Well, I just really resent being blackmailed into spending more money like this. I have cable at one house, guess I'll keep it till we sell, but I'm totally disgusted that right now, on my old (very old--my sets are about 15 years old) TV's I can pick up about 12 channels. With the converter box attached, I can get exactly TWO channels. First they told us all we needed was a converter box. Then, once most folks bought them, oops--you might need an antenna, too. And now, that's not even working. You know what I think? (Just call me a conspiracist)--I think the pay tv companies had a lot to do with this switch. That's really the only way most of us are going to be able to get TV reception after next week. No, sorry. I'm not spending any more money on this fiasco. After next week, I'll be turning most of my TV's off, and leaving them off. I hear a lot of others who feel the same way. With any luck, this scam will take money from the pockets of the cable/dish companies, rather than making more for them. Just one more example, though, of the smash and grab that's being perpetrated on the middle class as we gasp our last breaths.

I like "Morning Joe" too, wannaretire, except for the darned music they play in the background sometimes. I like Willie Geist who has a 1/2 hour program before MJ and then is on their show a lot. We get two newspapers so I get most of the news from them. In the evening we watch ABC for two reasons. I like Diane Sawyer and the main reason------Jeopardy comes on right after :-) We sleep to either HDTV, CNN or MSNBC. CNN because I hope AC360 will have James Carvell on. I'm totally in love with him!! Cynic, those "coming up next" teasers drive me crazy, too. If you notice, these days they call themselves journalists rather than reporters. I don't know if it's because it sounds fancier or because they're just reading a script that's put in front of them. They do get my appreciation when they're able to pronounce all those foreign names. Like Blagojevich. LOL!

I don't watch the news programs on TV. They sensationalize everything and make it sound worse, or different than it actually is. They will do it even if they have to lie, or make up something out of thin air. They've been caught lying countless times, but they don't care and continue to do it, because their viewers seem to have been brainwashed into believing everything they say. I grew up in a time when news anchors read the news without injecting their opinion into it, or trying to turn and twist things to fit their agenda. It's too bad news programs have sunk to such a low level as they have today. I'm an independent person prefers to get information from various sources, and then form my own opinion. I don't like being lied to and told I should believe a certain way, and if I don't I'm a either stupid, or a horrible person, or both. When someone does that, they lose all credibility with me.

I suspect I'm the opposite of your DH when it comes to TV viewing, but I do have a couple of thoughts to share. You could start by getting a smart TV. Hisense and TCL are two brands with high quality on the low end of the price scale. You wouldn't have to pay much more than $400 for a 50" model with gorgeous picture quality. Your husband might have so much fun talking to the remote that he might not miss the shows he isn't watching. I'm not an expert in streaming packages, but I know a wide variety are available. A sports-fan friend recently gave up his cable and got a Hulu package that includes ESPN. Just this week, CNN came out with a new streaming service, CNN+. I believe all who sign up this month will do so at a 50% discount, paying only $2.99/month. The discount remains for the life of your membership.