HDTV

Let's be clear about one thing: no matter how much I might characterize the 1960s and 70s as a golden time to grow up in Ridgewood, there is still one thing without question which is better now: TV. We had channels 2,4,5,7,9,11,13, and the UHF (Ultra High Frequency) if you wanted to be adventurous. We had mostly black and white sets with rabbit ears and there was no cable or remote controls.

Today I can lay in bed at night and watch my Yankees live in HD (High Definition) or record them and watch something else. I can mute the sound at my whim and channel surf to my heart's content. It would probable do my heart good to get up and change the channels and volume like we used to do, but I'm not going to look this gift horse in the mouth. The fact that the picture is so sharp you can see the players sweat just adds to the experience.

While TV has become better it has also become a more personalized and solitary experience. Sure we still gather around the TV on occasion but with no where near the frequency as when we watched rockets blast off into space or for funeral processions of slain presidents. We don't even pay attention to the commercials anymore and nobody gets a laugh by repeating Alka Seltzer catch phrases like, "I can't believe I ate the whole thing" or even Wendys, "Where's the Beef?"

I'm not the one to judge whether this loss of a collective memory of what was on TV the night before is good or bad. It likely is just another sign of the times and what most people call progress. Nobody I know wants to give up their remote, or their cable connection, or HDTV and trade for an old black and white. Though I bet someone in the future will draw the connection between the obesity epidemic in this country and the introduction of the TV remote control. I don't believe we are watching more TV we are just naturally not getting up as often as we used to in order to change channels or fuss with the antennas. All those calories we used to burn are one day going to be estimated and give everyone pause for thought.