Walt's Corner

I must be the only person who despises smart TVs. I want a dumb TV. I mean, I can’t even walk into Walmart and pick one out that I like.

We cut the cord over a decade ago and never looked back. Relying on over the air broadcast for our local news. And that’s pretty much all we use local TV for – their morning and evening news shows. I certainly don’t sit down any evening at a given time to watch a certain show from, say, 8-7PM. 20 years ago, yes. But that was also the beginning of my transition from over-the-air/cable/satellite broadcast to online streaming. I’d buy the “season pass” to Lost, and would no longer have to make sure my butt was parked on the sofa for an hour the show mandated during my week. I’d watch it at my convenience without trying to have it being recorded by some other device.

Which takes me to my smart-TV dilemma. Fuck these smart TVs and their clunky interfaces. What happened to just turning on your TV and BAM! There was your channel. Instantly. No waiting for it to “update.” No trying to change my channel through some awkward keypad on the screen that doesn’t even correlate to the keypad on the remote (I’m looking at you, Vizio). No more TV trying to make me watch my over-the-air newscast via streaming over the internet just. Because it can. The fuck is that all about? My TV told me my Channel 7 can be streamed instead of watching it over the air and oh wouldn’t I just get all happy for that? Fuck. That. Shit.

Hard.

So yeah. I found a nice Westinghouse 24 inch on Prime Day to replace that piece of shit Vizio Smart TV I had hanging in the kitchen. I cannot express how happy I am with it. Turn it on and immediately it’s on the channel I left it on.