Do You Stage the TV for Turn-On?

There's plenty to worry about when you're out with a new someone. Every thing you reveal to your date helps them to learn about you—including what's on your TV...

A friend of ours invited a new girl to his apartment to cook her an impressive dinner. He made sure every detail of the night—from the seasoning to the wine—was perfectly planned to impress her. He even made sure that the television was staged.

When she arrived, he invited her in, told her dinner was almost ready and showed her to the couch and TV remote. When she turned it on, she found that the last thing he was watching was the History channel. He knew he immediately got brownie points over all of the ESPN and "S-Video 2" Xbox guys.

Would you ever stage the TV for guests? Have you ever gotten caught with an embarrassing 'last channel' when you forgot to stage, like when your football buddies turned on to watch the game and saw the Bravo network? Let us know in the comments!

Image from
Robert Snache - Spirithands.net at Flickr with a Creative Commons license.

Comments (8)

on the TV? no. but an open browser is a dangerous and possibly embarrasing creature.

... even better: "dinner's not quite ready yet. i'm sorry i don't have a TV to entertain you with, but you're welcome to browse my collection of interesting books"

Wow...I never really thought about that. I guess I don't really care what the other people think. I watch so many different kinds of shows, I wouldn't know what to put on.

@modernguy, I never would have thought of that, either. I'd prefer the Xbox guy, though. He can cook! He's cooking for ME! Sounds like a winner as far as I'm concerned.

I'm a History Channel person myself...but...seriously...if a guy is insecure enough that he has to 'stage' that kind of stuff...no thanks.

@Nevanna - I'm not sure it's insecurity... It seems to stem from the same section of the brain that cooking a great dinner (Applebees seems to be working just fine for millions of Americans) or wearing your favorite dress/shirt (you know, the one you save only for those 'special' occasions). It's all about making an impression, in whatever form or method that might be and more often than not in today's society, the act of making an impression is pre-planned and well thought-out. And of course the dating ritual is full of reasons, ways and means to make a good impression--it seems to be the entire point in the early stages (for better or worse). As for those who see the glass half empty, I suppose you could call it deceit or even fraud, but not insecurity.

That said, I'm not sure I'd ever pre-plan a TV turnon. But I also know I'd never hand a date the remote and have her wait for dinner by watching TV.

ps. You've gotta be careful with the History Channel these days. It'd be pretty interesting to turn on good ol' THC during a History of Sex marathon...

Well, I'd say this is less of a turn on than a "prevent a turn off" thing.

I mean...History Channel is cool and all, but I doubt I'm going to get laid just for watching it.