Anyone who follows this blog even ever-so-slightly has noticed an extreme drop-off in posts in recent months.
Part of the problem, I think, is that there has been so much excellent – or, at least fun – television (sandwiched between all the crap that’s out there) that I sometimes have been at a loss of what to write about. With too much to think about, I can have trouble, sometimes, deciding what to write about and what to let slip by.
But the new year approaches and with that, I have resolved to pay more attention to the shows that are worthy of deeper discussion. Some are, some aren’t.
My posts won’t necessarily always be the next day, however, as we made a major step in our household: We canceled our cable service.
So much of what we want is already online, via Hulu and other sources. We have a Boxee account and plan to get one of those boxes that lets us stream directly into our TV via Boxee, without having to hook up our laptop to the TV. We also got a Netflix account, finally (have meant to forever) and we already have Hex (a British sci-fi-ish series), United States of Tara and Veronica Mars in our queue.
The only thing that nearly made me cancel our cancellation is that I won’t be able to live-blog 24 with my buddies over at Blogs4Bauer, but I’m working on a solution to that. The same solution should aid in my ability to watch Supernatural in real-time. Need to set up the DVD-R, though, for those situations, as a backup.
I know ABC streams episodes of Lost the next morning, so that’s close enough for government work. Sci-Fi should stream Caprica as it did Battlestar Galactica. I should be able to watch Fringe on Hulu – we already were watching The Office and 30 Rock on Hulu, because Thursday’s were booked up with Flash Forward, Fringe, Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries. But I never really got hooked on Vampire Diaries, so maybe I’ll Netflix it sometime.
I know many people who’ve gone without “regular” TV for years now. I’ve extolled the virtues of time-shift viewing for years. I’ve now made the ultimate shift. Come along for the ride.
7 Comments
I’m going to follow along with you. We just downgraded our cable aaaalll the way down (just basic) and signed up for Netflix. We got a PS3 for Christmas, so we can do instant streaming there.
I’m very interested to see how you handle it. I know I’ll be a season behind with Entourage and Big Love, but I’ll have to deal with it. I haven’t completely canceled cable, but I’m barreling along in that direction. Wheee!
Lol i need to get netflix. I watch a lot of great shows but they are all on winter break so I’m bored. Amy you are going to love Veronica Mars its a terrific show and was a shame that it only got three seasons. I want to watch Californication and I just picked up True blood season one yesterday for 18 bucks when usually it goes for fifty.
@Christine – I know what you mean about Entourage and Big Love. HBO was the second thing that gave me pause, but it wasn’t as important as 24.
Happy to have you along for the ride!
@Tim – Yeah, the winter break is kind of long this year. Some shows aren’t coming back until March or April because of the Olympics. It’s a weird year. Everyone has said that about Veronica Mars, so I figured I’d give it a shot. We’ll probably stream Californication. True Blood = worth it!
Esp. for $18.
Honestly, if you’re cool with venturing into a bit of a grey area, pretty much any TV show being broadcast can be found free online in streaming format. If you’re feeling bold, Rickey recommends familiarizing yourself with sites like TV Shack and Surf the Channel.
Rickey!!!! I will check those out. I think I’m gonna document my journey, though, so I’m going to pretend I’m a regular person unfamiliar with the word “torrent.” (Full disclosure: I’ve been tempted, but have never ripped a torrent. And my likely misuse of the terminology should back me up. And if I got the terminology right, it was by accident.)
Thisclose! I am thisclose to following you, but I despise the CW online player, and I’m not sure I could do without HBO. Hulu’s ‘subscribe’ button has become my new best TV friend, as it queue’s all my shows for me, and I don’t have to worry about missing them anymore. Netflix is next. Maybe cutting the cable will be soon after.
If you do try out TV Shack or Surf the Channel, tread lightly, I stopped going because of some pop-up issues and virus warnings from some of the links. My computer is already cranky enough, it doesn’t have the patience for such shenanigans (of course, I am PC, so you Apple types probably don’t have those concerns). I will add to the ‘thumbs up’ on Veronica Mars, and OMG!!! it’s almost time for more Jack! And more Lost!! WooHoo!!
@Erika – I’ve heard that about the CW online player. I wish Boxee got The CW; it gets some CW stuff through its CBS linkup, but SPN does not appear to be among them. HBO did give me pause, but all the shows end up on DVD anyway, so it’s just a matter of not seeing them at the same time as everyone else. I realized today, though, that I’m going to have to wait to see Breaking Bad, and THAT is a damn shame.
As for Jack and Lost!? WOOOOOOOT!