tv or not tv

Jason and I are planning to cancel our cable tv subscription sometime soon. At $45 a month, it just isn't something we're getting our money out of anymore. In preparation for the cable cancellation, we've signed up for Netflix, which has been really cool (more on that later).

I'm not a big tv watcher - when Jason's not around, I usually don't even bother to turn it on. The only time I can remember having it on while he was at work was a few weeks ago when Liza was getting antsy and I turned on PBS so she could watch Caillou while I took a break from the non-stop entertain-a-child routine. But for someone who basically watches almost no tv, I'm strangely reluctant to ditch the cable. The only shows I watch - primarily What Not to Wear and some South Park - are on cable, and I'm not sure I'm ready to go cold turkey.

I find it sort of ironic that the guy who immediately turns on the tv whenever he's got free time is the one campaigning to ditch cable, and the person who generally watches whatever the other person wants is the one who's hesitating. Secretly I'm hoping that I'll call to cancel the cable and they'll offer me a few months free if I stay ... then we can save the money and the cable :)

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Now, back to Netflix. You know how when you go to the video store to rent a movie and there's either nothing you want, or you want to take home 40 videos because you haven't seen a movie in ages and everything sounds good? Netflix is great because you just put all 40 of them in your queue, and they show up at your door. We can keep them as long as we want, and all I have to do to return them is open my door and stick them in the mailbox. It's like a new mother's dream. Plus, they have all of the obscure movies that never come to our local theatres, including some that I heard about when I was hosting All Things Considered when I was pregnant and then promptly forgot about until I was on the Netflix site. And if you tell it which movies you liked, it recommends movies you might like to add to your queue (see that? I used "queue" two - now three - times in one post ... and here you thought it was just for Scrabble tournaments!). If you like movies - or tv shows that are out on DVD (like Lost, which we're working our way through now) - you should look into Netflix or Blockbuster's online rental service.

PS - my god, she turned into a child (not a baby) while I wasn't looking ...