+++ title = "No TV" author = ["George Jones"] publishDate = 2021-12-07 lastmod = 2022-02-26T08:35:00-05:00 tags = ["life"] categories = ["blog"] draft = false +++ {{< figure src="/ox-hugo/tv.jpg" caption="Figure 1: [\"\"Console Television Receiver\"\"](https://live.staticflickr.com/4030/4280476270_22dafcfb6f_b.jpg) by ellenm1 is licensed under [CC BY 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/?ref=ccsearch&atype=html)" width="400px" >}} When I got married I made the decision not to have a TV because I knew my personal tendency to let it suck up my attention and I did not want that as an additional distraction from the hard work of building and maintaining important relationships. My (now 23 year old) son and I are currently working through the first 3 seasons of Star Trek The Next Generation (TNG) on DVD. Growing up (this will date me) I watched some of the (then) current kids shows. I remember how much my grandfather loved watching _Lawrence Welk_. The annual airing of _The Wizard of Oz_ ad _A Charlie Brown Christmas_ were anchors of the TV-watching year. My best friend would not miss the Jerry Lewis telethon. _All In the Family_, _The Waltons_ and _MASH_ where staples. In the 70s there were cult-like re-runs of _Star Trek_ TOS and this wacky British show called _Monty Python's Flying Circus_ late at night on the PBS station. And there were major events like the moon landing (I was 8, vague memories) and the celebration of the American bicentennial and less happy things like the nightly body count on the evening news during the Vietnam war. We often watched together as a family (or part of a family). Most families at the time had "the TV", one TV (Mr. Green of the Monkeys "Pleasant Valley Sunday" not withstanding). There were in our case only 4 stations to choose from, the CBS, ABC, NBC and PBS affiliates. We argued over who got "the good chair", who had to get up and change the channel (yes, no remotes) and if you got your place when you came back. With so few selections, it was highly likely that some of your friends had watched the same show the night before. There were no VCRs, DVDs or YouTube. You watched what the local stations put on, when they chose to air it (yes, air) or you didn't watch anything. This lack of choice contributed to a shared culture, shared experiences. I wonder if the ancient Athenians had more than one play by Aeschylus or Euripides at the same time? "Back in the day" (40s to early 80s) there were local and regional TV shows. Cincinnati had the _Paul Dixon Show_ and _Midwestern Hayride_, Dayton had _Phil Donahue_ (who later went national). Columbus had _Lucy's Toy Shop_ (live kids show) and _Flippo the Clown_..afternoon B-Movies with commentary ... and a recording of Flippo (Bob Marvin) playing the Beatles Norwegian Wood on sax with his Jazz Combo for the theme song. Any "kid" of a certain age (OK, we're all now approaching 60) from central Ohio can still sing theme from Lucy's Toy Shop by heart. TV of the day created a shared culture. Those a few years older than me seemed to all have watched they American debut of a British group on the _Ed Sullivan_ show playing a style of music copied from American artists such as Elvis Presley who in turned copied it from the current black artists of the day. There's a lot to be said for shared culture. ...