Confessions of a Television Addict

In an effort to economize because I now have a hefty car payment, a couple of weeks ago we let our satellite television subscription go and decided to switch to cable. Since we had no digital converter box, for two weeks I was reduced to Netflix on my laptop and had to wait over a week to watch the latest episode of "Raising Hope" on Hulu.

I was jonesing worse than a heroin addict. No nightly reruns of How I Met Your Mother! No 2 Broke Girls on Monday nights, let alone my weekly Raising Hope fix! (They've been renewed for a third season. I never thought I'd utter the words "Thank you, Fox", but in this case I'm more than happy to do so.) I wasn't able to get ready for work in the morning to the accompaniment of the early WBTV news, which almost killed me. John Carter and Christine Nelson, I missed you!

The cable installer showed up today and I almost kissed his feet, though he took way too long to do the install for my taste. I was pacing and biting my nails. After he left, I grabbed my shiny new remote, began channel-surfing like any good TV addict and found the greatest station in the world - MeTV. It's been available in my area, but my satellite service didn't carry it. Folks, this station is better than TVLand and carries some excellent classic TV programming without edits. They're running "That Girl", "Family Affair", "The Untouchables", "Car 54, Where Are You", "Thriller"...the list goes on and on. Best of all, the shows carry the network ID at the end. I watched the end of Bonanza today - which yeah,yeah, I know it's on TVLand - but TVL doesn't bother to run the NBC ID at the end! When I saw the legendary NBC snake at the end I got cold chills. Larry Mathews - little Ritchie Petrie - does a promo for the Dick Van Dyke Show!

I'm watching The Wild, Wild West right now (which was always one of my mom's favorites), and even though Jim West has amnesia he hasn't forgotten how much he loves the ladies. Ed Asner is playing a baddie who's stealing a vaccine.

Batman's on later this evening, followed by Lost in Space. I'm going to curl up in my recliner with a blanket and relive my childhood for a little while. Sigh. I'm in heaven. Now, if I could only watch this on a huge "Magnificent Magnavox" console in my grandmother's den, I'd be euphoric.

I'm practically dancing.