The Straggler: Out of the Box

DID you catch the last episode of The Sopranos? I missed it. Worse yet, I missed the entire Sopranos phenomenon – have never seen a single episode, nor even a fraction of one. Matter of fact, there was another program on that night I wanted to see: The Tudors. A friend had told me this was great fun: a glossy, botoxed updating (he said) of those BBC historical dramas of the early 1970s. I loved those: Keith Michell lurching around in cloth of gold, cheeks padded out like a hamster, Glenda Jackson snarling “God’s death!” at Robert Hardy. I wanted to see The Tudors.

I didn’t get to, though. Both The Sopranos and The Tudors are shown on premium cable, which we don’t have. My cable company wants a $4.95 monthly fee for HBO, and we don’t feel like paying that. It’s not, or not mainly, because we are tightwads. We’re just TV minimalists. We have only one set in the house, a 15-year-old Sony XBR in the living room. We don’t watch it much.

About the Author

John Derbyshire

Mr. Derbyshire is a former contributing editor of National Review.

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DID you catch the last episode of The Sopranos? I missed it. Worse yet, I missed the entire Sopranos phenomenon – have never seen a single episode, nor even a fraction of one. Matter of fact, there was another program on that night I wanted to see: The Tudors. A friend had told me this was great fun: a glossy, botoxed updating (he said) of those BBC historical dramas of the early 1970s. I loved those: Keith Michell lurching around in cloth of gold, cheeks padded out like a hamster, Glenda Jackson snarling “God’s death!” at Robert Hardy. I wanted to see The Tudors.

I didn’t get to, though. Both The Sopranos and The Tudors are shown on premium cable, which we don’t have. My cable company wants a $4.95 monthly fee for HBO, and we don’t feel like paying that. It’s not, or not mainly, because we are tightwads. We’re just TV minimalists. We have only one set in the house, a 15-year-old Sony XBR in the living room. We don’t watch it much.