DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

I don’t watch television, because we have no reception out here in the broadcast-media-wasteland that is western Sonoma county. I’m totally pleased with this arrangement; as far as I can tell I’ve missed nothing of import in the five years I’ve not had access to commercial programming. (We did subscribe to cable for the Olympics once.)

This is not to say that everything broadcast by the various television companies is garbage. It’s just that the signal to noise ratio is really low. And the noise is especially noisome — I’ve seen enough commercials (during occasional hotel-room stays) to know this for sure.

So, I’m grateful for studios’ recent efforts to publish previously broadcast content on DVD. This seems to me to be a great way to see the shows that are worth the investment in time, without having my brain freeze-dried by the endless stream of lifestyle marketing that features people and hobbies that I find offensive.

I just picked up Season Three of M*A*S*H. The first two sets are remarkable; the colors are brilliant, the picture quality is excellent, the sound is crisp and clear. These are old sources, of course, so I’m not talking about anamorphic widescreen and 5.1 surround. Considering the source, the DVD presentation is wonderful.

And we’ve been watching the first season of Sopranos, courtesy of the local video-rental place. I wouldn’t be interested in owning this particular series, but it’s been fun to see the first season knowing how popular it’s become. We’ve gotten as far as episode 10, and I have to say I’m eager to see the final two. On the other hand, I kind of hope they’re no good, because the video-rental place hasn’t bought the second season DVD set yet.