One Channel

I was probably just a couple of weeks shy of turning 10 back in the old country when I saw a commercial for an upcoming series called “V: The Final Battle.” Back then I was really into science fiction, and even had a small group of friends who were just as nerdy as I was — into science, astronomy, and UFOs, which we'd just discovered. So that commercial got me hooked before the show had even started.

I don't remember exactly when the first episode aired where I lived, but in the old country, the miniseries was stretched out into 10 weekly episodes. Years later, I learned that in the US, it actually premiered on May 6th, 1984, and wrapped up on May 8th — a three-night, three-part miniseries. But in the old country, for whatever reason, they decided to stretch it into a 10-week event.

Every week I made absolutely sure nothing got in the way of me claiming the one television in the household so I could watch my show. My parents went along with it, mostly because by the time it aired, there wasn't anything else they particularly wanted to watch. I got lucky there.

I should pause and explain something that might sound strange: in the small town I lived in, there was only one functioning television channel for the entire city — maybe even the whole region. Literally one channel. There was nothing else to tune into. So, lucky for me, that was the channel airing the miniseries, and for nine weeks I sat glued to the screen every time it came on, trying to keep up with what was happening to Earth, these visitors from space, and what they were really after.

And wouldn't you know it — on the week of the very last episode, after building up nine weeks of momentum and keeping me, at least, absolutely riveted, something happened. I never asked my parents for the full story, but someone decided that channel was no longer going to be available in our town. So on the exact night the final episode was supposed to air, the channel went dark, and in its place, a new one appeared — the equivalent, more or less, of what's now ESPN. They replaced what was, even today I believe, the most-watched channel in the old country with one that broadcast nothing but sports, 24/7.

To say I was frustrated would be an understatement. I remember asking my mom and dad if there was anyone we could talk to, anything we could do, any way I could somehow still watch the ending. Obviously, there wasn't. This was the 1980s, in a small town in the old country.

Eventually I learned to live with the frustration, and I guess I mostly forgot about it. It wasn't until years after I'd moved to the US, and had already settled in, that — flipping through the Channels (with a capital C, since having so many available through cable was still something I was getting used to) — I stumbled across a commercial for one of the sci-fi channels airing the miniseries. This was sometime back in the '90s. With a mix of excitement and strange, mixed feelings, I finally sat down, almost 10 years later, to watch the final episode and learn what had actually happened.

It's funny how easy it is now to take for granted just how much we have access to — all this streaming, all these channels — when I think back to being 10 years old, living somewhere with exactly one channel, a channel that could simply disappear for reasons no one really explained to you. Sometimes it was technical. Sometimes, probably, it was political. Either way, there was nothing you could do. You just had to move on with your life without ever finding out what happened.

These days, I'm almost embarrassed to admit how many streaming services I have access to, not to mention all the channels available on my TV and every other device connected to the internet. But even with all of that at my fingertips, I've become very selective about how much time I spend in front of a screen — I've never really taken to streaming on devices. Most nights, I find myself debating whether to sit down on the couch and watch a game, or one of the shows my wife and I have bookmarked, but 99% of the time I end up picking up a book instead. I think that says a lot about what I actually value these days.

Even going to the movies can feel like a bit of a hassle for me now. I can't quite get behind the idea of sitting in front of a screen for two and a half, three hours straight, doing nothing but watching. It's not that I don't enjoy it — I recently watched The Odyssey, which ran long by theater standards. It's more that if I have three free hours, I'd rather spread that time across a few different things: maybe a shorter video, thirty minutes or so, but also time to read a book, catch an article, and just think through the day, or what I want to do next.

Now, with fall approaching and a lot of different sports leagues starting their seasons, I'm pretty sure I'll be spending extra time in front of the television in the evenings — watching hockey, college football, basketball, or even catching the playoffs and the World Series for baseball. But you can bet your bottom dollar that even during a long game, chances are I'll have a book, or at least my Kindle, close by. I'll be sneaking in some reading between commercial breaks, or whenever the game gets less interesting than whatever I'm reading.

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash