Sure, out here on the West Coast we
have these great, cheeky commercials
that poke fun at competing technologies,
those ads that point to the techno-wars
between satellite dish and cable companies,
including ComCast cable and the Direct
TV dish, for example. One commercial,
for instance, features a husband and
wife: the wife is coming home from work,
sees a huge hole in the tree, big enough
for the satellite dish to send signals
through, while the husband sits in the
living room watching his TV and drinking
from a container he rests n the tree
cut-out table he has fashioned. Another
commercial features a couple who are
implicitly husband and wife or live-in
boyfriend and girlfriend. In tandem
they speak, as if to an interviewer
(the television-viewing audience), and
say things such as, “When it rained…the
cable went out.” “When the
wind blew…the cable went out.”
[Or maybe it was the dish; I can’t
recall exactly.]
While I didn’t do so intentionally
or all that consciously, I found the
opportunity to test both technologies.
First, when I was living in an in-law,
cottage type of unit, since the whole
house was already wired for it, I
subscribed to cable. I ended up spending
a lot of money, as the way the company
is set up—ahem—you have
to buy the basic/standard package.
Then, if you want to get any paid
movie channels, you have to buy the
superstar whatever package. But in
order to get the superstar package
you have to have the basic, first.
I had fallen in love with a fantastic
HBO show called “Six Feet Under”—for
its writing, casting, acting, and
ongoing unique and intriguing drama.
So I had to get the enhanced package.
I don’t know if I was paranoid
or overreacting, but the cable would
go out on Sundays, the one night the
show was on. Or it would go out late
Monday night and take terrifying hours
to come back. This happened a lot
and it happened when there wasn’t
a cloud in the sky.
I moved in with a family, next, waiting
for my ideal living situation to come
up. They had a Direct TV dish—in
a town where the wires are all above
ground and the trees are still more
in population than the wires or the
Direct TV dishes, and where the weather
is typically violent…windy,
rainy, etc.. In other words, when
it rained, the Direct TV dish went
out, then would adjust itself by reloading,
if you will, by reconnecting…in
a matter of minutes. When the wind
blew, the Direct TV dish went out.
And when nothing was inclement or
disastrous, sometimes, yes, the dish
went out.
My point, I guess, is that we have
super services that make themselves
accessible and available, that spoil
us with possibilities—hundreds
of channels, friendly (usually) troubleshooters,
and high definition and other appealing
features. But we also have an overpopulation
of humans and gadgets, unpredictable
flora and fauna (that falls in predictable
but harsh weather conditions), and
a margin for error or failure that
is inevitable enough to fallible humans
creating, offering, running, and maintaining
the technology we crave/depend on…enough,
that is, to drive us nuts when we
settle in to watch a 50-dollar-a-week
show that is “sorry…temporarily
unavailable.”
