[Jeffhs]

Right on! You said it. The programming on most broadcast TV networks (except PBS) these days is so bad I don't bother much with it anymore. I watch mostly TV Land, Nick at Nite, WGN and PBS, although every now and then something that interests me will turn up on the networks, and of course I watch the news on NBC (channel 3 in my area) at 6:30 p.m. EST.

Hollywood made better TV in the '70s and earlier, which is why I like the classic-TV cable channels (as well as AMC and TCM classic movie channels) much better than I like most of the programming on the networks. TV sets themselves were built to last in those days, and looked better than a lot of today's table models as well. Of course, one can always get close to the same effect as having a console in their living room by getting an entertainment center or a nice-looking TV stand, and putting their equipment in it or on it as the case may be. I've seen some very nice entertainment systems housed this way (a buddy of mine has his TV and stereo in an entertainment center that I swear takes up much of one entire wall in his living room; I've seen it and can vouch for that)--kinda' like those big RCA, Magnavox, etc. 3-way entertainment centers of the '50s and '60s. I did something very similar to that with a utility cart, covering the back with woodgrain paper to match the finish; the result now is that my VCR and cable box are on the two shelves beneath my TV, which of course is on the top shelf. This installation is shown in my avatar (my stereo is hooked up to the audio output of the cable box, but the stereo is some distance away, next to my computer).


RCA and Zenith, among others, do make flat-panel plasma and LCD TVs one can hang on a wall "like art", as the comic from Carmine's local paper says. However, the programming, for the most part, is anything but art these days, except on channels such as PBS, the Discovery Channel or the National Geographic Channel. Television technology of the 21st century is great, with 16:9 50"+ flat screens, out-of-this-world surround sound and so on; why aren't the programs just as good? Television these days is not art, for the most part; much of it is low- or no-class garbage unfit to be seen on standard tube TVs, let alone fancy-dancy projection and HD sets. Until the programming is much better and until I can afford an HDTV flat-panel set, not necessarily in that order, I will continue to watch my favorite stations on my RCA XL-100 19-incher on cable (through a cable box).

Much of today's TV programming, IMO, is just not good enough yet to justify my even considering purchasing an HDTV. I am reminded of a letter to the editor of an electronics magazine of the late '60s; the letter's author stated, in part, "Can you imagine today's violent TV shows being blown up to that extent (to 50"+)? Heck, even a station (test) pattern will frighten our children!" Below the letter's text was a cartoon showing a baby in a crib, looking at a test pattern from a TV station on a giant-screen TV mounted on the wall some 10 feet away. The infant, scared to death, was crying and screaming its lungs out (probably thinking the test pattern was going to jump out of the screen or some such thing). If this sort of thing can make kids jump out of their skins, just imagine what it might do to some high-strung or nervous adults. I can imagine someone watching a horror movie on a 16:9 52" plasma TV screen and having nightmares for a week or more afterwards.

In any case, however, television programming will have to improve quite a bit before I will even think of getting an HD, plasma or LCD wide-screen TV. I don't see that happening any time soon, so all of my viewing will be either on my RCA or my Zenith 19" set in the bedroom. Garbage is still garbage (and the horror movies will still give some folks nightmares) whether the stuff is shown on a 19" delta-gun or inline CRT screen or a giant 61" projection TV.