DEJA VU, ALL OVER AGAIN

Several years ago our DirecTV Satellite service & NBC, channel 3, got into a snit with each other which resulted in NBC being pulled off the air. After a few days, I was getting into quite a snit myself. My thoughts were, & still are, get your shit together, figure this out, give us the services we are paying for & should be watching.

I did some research & discovered that an over-the-air antenna could be purchased for about $15 that would allow us to watch local channels without our satellite service. One of my favorite late night delights is watching The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. BUT Jimmy Fallon is on NBC so I was without my nightly guilty pleasure.

Heading down to Fry's Electronics, I purchased one of these little devices. It was quite different than the old rabbit ears we used back in the day - raising them, rotating them, occasionally crossing them or adding a wad of tin foil to get the best reception. This one is a flat sheet of something that you tape to the window then connect to the TV & satellite box with cables. I planned to install it on our office TV where I normally watch Jimmy Fallon.

Come hell or high water my desire to see my favorite late night host was so great that I figured out the numerous steps to change from satellite TV to over the air. I wrote down the instructions since the process was fairly involved. I was quite pleased when it worked to perfection! Plus there was a certain degree of satisfaction having beaten DirecTV at its own game. You can pull all the crap you want but I'm still watching my show.

Now, fast forward 3 or 4 years to today. Starting a few days before New Year's we began to get the scrolling message that DirecTV would no longer carry NBC as of December 31. DirecTV blames NBC, NBC blames DirecTV. I don't care whose fault it is, get your shit together & provide the programming we pay to see. But December 31 came & went with NBC still on the TV. We assumed they settled their differences.

Tonight about 10 PM, Lou says, "Guess what? NBC is off the air." I emphatically replied, "Damn, it! I hope I can remember how to make that over-the-air antenna work." We started digging around behind the TV & discovered the flat antenna sheet had fallen off the window awhile ago. While Lou was retrieving it, he found the box it came in with the instructions which I had apparently stashed behind the TV! Hooray!

Even better he found my step-by-step note of how to access it over-the-air. Lou grabbed the tape & reattached the antenna to the window. It was still hooked up to the TV & the satellite box. I guess in my infinite wisdom I had assumed that DirecTV would do this again & just left everything in place.

I read from my note as Lou followed the instructions:

Turn off TV & box with DirecTV remote

Turn on power with TV remote

Change from HDMI to TV using "input"

Push menu - scroll to "channel"

Move down to "TV source"

Move right to "air"

Low & behold, we had accessed channel 3 within minutes! Lou looked at me & asked, "You figured all this out before?" Apparently I did. Hey, don't mess with my Jimmy Fallon. He is on TV as I type this, even though it is a rerun since he is still on Christmas break. But next week when they are new again, I can watch it. And hopefully we can see the Seattle Seahawks lose this weekend since they are on NBC!