We take our TV watching pretty seriously around here, but I doubt that anyone takes it as seriously as this lady, who allegedly stabbed her friend for channel-surfing.
(That said, at the risk of this being used against me in court someday, I have to admit that sometimes…after a long day of work…when all I really want to do is just enjoy my DVR’ed General Hospital, anticipating scenes with Jason (Steve Burton, pictured)…listening to my husband step all over the "dialogue" and make jokes about the characters and story lines…it’s not so inconceivable I might snap and go after him with something.)
Um, did I just put that thought into print? Help me out here, PopWatchers. You sometimes fight over the remote, right? Or feel your blood pressure go up when your roommate does the dishes during your favorite show? So let’s hear about it: What’s the worst case of remote-rage you’ve ever had (or fantasized about)? Don’t be afraid to be honest — if my hubby can handle it, so can your loved ones!
Comments (1-30) of 53 Add your comment
I’m the same way. I see red whenever people call me on the phone or keep talking to me or to anyone else while I’m watching a favorite show. I particularly hate when I’m watching something I’m enjoying and someone else is just talking to the screen, and bashing the actor or actress, when I’m just trying to enjoy my show.
I got to witness my best friend stabbed her brother in the thigh with a pencil when he wouldn’t give her the remote. Pleasant people, that family. We’re still very much friends.
At my house I watch my favorite shows by myself and sporting events with the family(Steve Burton is definitely a hottie).
My mother is the worst at talking through movies or tv shows. The thing is she`ll leave the room and refuse to let us pause till she gets back, and when she does return, it`s “What happened, who is this, why did they do that?” I have motive and opportunity, now I just need to decide how to do it.
Funny you should mention it
. My roommmate Kylie and I have not talked to our best friend and other roommate for a full 12 hours now because of a TV Incident. Here’s how it happened: Mary, though she is lovely in every other way, has a bad habit of taking phone calls in the middle of movies and TV, and then carrying on her conversation at top volume right there in front of the TV.
Kylie and I have been growing more and more quietly furious, and last night it burst out into not-so-quietly furious. She took a call and started talking loudly, as she usually does, and we sort of…exploded. It escalated into a full-on screamfest, thus the lack of later communication. I’m sure we’ll all get over it, but…it’s funny to me that we’re fighting over the TV. I guess I take it pretty seriously.
I’m more interested in the fact that your guilty pleasure is General Hospital! I am a professional living in New York and never, ever post comments to these things, but the fact that someone else has a GH addiction was too good to pass up commenting on. What’s up with that? Love that Jason! GH is splendid, addictive cheese. And yes, I get comments from the peanut gallery too!
Ok I can’t believe I’m going to admit to this but here I go. A few years ago my sister and I were fighting for the remote control and somehow my right hand was near her neck and I kinda sorta chocked her for a few seconds. I swear I didn’t mean to it was just my subconcious I guess. I’ll have you know that I immediately let go as soon as I realized she was having trouble breathing. Also, we get along much much better now!
I don’t know what it is about Jason, but me and at least four of my friends are just fascinated with that man.
My sister and I watched Gilmore Girls every week for all 7 seasons, so it was special fun bonding time. One year, we had a roommate who would sit with us and talk about how it was the lamest show ever and we were lame for watching it. And she would say it through the whole episode. After a few weeks, I told her to either shut up or leave. I guess she could tell that the other option was for me to shut her up with a fist to the face, so she shut up. I still get mad thinking about it, and this girl is one of my best friends in the world!
Woe be to ANYONE who dares disturb me during Grey’s Anatomy. Never mind the quality of the episodes. For the last 3-1/2 years, whenever this show comes on, my daughter & I demand total silence during the episodes. Same goes for Ugly Betty. My son retreats to the basement, but my husband seems to thrive on coming into the room to tell me something that he absolutely cannot wait to say – or to otherwise interrupt and annoy us. And my mother is infamous for calling at exactly the wrong times for the last 20 years. Throw the remote? Abby, that’s pretty tame around here. Thank goodness ABC now carries the episodes online so I can re-watch them if necessary the next day!
BTW, Abby, I love Jason too! That man could make me leave this happy home in the blink of an eye. Bet you’re loving this week!
In my house growing up it was always my mom. She yells every phone conversation she’s ever had, so you miss all the dialogue to the show you’re watching (even when she was in another room, or it would just be disturbing when you were reading a book wuietly in the living room, but I digress). Or she would fall asleep on the couch, snore through the whole show, and then wake up just as the plot was being resolved and would want you to explain the entire plot to her when all you wanted to do was find out who the killer was (or whatever happened at the end of every episode of the particular show you were watching).
Worst ever was when I was little, and my mom used to VACUUM while “Wonder Woman” was on. Can’t exactly qualify as “remote rage,” since we didn’t even have remotes then (I, being the youngest, was the closest thing my older sister had to a personal remote). But MAN, that used to tick me off! She had one of those ungodly loud canister vac thingies that sounded like it was trying to rip a hole in the space/time continuum every time she stomped it on. And not only that, but it somehow interfered with the TV picture, and I had to contend with all these unsightly lines all over wonderlicious Lynda Carter and the mantastic Lyle Waggoner. I’ve given up my “Wonder Woman” underoos, but I still haven’t forgiven my mom.
My husband talks on his cell phone very loudly and walks around the house while doing so. I’ll turn up the volume very high but he’s still clueless.
My husband changes the channel during the commercial breaks and when turns back to what we were watching, the segment has already started. The most exciting part of most series (such as Grey’s) follows the commercials. I just want to slap him silly.
My husband is obsessed with recording everything on his DVR…has to get every movie ever. He always says “I just have to get all the Marlon Brando movies then I’m done” but the next week it’ll be, “I just have to…” So every single day he records hours and hours of stuff. So,he’ll walk into the room while I’m sitting there and watching a show and grab the remote and start checking the guide to see what’s on. When I protest he’ll say, “But I put your show on in the corner window!” Then, he’ll start setting up some of his shows to download–which means I can’t see my show at all. “But it’ll just take a minute–I’m just trying to clear some space so you can record YOUR shows.” Uh huh. Other times, he’s walked in, changed the channel and when I’ve freaked out, said, “I didn’t know you were watching something!” The worst is when he walks in and starts playing keyboard even though someone is watching tv. When it’s pointed out to him, he’ll say, “It’s JUST televsion!” and play on
Jason Morgan is major hot!
Kill Liz!!
I am the only one in the house allowed to use the remote when we are all watching together. I bought the darn thing – I’ll use it as I see fit. The only rage I get is when I can’t find the remote. Of course, it is usually hiding in plain sight.
Every Friday night I gorge myself out on all the pop culture I can… E news weekend, the Soup, the Daily 10, Best Week Ever..you know! I spend 5 days a week teaching dumb ass freshmen literature they can’t remember 5 minutes after they leave my classroom. I need something to wind down. My boyfriend will not shut up during Best Week Ever. I LOVE best week ever. He finds it absolutely necessary to comment on everything. I don’t want to hear his comments. I want to hear D list celebs talk about A list celebs. We’ll hear them announce that Brit Brit is preggers, but instead of hearing Chuck Nice say something hilariously off color, I have to hear my freaking boyfriend make some freaking unfunny comment. So I just end up watching Best Week Ever in reruns during the week. It’s a vicious cycle.
These are all excellent reasons to watch TV alone to avoid unnecessary remote rage — or to get another TV.
No one else has described this scenerio so I guess I will. Before I do, let me just say I love my one-year-old son dearly, just in case DCFS is reading this. But when that little #$%^ starts crying as the punch line to a joke is coming, I feel like … losing it. Never do of course, because I know one day when he’s older, watching his favorite show, I’ll conveniently start doing electrical work, needing to turn the power off. Gotcha!
That’s why I live alone – and love it! Close the blinds. Turn off the lights – and unplug the freaking phone. No one is getting in-between a fresh episode of “Lost” or “Scrubs” in a house where I pay all the bills, damn it!
Fun Fact: I haven’t been a “GH” fan since college, but I did grow up with Steve (“Jason”) as a kid in Richmond Heights, Ohio!
For any reality show’s season finale, if anyone so dares to even make a movement or speak or go anywhere near the remote, I will go ballistic.
Yay for the GH shoutout! I used to watch it all the time with my mom when I was little, and then stopped on high school. Now that I’m in college, I am addicted again and wish I had never stopped watching! It’s definitely the best soap on TV. Love Steve Burton (but he needs a major haircut right now!)
Girlfriend, how cool are you for watching General Hospital?! The Soapnet rerun from 10-11 is definitely the hour of my greatest remote rage!
P.S. Who doesn’t love them some Steve Burton? Even when he’s in need of a serious trim, the man is smokin’!
I was watching an episode of Lost when our local news network cut in to let me know that I was supposed to be wary of severe thunderstorms in the area. No crap! It’s spring. It’s Iowa. I hurled my remote so hard at the wall that it hasn’t worked correctly since.
While I like GH, All My Children is my all time fav. I was completely and utterly in love with the character Leo when I was a teenager. When Josh Duhamel left the show and they killed Leo off I was devastated. The day that they did the funeral (and greatest moments montage that you always get at a good soap funeral) they interrupted the show with breaking news that a Senator had just died in a plane crash. Looking back I realize that this was news worthy of interrupting the show, but at the time I don’t think I had ever been more outraged. It was right in the middle of the montage and they hadn’t gotten to a shot with him in his leather pants yet. Thinking about missing the final Leo moments on AMC still makes me mad.
If someone messed with me during GH, they would live to regret it. My husband knows better than that, thank god.
Can we talk about those local or network interruptions? Especially during the soaps, but too often during prime time. If they can do a crawl or put a huge network logo in the lower corner quietly, they can do those weather interruptions without lowering the volume, or open a small window for some political situation. Going into winter we are getting all the stormwatch notices. No kidding – snow in the midwest? in December? in cold weather?
You can exert some control over the interruptions in your house, but what do you do when it’s the network?
I am a major fan of awards shows, not all of them mind you, just the big ones like the Oscars. I warn people in advance when I’m going to be watching and hope they get the hint. Invariably someone calls right when they are announcing best actress or something just as important to me. I cannot count how many times I’ve thrown the remote, started swearing, and then answered the phone very in a very rude way. I feel a little bad afterwards but seriously, who calls during season finales and the Oscars anyway?