captain_slinky: (Default)
[personal profile] captain_slinky
We got rid of Cable TV over a year ago in favor of just hooking a computer up to the TV and using Hulu / Netflix / TV.com / Archive.org / The Public Library etc for all our viewing needs. It has completely changed our lives in ways we never thought possible, or at least in ways I never imagined would ever happen.

I was raised by the TV. For as long as I can remember, the TV set was ALWAYS ON from the moment we woke up till the second we went to bed (and even beyond that, but more on that later). This was very strange because up till the time I was 14 years old (1987) we lived in an an *extremely* "Rural" area with NO CABLE and VERY LITTLE television reception. We had the biggest-baddest rotary aerial television antenna that money could buy stuck to our roof and could still only pull in 7-and-a-half channels; I still remember them perfectly.

2 - CBUT - Canadian TV out of Vancouver BC, showed children's programming like Sesame Street till NOON, and had Fraggle Rock on Sunday nights. Oh, and weird "Tween" programming all Sunday morning till Noon that was aimed specifically at kids age 10 to 14 with music videos and "You Can't Do That On Television".

4 - KOMO - Local ABC Affiliate, nothing special

5 - KING - Local NBC Affiliate, this was the channel we watched the most. When I was still young enough that my Mom woke up for school with me in the mornings, we watched their local news to wake up instead of what I *wanted* which would have been cartoons.

6 & 8 - CBUT - A different Canadian TV station than the one on channel 2, although their cal letters were the same. Both 6 and 8 showed the exact same programs at the exact same time, and where known to show movies with swear words and boobies after midnight (the one time I checked for myself, yeah, there were swears and boobies but they were both in French).

10 - KZOQ - Weird local channel that kept changing. They started out completely independent showing re-runs and weird cartoons no one had ever heard of, and that's how I'l always remember them.

12 - KVOS - Local Bellingham station that was *loosely* affiliated with CBS. Channel 12 was my life. Cartoons in the morning, an old movie at Noon, cartoons and syndicated TV shows in the afternoon, solid block of syndicated sit-coms till 8pm, another "Blockbuster" movie and then BRITISH TELEVISION TILL DAWN! This is where I met Benny Hill, On The Busses, Doctor Who and many many many others :)

13 - KCPQ - "The Northwest's OWN Movie Channel", they had lots and lots and lots of old movies on Sundays :) OOH! And every week-day for much longer than any other channel, they had a live "Kiddie Show" hosted by a fellow named "Captain Sea-Tac" who I got to meet IN PERSON once upon a time! They later became the local FOX affiliate in the late 80's.


From the age of 12, I had a TV set in my bedroom right next to my bed. I fell asleep every night with it on, and woke up to cartoons every morning.

I bought the TV guide every week and memorized it. Friends and family marveled at my ability to tell them what was on any of my channels at any time of any day.

When I moved in to my own apartment, the first thing I bought was a Dish Network Satelite TV System.

The best, highest-paying job I ever had was working for Comcast where my job was to talk to people on the phone while I watched TV and then went home to watch more TV.

Television has been a HUGE PART of my life :)

Date: 2012-01-16 12:20 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sasjhwa.livejournal.com
I got to meet Captain Sea Tac once too. I loved his show. He put one of my drawings on. I remember that you could actually watch cartoons on the big 3 stations after school too. That has been relegated to PBS and the cable networks now. :(

Date: 2012-01-16 03:04 am (UTC)
aurora77: (Default)
From: [personal profile] aurora77
TV was pretty significant for me growing up, too. My parents swear I learned half of what I know just from PBS, which was one of 5 channels I had (not counting the religious channel and later the shop-at-home channel) growing up. I've switched almost entirely to the Internet with the occasional DVD rental. No cable TV and only occasionally catching something on the airwaves that isn't news (Saturday morning cartoons on 7.2 or the occasional sports or documentary). It's weird, knowing that in general, I can watch whatever I feel like on a whim. I don't follow that many new shows right now. (A couple of guilty pleasures and two which are off-season.) The rest are either already out or are cable shows I'm waiting to rent DVDs for. The other stuff is all available whenever I want it. (Doctor Who, the various Star Trek series, some anime, and a few other things I'm going through.) It's definitely changed my habits. I only have one show I watch every time it's on, and last season was a bit meh for me, so it's weird not to have that one show weekly I'm racing home to see.

Date: 2012-01-17 10:54 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] colloween.livejournal.com
I'm marveling at the first paragraph. I... don't know if we could do it! Even after an entire day off together, desperately looking for ANYTHING to watch on regular TV, yesterday, could we take the plunge and cancel cable?

LOVED the rest of your post; compelling, fully-entertaining picture windows into your life. :)

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