Taylor on TV

It used to be so much simpler. If you wanted to watch a TV show you had to tune in at the time the network aired it and slog through the commercial breaks -- except when taking the occasional kitchen trip or bathroom run.

Believe it or not, I used to be more of a movie guy. It's not that I didn't watch TV. Many a night in my youth I laid sprawled out on the couch watching "The A-Team" and "Knight Rider" and "MacGyver." Entertaining shows? Sure. But worthy of comparison to the best of modern cinema? Not so much. Sure there was the occasional television series of such high quality that it could compare favorably to film -- "Hill Street Blues" comes to mind -- but more often, TV was junk food for the eyes and brain, never an outlet for serious storytelling.