My TV crisis

It has finally happened. After twelve years, our TiVo is full and has stopped working. Even though I paid for a lifetime membership.

So, we have to buy another set-top box. Which is no small decision because your set top box determines which TV tribe you’re in.

I notice Google just leaked a story on its new Android TV system which it calls “a paradigm shift for interactive entertainment content.” I don’t want to plug into the Matrix, I just want to watch some television.

But you can’t just watch TV anymore. You have to plan. You have to link to your hi-fi system, to your wi-fi system, to your cable provider, to your content outlet, to your charge card.

It used to be the toughest part of watching TV was orienting the rooftop antenna. Dad would go up on the roof and yell down the chimney to Mom – “is Milton Berle still fuzzy?”

But you did that just once, and then you turned it on and got a show.

It was a choice of four channels. Which meant there was a good chance you had something to talk about with other TV watchers – because we all watched the same four channels,
Now, except for the Super Bowl, nobody watches the same shows. I’m at a point where, to have anything to talk about, I have to binge-watch “Mad Men,” “Breaking Bad,” and “Game of Thrones.”

I’m not gonna have any time to play video games!

Bottom line:

The next bazillionaire is going to be the guy who reinvents the old TV. One box, that doesn’t need any other boxes attached to it, where you put it on a table, turn it on, and a show comes out. Then TV would finally be as advanced as radio.