Must-See TV Run Amok

In the not-to-distant past, most people had only three or four television channels to choose from. They also had to actually get up off the sofa and turn knobs on the TV to change channels. I'm starting to think maybe we should go back to those days. You may be wondering why I think that. Even if you're not wondering, I'll tell you.

Friends, we had a TV overdose in our house recently. I'm beginning to think Mr. RM and I may have a problem. We have three television sets in our house. That's not many by today's standards, and I'm not overly concerned about the number of televisions. However, one night a few weeks ago, I found myself laughing at a completely ridiculous situation we put ourselves in with those TVs.

I should probably explain the set up we have at the LoveShack (a.k.a. our house): We have a big HD flat screen in the den with a high-def master cable box/DVR. We also have two smaller old-school tube TVs in the master and guest bedrooms with regular (non-DVR) cable boxes that link to the high-def master cable box/DVR in the den. You can watch recorded programs from the master DVR on the old TVs if they were recorded on the regular low-def channel, but not if they were recorded on the high-def channel. This is generally not a problem. We just record the shows we both watch on the HD channel, and I'll sometimes record shows that only I watch on the regular channel, so I can watch them from one of the bedrooms when Mr. RM is watching something in the Den that I don't care for.

Now, the DVR will record two channels at one time, as long as you're tuned to one of the two channels you're recording. This is also generally sufficient for our couch surfing needs. Except for that one night last month. I was in the guest bedroom watching one show, Mr. RM was in the master bedroom watching hockey, and the big high-def TV in the den was all alone, but on and recording two other shows. Totally ridiculous, right? I had to laugh when I realized how pathetic and TV-indulgent we were that night!

It hasn't happened again since then, which is probably a good thing... you never know when your brain will instantaneously turn to complete mush from TV overload. But it made me wonder, do we need an intervention?