Nowadays, we
believe the hype. We actually think that stuff should work. “We” as-in “I,” OK?
Case in
point: Batman. Growing up as a child
in Sarasota, FLA in the 1960s, I was on a Batman-deprived
media diet. See, we used to fetch TV shows with these here TV antennas, yep.
You young’uns might not know this. But, in those days, there were only three
VHS channels – CBS, NBC and ABC. Yep. Seems like, back in those days, there was
an ABC affiliate squatting on Channel 10 in Largo, and another ABC affiliate
what had Channel 10 in Ft. Myers. Sarasota was smack dab in the middle – which
means the signals arriving from both stations were weak and interfered with
each other. Thus, tuning into ABC, Sarasota TVs in general (and our
black-and-white Zenith in particular) received only snowy images and white
noise sound. We saw only the ghost of Batman. At a time when Batman (the dumbass, campy, Adam West
TV-incarnation) was a !@# national craze.
Unless, of
course, you had a bigass, gunga-mongous TV antenna. Like our wealthy,
electronic-savvy neighbors, the Wilhelms.
And there
were times, I confess, that I’d sneak out and (like some video Peeping Tom)
press my face of their Florida room to behold the Batmania whereof I had been
so deprived. While mosquitoes ate me alive. Slap!
I considered it a necessary sacrifice.
Never once
did it occur to me that the !@# media monopolies had screwed me – that this was
a personal insult and a form of theft. Nah. It’s TV. It’s a signal in the
atmosphere. Our antenna is small and crappy. Stuff doesn’t always work. I
accepted it philosophically.
Unlike now …
When I see
that REINSTALL NETFLIX warning on our streaming feed from said company. When my
eyes roll back in my head and I wanna put a bullet through the HD screen like a
reincarnated Elvis. My attitude is no longer philosophical. I’ve been
conditioned, you see.
I really
think this stuff should work.
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