Susan's Scribblings the Blog

I have accumulated over 150 days without television. One morning as I prepared for my commute from the living room to my work computer yards away, I decided not to subject myself to another repeat of the select episodes the cable network deemed fit to rerun (which seems to be about fifty out of over a dozen seasons), with the same half dozen commercials from their highest-paying sponsors (the ad for constipation relief repeats in my brain rent-free as it is). With the exception of the occasional favorite movie franchise marathon and one or two beloved shows still in continuous renewal, after a lifetime of television, the flat screen has been silent.

This often means I don’t select anything on television as background, not even music stations. It also means hours of blissful quiet in which I do my daily job and enjoy my own thoughts. Despite not watching the evening news, I’ve still managed to stay ahead of the daily events with two local newspapers and an extra on the weekends. The weekend edition features a Saturday quiz which I can score nearly all correctly. The papers enable me to read the comics (which is light humor), “Dear Abby” (which is good solid modern-day advice) and possibly catch a recipe which does not require ten gadgets and ingredients which only come from specialty shops.

Television used to be a source of joyful entertainment, except for the evening news when a correspondent would report a story from a battle’s front lines. When “reality” television began, the novelty lasted for a while, but soon it degraded into a contest to find a more shocking piece of recording to top the last one.

The talk shows have lost their best hosts, as evidenced by how many people attempt to launch one and fail spectacularly within months. I remember Phil Donahue, Mike Douglas and Dinah Shore; those were talk show hosts who set the bar on quality.

It seems cooking shows have apparently lost their grounding. I just watched a clip on social media in which a Filipino watched Rachael Ray in shock as she went outside the norms of his homeland’s cuisine and prepared a dish that contained elements not part of any family table. Her preparation of rice for the dish alone brought stunned indignation. If cooks can’t make a genuine dish on television, what else can’t we believe?

Of course I have watched some Food Network, and remember when they had basic shows with such cute titles as “How to Boil Water.” Now it’s the Chef’s Battle Network interspersed with elimination competitive shows featuring a yard sale table population of unique individuals who either feel they can Beat Bobby Flay or burn down their own kitchen (Worst Cooks in America).

Meanwhile the networks are now picking up shows from cable networks, such as CBS obtaining the Paramount hit Yellowstone. The striking writers are causing all the networks to scramble to find replacement programming, as they and the studios are engaged in their own version of Dr. Seuss’ “Butter Battle Book” standoff; each side faces the other and refuses to budge, and the world waits.

Well, not me. Since the television has been mostly off, I have been enjoying the peace and silence. My life still causes stress, but I don’t have to go anyplace to collect my thoughts. And my aged television, which is still under warranty and received a transplanted motherboard, may last me until the networks bring me something worth watching.

There is an actual website presenting the challenge to not watch television for a week (the next is scheduled for May 2024). That’s 168 hours. I’m over 3600 hours in.

And I know how to cook rice.