I admit it: I enjoy watching TV. It kind of has a stigma about it, like I should be doing something more worthwhile with my time. But the truth is, I’ve always liked movies, and these days, many TV shows have movie-like quality. And at the end of the day, most days, it’s all I can do to flake on the couch in front of an episode of Grey’s Anatomy before dragging myself off to bed.

(Dammit, I told myself I wasn’t going to be defensive and apologetic about it. I LIKE TV, so there.)

Lately however, there has been a real change in the how of watching TV for me. We’ve been PVR addicted for years, often stockpiling a whole season’s worth of a low priority TV show for binge watching over the summer, but usually trying to keep up with things on a week to week basis (and some shows, like The Good Wife, get watched live, because OMG, SO GOOD).

Meanwhile, the kids were seriously into Disney Jr., and when they had some TV time they’d turn it on and watch whatever was currently airing, which was most likely an episode of Jessie or A.N.T. Farm that they’d seen about 100 times already.

Then this summer we got Netflix (totally not a sponsored post, just explaining what’s been happening) and now suddenly, we are all, as a family, about the on-demand watching. Sir Monkeypants and I have been binge watching a whole bunch of shows, one each night. The kids are doing the same – they’ve been through three seasons of The Last Airbender (highly recommended), four seasons of iCarly (tolerable fluff for the tweenage set), and are now working on Avengers Assemble, an animated TV show that SOME adults in this house like just as much as the kids (*cough* Sir Monkeypants *cough*).

So now when the kids want to watch something – there’s an endless array of shows available to them, in complete seasons, and they can always find something new. Meanwhile, Sir Monkeypants and I are delving deep into certain titles, and having to wait week by week for a new show seems…quaint and old fashioned.

Sir Monkeypants has been talking a lot lately about ditching our sattelite service, and at first I panicked, because Disney Jr.! And the Home Network! And the Game Show Network!

But he’d be getting us some sort of antenna, which would allow us to get the basic networks (The Good Wife and Grey’s Anatomy would be safe) – and even if we weren’t doing that, you can watch them online for free at GlobalTV and CTV’s websites (as long as you watch the week the episode aired – no back episodes are kept around).

And we’d have Netflix to keep us warm, along with our AppleTV that gives us access to dozens of movies and other channels I haven’t even explored yet.

So…is this what the death of cable looks like? I have to admit, I never thought I’d be one to walk away – my TV is my lifeline to pop culture. But we’re watching the live stuff less and less, and this year EW’s annual TV preview didn’t convince me to add any new shows to my roster so…we’re recording five things, maybe, tops, from the big networks.

It’s just amazing to me how quickly things are changing, how the whole entertainment industry, from books to movies to TV shows, is undergoing some sort of revolution. It’s kind of cool to watch it all happen from a front row seat.