Me and My TV

I'm wondering whether any of you are having the same issues I am with finding something to watch. With extra free time, we seem to be going through the choices, many as they are, quickly.

Growing up we only had 4 channels--ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS, for those of you too young to know what I'm talking about. We accepted the choices--basically, take it or leave it.

Now we have endless choices, and I think it's more of a problem. Talk about never being happy! Even with all these choices, my husband and I often find ourselves staring bleakly at each other as we try--repeatedly, and fail--repeatedly, to find something we want to watch.

Occasionally I'm paying for 4 different streaming services. It snuck up on me, as many over-indulgences tend to do. I have Amazon Prime. And I've had Netflix ever since the rental stores closed. You chose how may DVDs you wanted each month and paid the corresponding rate. And they arrived promptly in the mail, which is whole different topic. It was a happy time.

Hulu joined the crowd when I wanted to watch Elementary. I had ignored it when it was originally aired because I was caught up with Sherlock, the British retelling of the classic, and didn't want to blur the lines. Eventually I got curious, and Hulu was where it was. When I finished that I took started on SVU. Then a friend suggested This Is Us. And so it goes.

Other services have come and gone, tried and rejected. There is a limit to what we need to have available at any one time.

What bothers me is that I'm paying more and more for the same selection I used to have with plain old Netflix-in-the-mail. Yes, I know prices are always going to rise. That's not my complaint.

Over and over we've found a movie or TV series that sounds interesting and when we call it up we find we have to buy or rent it. This is just plain annoying. In the good old days, anything that was out on DVD was available for the monthly fee. Now they want that fee and more.

And I still have trouble finding something I really want to watch.

My husband says we're in a rut. We keep ending up with British mysteries. It's true. When we get tired of trying shows that are not to our taste, we head back to the BBC. The stories are good and life is more gentle. Well, except for the ghastly murders themselves. There's some chasing on foot of a bad guy who's "done a runner," as they say, but almost never any gun shots or car chases. That's okay with me.

Then we get to the end of the show and it's time to start all over again. I want to bang my head against the wall.

Or the TV.