Optimize Your Leisure Time

The following is a Public Service Announcement brought to you by the 80's Preservation Society and BingBongBoom!

Have you ever found yourself mindlessly flipping through the channels on a weeknight? All of a sudden it's 10:30, time to go to bed, and you're ticked off you've watched nothing of quality all night. Don't worry, cause you're not the only one this has happened to. We here at BingBongBoom! are ready to help you get out of this rut.

A lot of TV has become simply mind-numbing. There's little of quality to be found nowadays: countless reality shows (Tori Spelling has had TWO shows? are you KIDDING me?), pointless game shows (I mean, c'mon, you don't even have to answer a question; you just have to pick numbered suitcases to open and not be stupid enough to throw away money!), and innumerable cop-scene dramas (I'm surprised Champaign doesn't have its own CSI yet). When something like "House," "24," or LOST surfaces (no pun intended), I salivate at the originality of it. BUT, what do you do the other four nights a week?

STEP ONE: Invest in some of your favorite TV shows on DVD (click on the link for all the up-to-minute info on your favorite shows coming to DVD). They aren't all expensive, and you can also get some really good used prices online. The UK has been packaging shows on video for years (VHS and DVD), and the craze has finally caught on here. There's nothing better than having your favorite shows at your fingertips waiting for you (instead of vice versa).

STEP TWO: Give yourself 10 minutes TOP of flicking/guide perusal time. If you can't find anything in that amount of time, trust me, something won't magically appear. You can sit there and flick as long as you like, but something isn't going to just pop on.

STEP THREE: Now you have the power! Keep the shows you purchased/rented/borrowed close to the TV set. Turn to them as soon as the ten minutes are up, and start picking and choosing. Right now we have seven different shows going, because we never know what we'll want to watch. Pick one, pop it in, and start enjoying a show of quality (whatever that might be in your opinion--just don't tell me if it's "Three's Company").

(Why do I keep stressing TV shows? Because it's a week night, you gots work to be at in the morning, and you're substituting a show in a time slot that only has "Bad Girls Club," "NCIS," and "Deal or No Deal" on. You're supposed to pick something that can be viewed in this amount of time.)

STEP FOUR: This may all sound easy, but it takes discipline! It's easy to just sit there and flick around all night. It's hard to pull away from the alternating pictures of bad show to worse show, but you must make a stand for your rights to enjoy good television. And if you ever need to borrow any, let me know. I thinks we can hooks ya up!

Al & Sam want to know why you're watching another lame episode of "Two and a Half Men" instead of them.