The eternal question: “What else is on?”

I admit it. I don’t watch a lot of new television shows these days. My TV viewing has become much more selective in the past several years to the point where I have no idea what people are talking about.

Ever since Dish-TV came along, the way in which I view the tube is radically different from my early “Tellie-days.”

Back in the 60s when you had to get up and walk over to the TV set to change the channel, I had a daily agenda of shows that had to be seen.

Every evening was filled with “The Monkees,” “The Andy Griffith Show,” “Family Affair,” “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “Laugh-In,” “Get Smart,” “The Ed Sullivan Show,” “Outer Limits,” “Bewitched,” “The Carol Burnett Show,” “Mannix,” “My Three Sons,” “Star Trek,” “Room 222,” “The Brady Bunch,” and a whole bunch more that I can’t think of right now. The point is I spent thousands of hours of my life in front of the cathode ray tube “back in the day,” as they say.

Now, I mostly watch old movies or reruns of shows like the ones I just mentioned.

I guess I am very lucky to have been around when television was not overrun by reality TV or makeover shows. I tried to get into the “Desperate Housewives” hour of upper middle class dispair, but I lost interest after about the third or fourth episode. I tried to watch “Lost,” but I suppose I really just prefer “Gilligan's Island.” And I’m not talking about the reality rip-off.

I’ve never seen one episode of ER, mostly because I find hospital shows depressing. I don’t care for cop shows, even if there is decent character development involved. It just seems like so much fabricated crime. If I’m going to spend a couple hours in front of the set, I would rather see a film in the cop genre than a serialized television program. Part of it is also the camera work.

Films have cinematography. Television drama feels cheap to me. Also, I don’t like commercials. I’ve seen enough commercials in my life. I know what to buy, and a TV commercial is not going to send me racing to the store.

Before remotes, you were pretty much forced to watch the station breaks, but now I just flip around if I get into that situation. That rarely happens now since I watch fewer and fewer new programs.

I always have to ask myself if I really fell like investing in some new plot and cast of characters. Do I really want to make sure I’m here every week to see what happens? Do I even care? Not really.

It’s a sort of “been there, done that” situation. There are other things I would rather do. The television can be a real ball and chain if you let it. And personally, I’m not real impressed with a lot of what passes for TV these days.

Friends are always recommending shows like “Alias” and “24.” I suppose they are good, solid entertainment, but I fell like I've already devoted enough time to the absorbing of fall line-ups.

There are more pressing matters for me now. I have a few things that I tune into throughout the year, many of them on HBO and Showtime. The rest of my free time belongs to me. I’m kind of selfish in that way.

I used to lay in front of that old black and white Philco when I was a kid with my head propped up on cushions, until it was time to go to bed. I used to get so excited every September when the new shows started. I think I gave everything a chance to hook me back then. Of course, there were no video games or computers and phones had not yet taken over the world. Still, it was great to while away the weeknights with some sit-coms and sci-fi.

When I get old and creaky, and using the remote is about all the energy I can muster, then I will see what else is on. Right now, I have a few other things I would like to do.