I'm such a sucker for door-to-door salesmen.
This weekend a very nice Time Warner salesman earned himself a commission when The Missus and I opted to take him up on his offer to upgrade our cable service from minimal (channels 2-22) to basic (2-80). We have special pricing for 6 months, at which point the price jumps about $25. I don't see us hanging on to cable at its full price, but who knows. It has been four years since we last had full basic cable. I only really miss a few channels (ESPN and Comedy Central, to name two). I wonder how quickly I will find that even with 80 channels there's still nothing on?
Like I said, the salesman was very nice. He was an older gentleman who really knew how to secure a sale. He picked up on little details and would use them to steer the conversation. In fact, he reminded me a little of a psychic in that regard, trying to figure out which details to work with and which were dead ends. I let him follow one dead end for a while just to see where he went with it. When he found out that Robert's middle name is Solomon, he guessed that we might be religious folk, so he tried a few tales with religious themes. ("This one time I called on a minister's house...") We aren't religious, but he was a good story teller and he wasn't proselytizing, so I let him talk. He certainly isn't the only person who has made the "Solomon = religious" link. (In fact, Robert's middle name was the name given to him by his birthmother. Solomon was her brother.)
The new service should be turned on by Thursday. A lot has changed in the world of basic cable. What should I watch? Stewart and Colbert are on my list, and Mr. T tells me I should check out Anthony Bourdain's show on The Travel Channel. Any other show tips?
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We really like “Monk” on USA-27; the new season starts in July It’s a no-brainer, but makes us smile.
Hubby is into the History channel.
Channel 61 (I think it’s FX) has a couple of good series on it too. “Rescue Me,” which is Dennis Leary’s show about New York firefighters, and “The Shield,” a good cop show. Both are somewhat gritty at times, so if you offend easily you may not want to watch it.
I’ll ditto the Monk comment.
I think if you like to see Robbie entertained, as he gets a little older, you will love Noggin, and it just moved to the basic tier - now on channel 36. Until 5 PM, it’s like PBS or Nick Jr programming, with no commercials, and no pledge drives.
On A&E, you need to check out Gene Simmons Family Jewels and Criss Angel: Mindfreak.
On Discovery, Planet Earth is outstanding, even moreso in High Def.
If you like any cooking or home repair, there are plenty of things that you may enjoy on Food or HGTV.
Dennis Leary gave an interesting interview on Fresh Air on Thursday of last week:
http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=13&prgDate=7-Jun-07
Interesting guy. I actually really miss that “Contest Searchlight” mockumentary they did a while ago.
Another vote for Monk. On FX they just wrapped up the first season of the Riches, so they’ll probably be showing the reruns over the summer. It’s a great show with Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver.
And I am obligated to recommend Driving Force on A&E because a buddy of mine works on the show and he told me to recommend it to everyone.
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