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Ryan McClarren

Latest posts by Ryan McClarren (see all)

• Update: One Year “without” TV - February 6, 2015
• Cleaning a Jack Spade Waxwear Bag - January 29, 2014
• One week update on no TV - January 15, 2014

Watching some DVDs, such as this one, since we cut the cord.

As mentioned in previous posts (here and here), we removed all pay tv service from our house, with the exception of Amazon Prime video streaming (which we get for free with our  Amazon Prime membership which I need for work anyway). The short and sweet version is that the girls don’t even miss it.

In the mornings when they typically would watch Sprout, PBS, or one of the five different Disney channels they now watch videos on PBSKids.org and stream them through the Apple TV.  Now, this would be (and really is) fine, but I find the content on that website to be lacking.  They only have short (10-12 min) segments for many of the programs, including the girls’ favorite Peg+Cat. That is ok because that show does come in smaller segments on the ol’ broadcast.  Some shows, however, have only 2-3 minute vignettes that I’ve seen over and over.  The one about Clifford teaching his friends to spin on the ice is particularly burned into my brain—we get it purple-colored poodle dog, you don’t want to look silly in front of your friends, but they’re not your friends because of your ice-spinning abilities.

When they watch any other tv they now usually turn to the DVD collection.  In a move that warms the cockles of my heart, they have re-discovered their love of DuckTales. They have watched a couple of episodes over the past two days, and given that they are a bit older, seem to have a better understanding of the plot lines than 1.5 years ago when they were on a previous Ducktales kick. By the way, for a good review of Ducktales see this article.

For the missus and I, we haven’t missed TV that much either.  I’ve started to watch some old TV on the Amazon Prime streaming, and I might finally finish watching Twin Peaks. Katie did mention that the other day when everyone was napping she felt like watching a show (not a particular show just some show), a feeling we can all understand, but other than that she didn’t miss the TV.

At this juncture, it’s looking like a great move.