Well, I did it. I didn’t watch any TV during TV Turnoff Week last week. Of course, I was in Mexico and the pool pulled rank over Hell’s Kitchen. But it is possible! What’s even more astonishing is that other than checking e-mail every few days, I remained offline all week.

Would this kind of extraordinary disconnection have taken place without sun and sand? It makes one wonder how dependent we really are on our entertainment, and how much we entertain ourselves without it.

Is it possible that I put the “me” in “media”?

My life last week felt richer without television, but that could be the tequila talking. I read, I walked, I swam, I listened to music, I napped—all quality activities that engaged more brain cells than The Bachelor: London Calling does.

I didn’t miss TV one bit, which saddens me. It’s like clinging to a BFF through Grade 12 and then realizing a few years later that not only do you not know where that person ended up, you don’t really care. How close could TV and I have been if it was out of sight, out of mind? I feel guilty and proud at the same time.

So why do we watch TV, if there are so many better things to do? Boredom? Fantasy? Company? Laziness? Probably all of the above, but I’m starting to realize that the more I enmesh myself in television culture, the more I feel the need to control my involvement.

Now when I reach to turn the TV when I’m sitting and marking term papers (on TV, naturally), I stop myself. I’ve started switching the channel to Galaxie so I can listen to music instead of watching an episode of Family Guy for the bazillionth time.

This past week has made me think that next year, I’ll succumb to TV Turnoff Week for real, not just with a vacation handicap. And I suspect I’ll live through the experience.

So what did I miss last week? Not much, it seems. 

New episodes of Lost and Grey’s Anatomy, both of which I don’t watch. 

Casting for the new version of Beverly Hills 90210 continues—Canadian Shenae Grimes (Degrassi: The Next Generation) is in and Hilary Duff is out as Annie Mills, the Brenda Walsh-type Kansas émigré. 

Canadian Idol decided to let people audition online by uploading home video tryouts to the CI website. I’m not sure they understand what they’ve let themselves in for.

Aliens in America seems to have phoned home and left with E.T. It was cute while it lasted.

Britney Spears is reprising her guest-starring role in How I Met Your Mother on May 12. Provided she stays on her meds.

Carly Smithson is the first American Idol wannabe to be eliminated for... blasphemy? Apparently her performance of “Jesus Christ Superstar” during Andrew Lloyd Webber Week raised some hackles among the show’s Christian viewership.

Afghanistan has started banning Indian import soap operas. 

After the worst five-day ratings period in its history, CBS News is starting to seriously consider replacing anchor Katie Couric. It’s too bad Walter Cronkite wasn’t cryogenically frozen.

CNN anchor Richard Quest was busted at 3:40 a.m. in Central Park, New York City, with a bag of crystal meth, a pocketful of cash and sex toys, and a rope tied around his neck attached to his winkle. Sounds like he’s just what CBS needs to liven things up!

There may be more to tell you, but my PVR decided to erase everything I’ve been keeping and replace it with hours and hours of CBC news in HD. Damn you, Shaw!

Wow, life really does go on. So apparently, the “me” in media stands for “mediocrity.”