I am basically with you guys on the overall quality of TV "programming" these days, although I have heard the same kind of complaints from people for the last forty years, so it's not really a new problem.
I tend to have the TV on a lot, but I almost never watch anything on the old broadcast networks. (I had to add the "almost" in there, since I found myself actually watching a CBS program last night, called "Jericho," but that was only because I came across the program on SciFi first.) Most of the time the boob tube is on either Comedy Central, the SciFi channel, TCM or one of the movie channels (assuming I'm not playing one of our hundreds of DVDs and VHS tapes.)
While the TV is on a lot, that doesn't mean I pay a great deal of attention to it. Much of the time it is primarily just background noise. I have my home PC set up in the living along side of my recliner, with my wireless keyboard in my lap and the wireless mouse on the arm of the chair. I spend most of my time reading articles on the Internet or writing code, so usually I am just half-listening to the TV and only look up if something catches my ear.
