We just ordered a SmartTV for our house, which will replace a big, thick Sony Trinitron that I actually saw in a photo in a New York Times article on e-waste. It was my TV exactly, and it stood atop a pile of lesser electronics proudly, bathing in a ray of sunshine as if to say “I’m old but I still work perfectly, so you can suck it!”
So, pretty soon I’ll have a Netflix account that streams movies. Which means I’ll no longer need to visit my local video store.
I’ll miss that place even more than I’ll miss my Trinitron. Consider this:
One day I was browsing through the titles when the guy behind the counter picked up the phone and called a customer.
“This is a message from Video Express,” he said, “you returned the wrong movie last night. If you could bring back your copy of Titanic, we’d appreciate it. Thanks!”
The guy hung up the phone and then said, “Hey, check this out.”
I walked up to the counter and he showed me the film the customer had returned by mistake. The label on the DVD was covered with shiny diamonds and dollar signs. A guy dressed in pimp-fur flashed a smile containing a bunch of gold teeth. A naked woman graced the label. And the name of the film was something you don’t want to know.
The guy laughed and said “This might be the best part of my job. Can’t wait to see who claims this one.”
I smiled back and said, “Bet you a box of those Milk Duds that some grandmother comes in to get it, but blames her grandson.”
And then there was the time I was returning a film at 2 pm. I spotted my favorite employee working behind the counter, so I stopped at the door. And then dropped my film through the Night Deposit slot. We just smiled at each other and then laughed.
Yup, Netflix can deliver everything I want for $7.99 per month, except priceless scenes like that. I think I’ll go up there and buy some Milk Duds before I stream a movie. It’s the least I can do for a business that’s been so good to me over the years.
My big, bulky RCA TV is even older than yours, and it still works. I dream of getting a big flat-screen TV, and I’m sure I will do that someday (after I get a nice, big, all-in-one computer, which comes first).
I think it will be a sad day, though, when I finally say good-bye to my old RCA. It has been a good friend all these years.
Gee, this makes me feel old! No self-respecting young person would hold on to an old TV like that. This is the 21st Century!
You men and your TV comments. I don’t see you comment like this when someone writes about shoes! That being said, I hope Google comes out with their TV stuff so I can truly kiss cable goodbye. Right now, I need the NFL channel and guess what? You can’t get it as a single station. Ughhh!
It’s only a matter of time before older TVs become massively sought after, Broadcast quality may be better these days but the picture on CRT’s was and still is a different class.
I hear you but I don’t miss the visits to Blockbuster or waiting for Netflix to send me videos via snail mail.
I got a SMartTV a year ago and then I dropped my cable TV provider and got an antenna. I got a TiVo and already had a Playstation 3, so I now have three different devices that can connect to Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon! A slight overkill. The PS3 actually works the best at buffering the video streams, especially on Hulu. Have fun with your new toy!