THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 4, 1996 TAG: 9601310036
SECTION: REAL LIFE PAGE: K1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KERRY DOUGHERTY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 119 lines
THIRTY-ONE DAYS without television.
For the four families who pulled the plugs on their television sets for the month of January, it turned out to be much more than an exercise in deprivation.
As the Jan. 31 deadline approached, our TV-free families reported that they lost weight, read more books, wrote letters, played games, solved jigsaw puzzles, talked to family members more and found more of a precious commodity: time.
``It's amazing how much more time there is when you're not wasting it sitting in front of a TV,'' declared Jermaine Miller, a single mother who lives in Norfolk with her 7-year-old son, Kyle.
``I never thought I watched very much TV until I promised to give it up,'' she confessed. ``But it was like going on a diet. Somehow that's when all those cakes and pies look the best.''
She resisted, however, and so did all of our other families who were on their honor not to so much as glance at a television set from midnight on New Year's Eve until 12:01 a.m. Feb. 1.
``We've found that without TV, dinner seems to last a little longer,'' said Patrick O'Malley of Chesapeake. ``We talk more. I know more about my kids' school than I ever did before.''
O'Malley, a Planters Peanuts executive, says that an unexpected benefit of not watching TV was that he stopped snacking in front of the TV and lost weight.
The rest of the O'Malley family, Deborah and daughters Caitlin, 8, and Megan, 11, agreed that the TV-free month passed quickly. They claimed they didn't miss TV at all. In fact, the O'Malleys plan to extend their television ban indefinitely.
``I can't say we'll never watch television again,'' Patrick O'Malley said. ``I just know we aren't ready to turn it back on yet, and I don't think we ever will on weeknights.''
For the Ferguson family of South Mills, N.C., it was smooth sailing until 10 minutes before kickoff in last week's Super Bowl.
This wasn't just any Super Bowl. The Fergusons hail from Pittsburgh. They love the Steelers. They know Terry Bradshaw and Lynn Swann personally. They vowed there was no way they were going to miss that game.
But they couldn't find it on radio.
``About 10 minutes before the game started I began hopping through all the radio stations,'' said Ken Ferguson, a former television producer. ``The game wasn't on. Or if it was, I couldn't find it.''
He phoned a friend who was able to tune in the game - on a short-wave radio. But the Fergusons don't own a short wave.
They were frantic.
Finally they threw a quilt over their television set, reached behind it and snapped on the game. They listened but didn't sneak a peek.
``We took pictures of the set with the quilt over it to prove we never watched TV during January,'' Ferguson laughed. ``We played Monopoly during the game, but I have to tell you, it was hard going.''
The toughest part came when the television announcer would assume his entire audience was watching the game.
``Once he got all excited and said, `Will you look at that,' '' Ferguson said, laughing. ``We started yelling at the quilt. `We can't see it. Tell us what's happening.' ''
Besides the Super Bowl, the Fergusons missed a handful of favorite shows. Susan Ferguson is an ``E.R.'' fan, so she programmed the VCR to tape the episodes every Thursday night. She planned to start watching them on Feb. 1. Daughter Casey, 7, didn't want to miss a single installment of ``Lois and Clark'' so she had her parents tape them, too.
``I know I won't get near the set for a while once February comes,'' Ken Ferguson said last week. ``My wife and daughter will be too busy catching up with what they've missed.''
The Fergusons normally watch the State of the Union address on television. This year they listened to it on radio.
Ken Ferguson thinks everyone should try that once.
``When you just listen to a speech like that you evaluate it differently than you would if you could see the President's face while he was speaking,'' he said, rating Clinton's address just ``OK.'' ``It's kind of like the veneer is stripped away and you're hearing the real thing.''
The Ferguson children, Casey and Dylan, 9, were enthusiastic participants in the TV ban, even going so far as to make sure their friends would not be watching TV or videos when they went visiting.
Other children didn't adapt quite so easily to life without television.
Jermaine Miller said Kyle was excited about giving up TV when she first told him about the project. In fact, he quit watching television back in December.
Unfortunately, he peaked. By Jan. 2, when his mother was working and Kyle was with a baby sitter, the first-grader caved in.
Mother and son made a deal. He could watch TV with baby sitters, but when Mom was home, the set was dark.
As a result they began playing board games and assembling jigsaw puzzles. Jermaine Miller began to study a foreign language.
``I went to the library and took out some Spanish tapes, which I listen to in the car and around the house,'' Miller said. ``I've also written more letters than I can remember writing.''
The downside for the Millers was that Jermaine sometimes substituted long-distance phone calls for televisions.
``I think my phone bill is going to be huge,'' she said, laughing.
Maggie Robertson, who lives alone, said she struggled with loneliness early in the month trying to fill those long weekend hours without the aid of television.
By the end of the month, however, she had forgotten what it was like to plop down in front of the TV.
``It definitely got easier as time went on,'' she said. ``I spent more time with friends, and I tried some different things. I went roller skating one night and I went to the theater twice. I also found myself reading about five books at once.''
Robertson missed ``Melrose Place'' during January but a co-worker at Fairbanks-Morse Engineering Co. filled her in on developments.
While Robertson said she will never go back to indiscriminate television watching, she planned to catch up on her viewing this week.
``I just want to sit back in front of the set and vegetate for a while,'' she said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
by CNB