Written by James Fohl

So you are sitting in your favorite recliner, watching your favorite television shows, while relaxing and eating some junk food. As the show you are watching comes to a commercial break, you bring the recliner back a notch, and think to yourself "What could be better than this".

Watching television is one of America's great past times, and millions of Americans do it every weekday during the evenings. One thing that television viewers love to do, is whenever the commercials come on, they like to surf to other channels, and see what else is on.

But what would all these channel surfers do if they did not have a television remote to change the television channels with? I mean think about it, the television remote is just as important as the television. Without it, you would not be able to sit in your comfy recliner and relax; you would have to sit inches away from the television set and change the channels manually, which really is not that much fund considering how many television channels there are today.

Sure back in the black and white days of the fifties and sixties, television remotes existed for some high end television models, but they really weren't needed. I mean after all, there were only a handful of television stations, and even then it was probably a best bet just to leave the same channel on.

It is not like today, where people with cable have a hundred or so television channels, and people with satellite television have several hundred, if not thousands of channels. Without a television remote, these people would be changing the channels manually long after the show they are looking for is over.


Today the television remote is just not for changing channels and turning the television on and off, but also for changing the settings of the television, and even for ordering pay for view movies.

If you still think that the television remote is not very important, then chances are that you have never lost a television remote. I remember a few years ago when I accidently threw away my television's remote in the garbage. I bought a universal remote to change the channels and all that simple stuff, but whenever the power went out I found out that my television was pretty much useless without the original remote. Because I couldn't access the settings menu using the new remote, I couldn't have the television tuner go past station 19, as it was using an antennae mode instead of a cable television mode. After trying several other universal remote controls, I had to ultimately go out and purchase a new television set.

In the end, if you love watching television then you just have to realize that the television remote is just as important as the actual television set. If you do not believe this, then maybe some day when you lose your television remote, and are unable to change your televisions settings, you will open up to this idea.