Hi, my name is Maigh, and I’m an addict.

I first slept with the TV on when I was in 6th grade, since then it’s been downhill and now I can’t sleep without it.

It started innocently enough. A little Captain Kangaroo, some Sesame Street, Electric Company if I could sit still that long. As I got older, I started getting into the harder shit. Maybe some Little House on the Prairie or an after-school special, the next thing I knew it was Santa Barbara every day after school at 3:00. The habit really started showing itself on Thursday nights with NBC, my drug of choice. Cheers, Cosby, Friends, Night Court, Law & Order…you expect me to fight that?

Sure, there are nights when I just want to stop…but I can’t. It’s a monkey on my back and an old friend that’s only as far away as the nearest remote control. It satisfies my cravings immediately (Ron Popeil withstanding) and completely, though somehow always leaves me wanting more.

So now, some 20+ years into the compulsive need/habit I find myself not only falling asleep to the local news (or Leno if it’s a really late night) but also waking to it.

I’m powerless to it’s pull.

There comes a point in many addicts lives where consumption isn’t enough, and they have to start selling to keep up with the screaming demands of their body.

I’ve sold my soul to the devil, he bid the highest. Turner owns me. Sometimes I’m pushed off onto other networks like NBC…but it doesn’t matter. I’m still getting my fix and I not-so-secretly love it.

I am surrounded, and I find great comfort in my illness.

(Turner isn’t the devil, I love this company and my job…but the little story didn’t work without it. Get over it.)