A Little Too Much Reality TV ...

Hubby and I have an ongoing argument that can leave both of us drained and grumpy for days ....

This argument always happens in front of strangers and usually in the television aisle of the local Sears or Best Buy.

It starts with hubby standing slack jawed in front of the plasmas, hand reaching slowly for his credit card like a distracted gunslinger.

Me - "Ok, we just have to get that USB plug."

Hubby - *crickets*

Me- trying new tactic "Wait, is Van Halen's new ALBUM out?"

This catches hubby's attention but also causes the salesperson who has been totally ignoring us to take notice- surprised either by the unfamiliar term or startled by a sudden realization that we must be borderline elderly and easy marks.

Salesperson - "Some amazing sales today"

At this point hubby may actually start to drool a bit - he could not care less about sales, but knows this may be something that catches my attention. It doesn't. We all stare at the episode of COPS glaring at us from 20 different screens.

Hubby - (you need to picture one of those 'thought' bubbles here) hmmm, sale- she loves sales

Me - (another thought bubble) is that wallpaper in the perp's house on COPS- I thought you were safe if you didn't have wood paneling ...

Salesperson - (you need to picture the Peanuts sound when the grown-ups talk) WAH, WAH, Dolby, WAH, Surround Sound, WAH, WAH

This scene always turns into a argument - with me declaring that spending our money on something like this is making a statement that tv is very important to us and hubby asserting - EXACTLY.

I have often offered the compromise of getting a bigger screen for the livingroom if I can take the tv out of our bedroom, but he stubbornly refuses to sleep with just me and not Letterman, so here we are arguing about this ... again ....

8 comments

noblegnome said...

This is exactly why we don't watch tv! Well, that and a million other reasons. My hubby's grandfather just upgraded his big screen to a 72". Next year it will probably be a 90".

Dennice {Fringe} said...

Nobody hates stereotypes (especially gender related) more than I do so it pains me to admit that the slackjaw-stop-and-stare-big-tv-obsession condition: it's a guy thing.

frenchie said...

my ex and i use to ALWAYS go into an argument while at Ikea! he even left me there once and walked home.
Ikea is never close to city center...

Kate8085 said...

Our new house has a fireplace/mantle thingie, and ever since we moved in, all I heard about was a flat screen TV. Ugh.

Lets pay our mortgage instead, ok?

Luckily, my father in law didn't measure for his, got it on sale and couldn't return it, so he gave us his.
There is NO WAY I could spend that much $ on a TV.

T.Allen said...

Luckily, hubs and I are on the same page about TV. We didn't even have one for about 4 years (my son says that is when he discovered his love for writing music)We have one now, a 27" I think...it's really old-we got it as a gift from an old neighbor who thought we were weird or mean because our kid never knew what was going on in TV land... When it dies, it is highly unlikely we'll replace it. I'm eyeing a vintge writing table to put in its place.

queen-of-nostalgia said...

I have twin four year olds, so the only thing on - ever - is Noggin and cartoons...

The only TV I enjoy is the old stuff, like Buffy the Vampire slayer, and I have those on DVD...

I think, especially for men, TV is like the modern equivalent of a fire for cavemen. They huddle. They drool. They want a bigger fire than the caveman next door...

Wasted Wishes said...

We shut off our satelite service, so we only watch the movies we have now (which is reaching towards 1000). It amazing how much time one can waste watching other people do stupid things.

M.M.E. said...

My boyfriend is thrifty when he can be, but he'll go all out for quality. So, he spent who knows how much money on computer parts so that he could hook up his desktop computer to the tv and play movies and internet tv episodes that way. This is his way of coping with no cable and living in a basement apartment where you quite literally have to put the antennae on your head and sit on the console to get a signal. I just roll my eyes, ignore him, and secretly check his money accounts to be sure we can still pay rent.