3 ms·

I have tried to get my wife to pause some of our subs but she absolutely refuses. She says "we're not poor" (we are not) and apparently just wants to spend $70/

I have tried to get my wife to pause some of our subs but she absolutely refuses. She says "we're not poor" (we are not) and apparently just wants to spend $70/mo on these damn things. Even if costs were lower, I still think we should not have so many, since it spoils our kids. I don't want them to see TV as "we have access to everything all the time". I want them to see that there are tradeoffs, and understand that we could have hundreds of dollars more if we had Netflix for half the year and Disney+ for half the year, for example. There's also something to be said for restarting a sub and being excited to watch content that you had been waiting to see.

dylan604 6mo ago
> "we have access to everything all the time" I remember when there were 3 networks. I remember when those networks stopped broadcasting content around midnight by playing the national anthem and then playing bars or just going off the air. I used to think the concept of UHF is kind of lost, but then realized it's kind of just what YouTube has become-weird, random, wacky content produced by just about anybody that can hit record on a camera.
- tracker1 6mo ago
  And Saturday morning cartoons from 5am-1pm... then they started rolling back the non-toons earlier until no more Saturday morning cartoons. Phoenix, AZ had a local variety kids morning show, "Wallace and Ladmo" that anyone from the area born before 1985 or so probably remembers.
  - dylan604 6mo ago
    Dallas had the Mr Peppermint Show that was syndicated to a few places around the country. By the time the Saturday morning cartoons were gone, there were 24/7 channels for cartoons and kid's entertainment.
    - tracker1 6mo ago
      True... but it was never really the same... IMO Saturday Mornings were kind of a special event before there were 24/7 cartoon network etc. Even if 2/3 of it was of dubious quality.
tracker1 6mo ago
I remember as a kid, mostly having access to HBO/Showtime etc during their "free" week/month that came along about once a year or so. I think my dad subbed for a couple months once, but that was it. Otherwise it was just basic cable and nothing else. Even then, 90% of the time was watching local/broadcast networks via cable.
- dylan604 6mo ago
  > Even then, 90% of the time was watching local/broadcast networks via cable that was pretty much the point of cable being invented. the other networks just jumped on the bandwagon in a "if you build it" situation
john-tells-all 6mo ago
My wife and I realized we were spending too much _time_ just watching shows we didn't really like. So we paused on ALL paid streaming services. The "effort" it takes to a watch a movie on Kanopy, and the fact a movie is only two hours, gives us a lot of value. It's not a money thing, it's a "what am I spending my time on" thing.

dylan604 6mo ago

> "we have access to everything all the time" I remember when there were 3 networks. I remember when those networks stopped broadcasting content around midnight by playing the national anthem and then playing bars or just going off the air. I used to think the concept of UHF is kind of lost, but then realized it's kind of just what YouTube has become-weird, random, wacky content produced by just about anybody that can hit record on a camera.

tracker1 6mo ago
And Saturday morning cartoons from 5am-1pm... then they started rolling back the non-toons earlier until no more Saturday morning cartoons. Phoenix, AZ had a local variety kids morning show, "Wallace and Ladmo" that anyone from the area born before 1985 or so probably remembers.
- dylan604 6mo ago
  Dallas had the Mr Peppermint Show that was syndicated to a few places around the country. By the time the Saturday morning cartoons were gone, there were 24/7 channels for cartoons and kid's entertainment.
  - tracker1 6mo ago
    True... but it was never really the same... IMO Saturday Mornings were kind of a special event before there were 24/7 cartoon network etc. Even if 2/3 of it was of dubious quality.

tracker1 6mo ago

I remember as a kid, mostly having access to HBO/Showtime etc during their "free" week/month that came along about once a year or so. I think my dad subbed for a couple months once, but that was it. Otherwise it was just basic cable and nothing else. Even then, 90% of the time was watching local/broadcast networks via cable.

dylan604 6mo ago
> Even then, 90% of the time was watching local/broadcast networks via cable that was pretty much the point of cable being invented. the other networks just jumped on the bandwagon in a "if you build it" situation

john-tells-all 6mo ago

My wife and I realized we were spending too much _time_ just watching shows we didn't really like. So we paused on ALL paid streaming services. The "effort" it takes to a watch a movie on Kanopy, and the fact a movie is only two hours, gives us a lot of value. It's not a money thing, it's a "what am I spending my time on" thing.