[sfk]

I think having a dedicated TV with cable is optimal:

  1. Computers and Internet are for work (HN being an exception), TV is for
     entertainment. It makes sense to keep things separate, even physically
     separate.

  2. If I watch TV, I do *not* want to be bothered about thinking what to watch.
     I reserve these kinds of decisions for work or for things that actually
     matter.

  3. If another person makes the program for me, I'm likely to be exposed to
     interesting things that I would not have picked by myself.

[guard-of-terra]

There are a lot of different modes of entertainment. One that you describe is pretty rare - "Show me something I would like to see, I don't care what, maybe something new".

Obviously this is a useful mode to have. TV channels about wildlife and history are good examples - you can turn them on even for 10 minutes while you do some chores, for example. But for "stateful" content like sports or TV series this is suboptimal. And that's the bulk of entertainment.

[penprog]

> It makes sense to keep things separate, even physically separate

Saying something doesn't make it true.

>2. If I watch TV, I do not want to be bothered about thinking what to watch. I reserve these kinds of decisions for work or for things that actually matter.

Fair point. It's the same reason I listen to pandora in that sometimes I'd rather not choose.

> 3. If another person makes the program for me, I'm likely to be exposed to interesting things that I would not have picked by myself.

Maybe but more often than not, this isn't true unless you find the massive amounts reality tv to be interesting.

But none of the reasons you describe make TV with cable optimal for anything except lying back and having random (not necessarily good or interesting) entertainment thrown at you and exposing yourself to hours of psychological marketing tricks.