Quarantine leads to great decision

Although I have been working at the office, my time otherwise has been spent at home… where I thought I could get a lot accomplished! (Yeah right!) Save for a few masked-up trips to Giant Eagle, a trip or two to Walgreens, and several drive-thru establishments, I have pretty much settled in to being a home body.

Meanwhile with every event being canceled this summer – and rightfully so given the circumstances – one needs to find a way to entertain one’s self.

My friend took Verizon Wireless up on their offer for a free year of Disney+ the streaming service which, after the year is up, will be $6.99 per month. She offered me a sub-account on her feed and I, being the Disneyphile that I am, took her up on it. All these great movies I watched as a kid, every episode of The Simpsons (remember Disney bought Fox), National Geographic programs, and (for those who like it – like my sister) Star Wars stuff all at my finger tips! Now, not everything is on there, I’m still looking for certain movie titles that may be lesser known, but I don’t doubt that titles will be cycled in and out over time.

For as into media as I am, I’m way behind the times. My TV is 10 years old. (It’s a basic flat-screen which was a mutual Christmas gift between my then-wife and me. (I got custody of it.) We decided that the nearly 30-year-old 29 inch Panasonic had seen better days! MAN that sucker was a b*tch to move!) So it doesn’t have “smart” capabilities. So my Disney+ viewing is either on the computer or on my phone.

Admittedly, the TV is just a noise box for “company” when I am working on something. I’ll watch the news (when it isn’t “All COVID, All the Time” or “More COVID, More Often”) but that’s all I take a vested interest in watching. All of the other channels, provided to me by Verizon FiOS since 2008, may have interesting programming but I tend to ignore it when it’s on. If I am actively watching, you can bet a nap is not long to follow.

What’s the matter with cable? The same old, same old classic sit-coms are run in “binge watch” mode on many channels. When not airing new programming, Food Network and the Cooking Channel run the same reruns of “Diners, Drive-ins & Dives” or “Carnival Eats”. Great shows, but c’mon! Oh and the unrealistic baking/cooking competitions. Dumb! TLC has some great programs about people – but I honestly think that my “6-Million Pound Life” merely exploits people.

“So, what am I paying for?” I thought. So I signed on to FiOS and compared packages. Nothing suited my needs for what I wanted to watch on cable. I use the internet daily and, yes I still have a landline phone “just in case”. But cable? The only suitable package left was the “all-locals”. With exception of a low-power outlet or two, I have our major locals, their sub-channels, Pennsylvania Cable Network and.. and… a few (very badly needed) Spanish speaking channels. Savings: $53.00/month!

Within the hour of pushing the button, the changes were made. An hour after that, there was MY offer for a free year of Disney+ which will go on the FiOS bill in a year.

With the exceptions of several shows, cable is a vast wasteland of reruns and newly created channels that really serve no purpose other than a place to put the old shows from the original channel when the original replaces the old shows with new shows. Or they show the same crop of movie over and over again. (How many times can you see Steel Magnolias on TV?)

Believe me, if I wanted to rig an antenna on the roof for the locals with the uncertainty of receiving them, I would. But I’ll take my chances the next time the carriage rights costs are disputed! But I am happy to have dumped all the worthless dross with a (very) few good programs mixed in. I’m sure I’ll find those online.

So long (to the bulk of) cable. You have not been missed.