Time to invest in streaming video?

Maybe. Yesterday was a hard day; after teaching I stayed over and worked on rewriting a rejected article, which I always find hard ("What the HELL is that reviewer talking about?") and painful ("They think this sucks. Did I really write something this bad?")

So I got home and just wanted to veg out in front of the television.

But.

There was nothing on. Discovery Fit and Health: marathon of Hoarders. "Arts" and "Entertainment": Marathon of Duck Dynasty*. The "Learning" Channel: bride and bridesmaid shows, all night. Not even a re-run of NCIS to be found anywhere.

(*People allegedly wanted to sue Subway for "false advertising" when a "Footlong" sub turned up that was 11" long. I think we have a similar case against A and E - nothing they show these days seems to be either Art or Entertainment.)

It seems to me like the channels are getting more and more and more the same - same crappy shows on every one, same reality drek, same grabbing some subculture in America and holding it up to the light so (apparently) the elites can laugh at it.

Feh.I don't know if a Roku box or something would make more sense, or if just canceling my cable and then coming home and staring at a wall when I have done so much brainwork in a day that I don't even feel like reading, would make more sense.

I don't even know how streaming/on demand stuff works, if a person can set it up themselves. My cable company is unreliable enough when it comes to service that I'd rather not work through them.

I was also irritated when I woke up this morning - around 5:15 am and couldn't get back to sleep - so I sat and flipped channels for a while. And in among all the infomercials that usually populate the airwaves at that hour, there was something called Shakespeare Uncovered, which was really fascinating, but which made me rage at the tv: "WHY? Why do you put something like this on at an hour when I'm likely to be asleep, and yet, when I have time to watch and the desire to watch, it's all crap?"

(I suppose the answer is that most people love the stuff I think is crap, and would hate the stuff I enjoy. I know, I know: I'm weird and don't fit in. But you'd think with 125 channels or something....)

I'm really tired of the so-called reality shows; this is a fad that should have died and gone away about five years ago, and yet instead it continues to mutate and metastasize. I want shows that have storylines and characters and that maybe hold up a bit of a mirror to the human psyche, instead of people riding around whooping on ATVs or yelling at each other or sitting around looking impossibly well-put-together while still calling themself a "housewife."