As an avid console gamer, I own a nice TV, but I have had the same "hotel TV" experience. I was at PyCon in Chicago last year, and the hotel rooms had these go

As an avid console gamer, I own a nice TV, but I have had the same "hotel TV" experience. I was at PyCon in Chicago last year, and the hotel rooms had these gorgeous flat panel televisions. In a flash, I realized that I had absolutely no idea what to do with the one in my room, since it didn't have a game console attached to it. Like Mr. JGC, I watch some things via Hulu, Netflix or on DVD, but I haven't dealt with cable/network programming & commercials for years. Worse than news were the commercials. I think it was George Carlin who said, "If you want to see how screwed up our country is, just turn the TV on for five minutes sometime, and watch only commercials." I don't mind the occasional ad on Hulu since they're far less frequent. I often find myself feeling exhausted after 5 minutes of commercials on television--it feels like nothing so much as being buffeted from all angles.