Perhaps it’s a sign — heavy television viewing, at least of the free kind, is cursed.

First, take the JS’ unfortunate decision to deliver the Sunday TV Cue only to those who specifically request it. This seemed like a doomed enterprise from the start, seeing as it is coming from a company that regularly screws up simple vacation holds and can’t get subscriptions right if they contain slight deviations from the norm (or, too often, even if they do not).

TV Cue delivery is most important, most likely, to those who do not have cable or satellite TV and their attendant electronic channel guides. Unfortunately, poor planning struck at the heart of the JS plan even before the requested Cue plan had a chance. The JS, asking people to call if they wanted to continue getting something at no additional charge, just didn’t plan on so many people wanting to continue to get something at no additional charge. On Monday, we were treated to this:

To our newspaper readers

We regret any difficulties you may have had reaching the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Circulation Customer Service representatives since Sunday. Because of a record high volume of calls, we’ve been unable to speak personally with each caller about his or her delivery concerns. We’ve also been confirming delivery of the Sunday TV Cue section for our subscribers who opted in to continue receiving it. Please bear with us; we will contact each caller and resolve your issues as promptly as possible. Thanks for your understanding.

Sincerely,
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Circulation Team

That is one free TV  woe. The second comes from the federal government and involves the digital converter box coupons that for which we all are supposed to qualify (that switchover date of Feb. 17 is getting ever closer). Harrrrumph! Yeah, right. The coupons are good for 90 days. Ours expired before the we got them. In fact, I’m still waiting. Many, many other people found that they could not buy a converter box before their coupons expired because stores were slow to stock them.

So, Cueless and boxless, what’s a person to do? Reading is great, but on occasion a person needs the typical TV conscious coma fare of the totally mindless and totally stupid. How to find it and how to get it is not something we should have to think about — kind of ruins the effect of the content.