Jamie, Are you kidding me? My husband would kill me withour the tv. The kids and I are fine without the dummy on, but him....... We were married about a month or so, and since we did the drive thru at midnight, we didn't really have a wedding night or honeymoon or anything. So, I booked us a room at Mount Charleston (about 45 min. from town) a nice cozy little cabin with a basket of goodies and fresh chocolate chips. It had an in-room hot tub or spa w/bubbles. The outing was a surprise, I invite him for a drive. We arrive, he goes to the lodge and gets us a drink, I sneak over to the cabins and check us in. We go for a walk and I lure him to the cabin area. We walk in--he looks around and............. he so famously says, "Where's the T.V.?" There went the mood and there was no t.v. and not alot of action either.... ;) Have a great day! Debbie

It's winter here, or heading that way, so good snuggle-up-with-a-movie weather. However we are looking at trying to re-arrange our room to make a little reading nook near the heater. Currently we are having a marathon Monopoly game, playing for about 3/4 hour before bedtime, with everyone's money and cards getting bagged up so we can put it away at the end of the evening. (otherwise the cat sits on the board and plays with the pieces.) We have a cupboard that is overflowing with board games. A family fave is 'Beat the Safe' which you play as a team - good with little ones as nobody loses. We also like Cluedo. For some reason we started talking with really bad Inspector Clouseau accents whenever we play, its hilarious! DH does an especially good french accent that cracks us all up. We've never totally given up TV, though we talked about it. We got cable, and I'd hoped to watch loads of movies (I love movies) but I never get time, so I ended up taking off the movie channels. We are starting to videotape the 8.30 shows that we want to watch (such as The Bill, House) now that the kids are staying up later, so that we aren't rushing them into bed.

...I suspect I should defend its honor. But I'm not going to. I NEVER watch TV. I have some favourite shows - House, Heroes. I haven't watched either for months and months. I have a mild fantasy that maybe I will download the missed eps or something like that. Who knows? But I would prefer to actually talk to my man when I come home from work. And, as a writer, I spend so much time in a fantasy world - more pretend-life is just not needed. Then there's the cliched, sanitised, or overly-violent world TV presents us with. I just get sick of all the bull. Was it Spearhead who had that song "television, drug of the nation, feeding ignorance and bleeding radiation?" Um, the lyrics aren't quite right, but you know what I mean. Good luck with it.It's a bold, brave experiment.

You'd have a serious fight on your hands trying to take away my TV. ;)

I do find it relaxes me, and also inspires me -- there are shows I just can't imagine not having seen (The Closer, Buffy, Monk, Sopranos, LOST, Numb3rs etc) that really do just grab my imagination, and that's so important because while I love reading, TV and movies give me something different that does feed into my writing in some way, though I'm not sure I can name it. It's not the content, always, but the conversations I have with people and thinking through the stories and the characters, and I don't want to do with out it.

I also just love the fun of it -- Survivor, America has Talent, American Idol -- just fun social, stuff.

That said, I don't OD on it, either. I am completely against daytime TV. I would not be caught dead watching TV while the sun is up, so that is my time to "do." Then, if I have better or other things to do in the meanwhile, in the evenings, etc I have TiVo, which I promise, does change your life. You can watch TV when you want to, no slave to any schedule.

But no, I'm pretty happy all in all with my viewing:living ratio, and with due respect to Bill McKibben, I don't buy all of his critical views, either (The End of Nature, etc). Sure, I could get more stuff done if I didn't watch in the evening, but maybe it's nice not to always be "doing."

I was raised with the TV running, and it never got in the way of my playtime, my reading (I read as voraciously as I watched TV as a kid) and I would go even farther and say it's been a big part of my imagination's development, and how I learned to tell a story (the MA in Lit probably doesn't hurt, either, but you know...).

Anyway, no. I not only refuse to give up my TV but I'm looking into extended cable... ;) I don't want to miss the Sookie Stackhouse show when it comes out later this year... ;)

Sam

Although I have favorite TV shows that I like to watch, I wouldn't mind not watching TV. I love to read and would probably do that if I didn't have the use of a TV. The males in my house would probably kill something if they didn't have a TV to watch. They are definitely addicted to the tube. If I tried to take away the TV for even a day they would drive me crazy. I'd love to try your challenge but, I don't think I'd live long enough to tell you about it. As for giving up TV, when I was a teenager I used to go to my room after school and listen to the radio. I loved some of the music back then and would prefer to listen to music rather than watch TV. I think the only time that I watched TV was when I had to watch something for school. I could definitely give up TV again as long as I had my music and my books. Have a great weekend. Mads:)

When I lived on the Oregon Coast (about 100 years ago) we had no real TV. We had 2 channels. One played old (I mean, really old) sitcoms from the 50s: My Little Margie, Life with Riley, Burns & Allen, Life with Joan. I don't remember any adverts either but there may have been. The other channel was spotty at best. We just didn't watch. This was in the days before VCRs or DVDs. We had one movie theatre in town. Every Wednesday when the movie changed, nearly the entire town would show up for the movie, regardless of what was playing. I loved it! I worked at a resort. There were about 200 of us and we really formed a family. Most nights, 10 or 20 of us would crowd into someone's house and play Risk or Monopoly or Scrabble. That was also when (the first) Trivial Pursuit came out. We'd team up and play. We'd potluck our food, our money, our entertainment. People would bring over records (you all remember records, right?) or cassette tapes. I'd host a yearly Chanukkah party on 8th night (the prettiest because all the candles were burning) and everyone would bring some kind of gag gift that cost no more than $1. We'd pass those back and forth until everyone ended up with one. Invariably someone would forget their gift and go into my pantry and pull out a tin of "something" and wrap it quickly in aluminum foil so they wouldn't miss out. We'd teach each other crafts, cheer on each other's kids at baseball/football/basketball games, keep kids for each other so the parents could have a "romantic dinner", lending out candles, tablecloths, whatever. We'd lend an ear, a hand, a shoulder. It was, in many ways, the best years of my life. I felt so connected to the community I was in. TV? Never missed it! ani

Gosh I hope you read this because I absolutely loved Call Me Wicked. I just wanted to tell you. I loved both the Hero and Heroine characters and the whole witch story. I won't comment on what parts that I loved the most because some of the bloggers might not have read your book as yet. I can absolutely assure them that they will love it. I think you have another winner. Thanks for the very good read. Mads:)

We cut down our cable stations for awhile and you know what? It didn't help the kids watch less tv, they just found other shows to watch. It didn't bother me. I had less things to choose from. I did miss the History, Discovery, and a few other channels, but I have so many other things to occupy my time I do not really depend on tv. Now try to take away my computer...then you'll have a fight! :D Tracey