thirty days later in some cases.

One of the strangest things we had to get used to was the silence between shows. All my life when the TV was on, there was noise coming from it all the time. When we cancelled pay TV and turned to other sources, the silence at the end of a show was deafening. I kept waiting for a commercial that never came. Not really complaining, mind you, but odd nonetheless. Something we eventually got used to.

Then came the day when The Captain came home from work, where they have access to satellite TV, saying we had to go see “The King’s Speech.” I had no idea what that was and he was incredulous. That’s when I blew a gasket. Here is a movie that no doubt was advertised a ton on TV (I’ll never know) and, in fact, was so amazing that it received numerous Academy Awards AND whose leading man is one of my very favorite actors EVER, and I had no clue it even existed. So The Captain acquiesced and installed an antenna shortly thereafter.

I was SOOO excited. Finally, we would have all the local channels so I could watch Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice. Except that local channel didn’t come through on the antennae so I still had to wait to watch online. Then the day came when this black box began to cover half the screen – but ironically not during commercials. Not to mention that back in the day when the TV was a bit fuzzy, the antenna could be turned to catch the signal better. But no, it’s digital so when the signal is weak, the screen goes black – usually during the last five minutes of the show when The Mentalist is filling in all the bits and pieces or Nick Stokes (CSI) is looking especially dreamy. (sigh)

After about the fifth time The Captain found notes I’d taken on the back of the advert for the latest and greatest satellite package, he asked if I wanted TV again. Of course, I jumped on this. I am happy to conclude that we are now a “normal” American TV over-viewing family once again. Woo Hoo!! Something to do while I’m folding laundry….