[PLEASE HELP] I don't own a TV.

[Pez]

ever since i found out about Hulu and JustinTV, i stopped watching regular tv. my tv is mostly used for my ps3 and as a monitor for my laptop.

[siablo14]

Originally Posted by Pez

ever since i found out about Hulu and JustinTV, i stopped watching regular tv. my tv is mostly used for my ps3 and as a monitor for my laptop.

ESPN3 too.....

[Grand Champ]

Only use TV for gaming or DVD's. Rarely watch TV, I got the internet.

[squealpiggy]

Originally Posted by iBreakbeat

Does anyone else here not watch TV?

If you'd stop buying all that underpowered, overpriced Apple shit you could probably afford a TV.

[mrpain81]

CHAPEL HILL, NC–Area resident Jonathan Green does not own a television, a fact he repeatedly points out to friends, family, and coworkers–as well as to his mailman, neighborhood convenience-store clerks, and the man who cleans the hallways in his apartment building.
Green, who tells as many people as possible that he is "fully weaned off the glass teat."

"I, personally, would rather spend my time doing something useful than watch television," Green told a random woman Monday at the Suds 'N' Duds Laundromat, noticing the establishment's wall-mounted TV. "I don't even own one."

According to Melinda Elkins, a coworker of Green's at The Frame Job, a Chapel Hill picture-frame shop, Green steers the conversation toward television whenever possible, just so he can mention not owning one.

"A few days ago, [store manager] Annette [Haig] was saying her new contacts were bothering her," Elkins said. "The second she said that, I knew Jonathan would pounce. He was like, 'I didn't know you had contacts, Annette. Are your eyes bad? That a shame. I'm really lucky to have almost perfect vision. I'm guessing it's because I don't watch TV. In fact, I don't even own one."

According to Elkins, "idiot box" is Green's favorite derogatory term for television.

"He uses that one a lot," she said. "But he's got other ones, too, like 'boob tube' and 'electronic babysitter.'"

Elkins said Green always makes sure to read the copies of Entertainment Weekly and People lying around the shop's break room, "just so he can point out all the stars and shows he's never heard of."

"Last week, in one of the magazines, there was a picture of Calista Flockhart," Elkins said, "and Jonathan announced, 'I have absolutely no idea who this woman is. Calista who? Am I supposed to have heard of her? I'm sorry, but I haven't.'"

Tony Gerela, who lives in the apartment directly below Green's and occasionally chats with the 37-year-old by the mailboxes, is well aware of his neighbor's disdain for television.

"About a week after I met him, we were talking, and I made some kind of Simpsons reference," Gerela said. "He asked me what I was talking about, and when I told him it was from a TV show, he just went off, saying how the last show he watched was some episode of Cheers, and even then, he could only watch for about two minutes before having to shut it off because it insulted his intelligence so terribly."

Added Gerela: "Once, I made the mistake of saying I saw something on the news, and he started in with, 'Saw the news? I don't know about you, but I read the news."

Green has lived without television since 1989, when his then-girlfriend moved out and took her set with her.

"When Claudia went, the TV went with her," Green said. "But instead of just going out and buying another one–which I certainly could have afforded, that wasn't the issue–I decided to stand up to the glass teat."

"I'm not an elitist," Green said. "It's just that I'd much rather sculpt or write in my journal or read Proust than sit there passively staring at some phosphorescent screen."

"If I need a fix of passive audio-visual stimulation, I'll go to catch a Bergman or Truffaut film down at the university," Green said. "I certainly wouldn't waste my time watching the so-called Learning Channel or, God forbid, any of the mind sewage the major networks pump out."

Continued Green: "People don't realize just how much time their TV-watching habit–or, shall I say, addiction–eats up. Four hours of television a day, over the course of a month, adds up to 120 hours. That's five entire days! Why not spend that time living your own life, instead of watching fictional people live theirs? I can't begin to tell you how happy I am not to own a television."

[squealpiggy]

Originally Posted by mrpain81

If you don't own a television it means you're too poor unless you constantly point out to everyone that you don't own one. Then you're too poor but also too much of a douchebag to admit it.

[New England]

i pay 100+ a month for my cable (hbo and showtime and basic cable,) and it's worth it

i keep my TV on when i'm relaxing. i try to keep intelligent programing on there with people who wont make me stupid. that's a huge issue with TV, IMO. most of the programing is dumbed down. i'm not saying i'm some megalithic intellectual, i'm just saying that i allow something like the jersey shore or the desperate housewives to have an effect on my identity

if my TV isnt on i have the radio on. i just like to hear other people's voices. i'm in a new city (recently bought a house,) and i don't know a ton of people yet, so the radio and the TV is the best thing i've got. if you're alone all the time you'll slowly go nuts.


i've recently purchased the streaming portion of netflix for my computer.
8 bucks a month for a ton of programming from all over the world. there's a lot that's not there, but there's a lot that you can watch instantly, and the library updates daily.

i've gotten huge into japanese film and animation lately. the characters are something i can really understand and get behind.

when i watch a new american movie/show i think to myself "who the hell are these people? who identifies with this?" i almost always turn it off.

when i watch a new japanese movie or TV series i think "By golly, that guy on the screen could be me."

[Tim Horton]

Originally Posted by New England

when i watch a new japanese movie or TV series i think "By golly, that guy on the screen could be me."

are you saying that 'by golly....' is a regular part of your vocab bro?

[Rip Chudd]

I have about 4 tvs. I don't really watch much tv though which is funny. I'll watch a movie with the wife when she wants but I just use my living room tv for my PS3. I don't even have cable, all the tvs have dvd players for movies which is about it.

[New England]

Originally Posted by Timothy Horton

are you saying that 'by golly....' is a regular part of your vocab bro?

with confidence.