are the books nailed down or glued ?? lol !! that was my first thought since DH is pretty much a bull in a china shop...

interesting concept , I must admit.............

Would be fun if the thing would turn by remote control.

Anyone a fan of Young Frankenstein?

"Put ze candle back!!!"

Wow, that is something. Have you seen it in person? The concept is only as good as the hardware. Reminds me of those swiveling pantry shelves in the fancy European kitchen cabs. Stuff like that makes me crazy...with desire!

Of course, my plan to make the TV disappear is to put it at the curb. No one in the house seems to agree with me... ;-)

Amy, the curb IS a better place for it! I managed to banish ours...my preschooler has a little portable dvd player, and my partner has his notebook computer, and I don't watch anything. Home life is MUCH better not having to deal with a big honking tv!

Bungalow, keep your voice down! We're in the minority here... ;-)

No I haven't seen it in person, just thought of the number of times people have commented here about hiding the tv behind doors or not.

Amy, the minority now numbers 3.
I rarely watch the tube.

The minority is up to four!

I think it could be a (cue "Alice's Restaurant").... movement!

Visions of older siblings hiding toddlers in the same manner ... "Uh oh. Where did little Timmy disappear to this time?"

Five!

We do have a TV, but it's gathering dust in the basement. We haven't turned it on in years. It will soon be so outdated it won't be usable for anything but watching videos.

Six...

Add me to the list - but of course, there are times I do want to watch, so we have ours in a nice cabinet with doors.

My hubby just re-did the inside of an old armoire/wardrobe in our master bedroom and we *hid* a tv in there too.

tina

Six. We have a television, but don't get broadcast reception. It's still around to watch those old VHS tapes.

Well, I admit I am surprised! I love the idea of TV, but when I sit down to watch something, hoping for a great veg out experience, I am usually disappointed. We even got expanded cable with our phone service recently (after years of just the ultra-basic cable) and there still isn't much on. I'd rather "waste" my time here!

Add me to the list. I managed to get the TV in the bedroom (I know, bad!!) hidden in an armoire, but the family room is centered around the giant TV Husbie had to have. Luckily, our house has a separate living room that I have declared TV free zone.

ok, with the addition now of pesky, we officially have 9.

Just enough for an all gals, no tv (well,almost) watchin baseball team.

What should we call ourselves?

Kitch, you are too funny!

There's just the two of us. We have four TVs. Bedroom, sewing room, family room, living room. Two days ago we rented Young Frankenstein and loved it! "Great Knockers" always cracks us up. We are easily entertained. I happen to like the idea of the disappearing tv cabinet. So I guess I can't join the group of 9.

Holy moly, the price of that sure makes TV viewing very expensive!

Another essentially non-television viewing home here. We do get the very basic cable (about $5.00/month). We wouldn't even have that if we could any decent reception here. DH and I ocassionally watch a special on PBS--we used to watch some of the British sitcoms but they were constantly being rescheduled, so now we rent what we want from Netflix. We do enjoy watching a Netflix movie on the weekend. DD is 7 and pretty much has been growing up without television--we do rent movies for her about once a month. She used to watch a few PBS cartoons, but really has little interest in the screen.

Ironically, we are in the process of finishing our basement into a "media room"!! Well, we're calling that because it will have a big screen and comfy furniture. I have two college age kids from my first marriage. They do watch some television and lots of movies, and have been hounding us for years to get expanded cable (which we're not willing to do!), so this is our compromise! They'll get to watch movies in the basement on a big screen, which will make us all happy because DH and I won't have to listen to it half the night (right now the tv is in the family room right below our bedroom). Plus it will fun to be able to all sit together for a film. Then we're getting rid of the television in the family room, so I won't have to look at one anywhere on the main floor of our house! Can't wait!

"Just enough for an all gals, no tv (well,almost) watchin baseball team.

What should we call ourselves? "

How about "BTTD" - Better Things To Do (than waste time watching tv) ;^)

I love watching television and I am not ashamed to admit it!

It makes as much sense to me to say that you don't watch TV as it does to say you don't read or don't surf the internet. They all offer positive and negative choices.

I'm glad you're happy, clearly the vast majority of people agree with you and are also happy watching tv. But I don't "do" broadcast television. Not at my home, not at other people's homes. I'm not a complete Luddite; I watch movies on VHS/DVDs about once, sometimes twice a week. :^)

I don't understand how you would rate all three activities equally as they have different effects on the brain. Reading (and even surfing the internet - assuming you're reading rather than watching streaming video or something) requires that the left brain controlling higher thinking dominate, which is the opposite of what happens when you passively watch television.

To get back on topic, FWIW, I'm designing a cabinet to hide our TV/VCR in. I want it to look like either the Hornbeck or the old Ritz Theatre in nearby Shawnee where my father had a part time job over 60 years ago when he was a teenager. I'd like to be able to change the marquee; it's nowhere near as neat-o as the cabinet posted above, but I think it would be fun to look at even if we aren't "watching" anything.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ritz Theatre

No TV here. (Had to make it to 10). Haven't had one for almost 20 years. We have two boys ages 12 & 8 and they never miss it (in fact, they say they like not having one - makes them "unique" in school). No gameboys, x-box, etc., either. Lots of skateboarding, swimming, beach walking, READING! We watch movies on the computer monitor sometimes...

Really make your tv disappear - just think what you can buy for the price of cable, the tv and that entertainment center. :-)

Cool cabinet!

I droppped our satellite TV service several months ago. We mostly watch movies and old sitcoms (remember Mork & Mindy?) with Netflix. I do miss the Food Network channel but that's it- I never did get local news or weather and I can't stand the TV shows on these days.
Astrid

just think what you can buy for the price of cable, the tv and that entertainment center

And don't forget the real estate cost of the room that contains it! :)

graywings, I hear you on the moderation thing, but I personally have found nothing of value on tv that I can't get from public radio, the internet, or books instead, so that's how we get by without it. Also, I'm a tightwad in a small house. :)

Count me in as 10.5 - we have a TV and I do watch it, but I don't love sitting in front of it for hours at a time. Don't know what Thursday nights would be like without CSI though :). Hubby has hockey on most nights of the winter (go Habs go!).

We don't have a TV anywhere on our main floor though, which surprises a lot of people. We moved it to the small upstairs family room in order to get away from doing everything in front of the TV and it has most definitely worked - dinner happens in the dining room, board games and reading in the living room and the background noise is now music of all sorts. Don't need to worry about hiding a monolith TV in the living room either, which is nice.

I love watching television and I am not ashamed to admit it!

That makes two of us!

Seems like an expensive solution when just adding doors would have the same effect. I think I would notice immediately the bookshelf was shallow for the size of the furniture.

I was more interested in the hidden bookcase door on the same site.

I bought 3 HDTVs in the last year, and I have no need or desire to hide them.

I actually think this would be a better solution. I've also wanted a small TV incorporated in our large bathroom mirror.

Here is a link that might be useful: mirror/tv

littledog - I equate watching TV, internet surfing, and reading in that they are all ways of gathering information. I don't understand the significance of which side of the brain is processing the information.

The reason it's important is left side of your brain handles critical analysis and logical thinking, the emotional right side simply reacts. Everything about television is designed to cause you to react, not analyze, including the "news".

Broadcast news isn't about information, it's about info-tainment. One guy sitting at a desk *reading* the important events of the day, the way Walter Cronkite used to do it, is simply not entertaining enough to hold the shortened attention spans of a generation brought up watching television. So we have the outrageously colored backgrounds, constantly changing picture, random loud noises, spinning logos - all a common part of the highly successful format the network news stations have borrowed from Sesame Street. Don't believe me? When you watch the um, "news" this evening, count how many times the picture changes in just one half hour broadcast. Don't forget animated logos, and those special "theme" songs; very short, ususally eight beats or so signalling a semi regular reporting "segment". If you really want to make youself seasick, count how many times the scene changes for the complete broadcast, including commercials.

It's just me, but I prefer to *read* and *analyze* the news (even online) like an adult, rather than be pandered to and entertained like a pre-schooler. ;^)

Make it another 1/2 no-tv. Literally, the only thing we watch is PBS. And I'm lovin' the Jane Austen series on Masterpiece Theater.

People ask me how I bake all our bread, can all our veggies and fruits, spin, knit, sew, care for my many hens and ducks and cats, belong to civic org. and work 20 hrs a week and flower farm -- I don't watch tv. Its amazing what you can get done without it!!

Now if I could only have time to clean house????

We have way more TVs than a house should have. Last week we had 7, yes 7. Years ago my husband was a great one for garage sales and we accumulated a few there as well. We even had two in the basement, even one in the workshop! So the one my husband had in his office broke and he took one of the ones from the basement. That one broke last night and he took the one out of the sunroom. I thought for a fleeting second of taking the one from the family room, putting it in the sunroom and getting a new one for the family room --- then I came to my senses. We don't need another one! Just need to get rid of a few more.
My husband is an avid news watcher - and I heartily agree, Littledog, it is more entertainment. This morning he was screaming mad - on the Today Show they interviewed the mother of the girl who is missing in Nevada. The first question was "how are you coping". How in the H*ll would you think someone would "cope". I told him that if we had that kind of horrific tragedy befall us, the last place I would be is on a news show. The girl is gone, and I cannot even begin to imagine the horrific grief. Yet, getting family on these shows to "showcase" the grief is newsworthy.
I personally watch less and less TV -- mainly reruns of old sitcoms. We have hundreds of cable channels and on any given night, there is nothing worth watching. Now we just need a few more TVs to break!!

Getting really off topic now, but the families of missing people who are able to get national coverage of the event are the lucky ones. If your story is not "attractive" enought to the news, your loved one doesn't get the coverage.

Littledog, I'm not a fan of having all the junk swirling on my screen as I watch TV, but I am not at all a passive listener of the TV news. I frequently disagree with the premise of a story and the resultant report. And the written news is no less biased because of the format. The advantage of written media over TV, of course, is the ability to choose the topic you want to know learn about.

But for entertainment, there is quality and junk in all forms of media.

We have one TV, which I'm glad we have, but I certainly don't want anymore. None in the bedroom, for sure. I like do Gwendolynne's idea of moving it to another floor or seperate space. Our new TV console doesn't have doors, and I do miss them.

We watch mostly the National Geograpic channel, Animal Planet, Discovery, History... stuff like that. I'm not positive I'll ever be able to travel to Africa, for example, to see elephants in their natural habitat, so a television documentary about them is about the best I have for now.

Not alot of "mindless" television for us, except for hubby and his hockey, lol.