Most nights, when we aren’t busy with work or other projects, Nichole and I watch something from Netflix or a DVD we already own. We are currently halfway through The Rockford Files, season 4 — some great guest stars this season: Larry Hagman, Larry Linville, Pernell Roberts, Rita Moreno, just to name a few. Anyway, most nights we are, as my dad frequently says, “transmitting to ourselves.”

However, last night, we decided to check out the networks.

Cringe.

Here’s what was on (please keep in mind we only get 15 channels of basic cable):

1) Fox was showing something called “Hell’s Kitchen,” in which people perform in a glorified bake-off and get yelled at by a super-chef with bad hair. The prize: a high paying job working for a restaurant in Las Vegas. No Thanks.

2) ABC was showing “Fat March,” in which a bunch of overweight people go on a big nature walk and bicker at one another over food and whose feet hurt the worst. It really reminded me of the Weird Al Yankovic video for “Fat.” After “Fat March,” ABC had their ever-present “SuperNanny.” I don’t like this show because it makes me upset and feel that there are people who shouldn’t have children. And I’m tired of being angry.

3) NBC was showing a re-run of “Heroes” (a pretty decent show, although hard to follow at times) followed by “Dateline.” When I was a kid I ate these TV news magazines up. No more. The TV equivalent of the National Enquirer without the starlets.

4) I don’t remember what CBS was showing, except a re-run of “CSI:Miami” at 10:00 pm. I enjoy this show as a diversion during the fresh-run episodes, but the thought of watching one I’d already seen? Again, no thanks.

5) The other channels we get (WB, local-access talk shows, local Doppler radar, WGN, some Spike-inspired channel and TBS) were all pretty lame, too. Not surprising.

So, what did we wind up watching? Wii golf. Nichole helped me come up with a good signature move for when I make a birdie or a nice shot. It’s basically a thumbs up and a cheesy grin.

I just can’t believe the stuff that passes for entertainment. “Fat March.” I mean, really. What I love is that during the summer, we are treated to all the junk that wasn’t good enough to run during the regular season (like most of that’s much better), only in a more compact time frame.

Mike Judge recently made this very funny, underrated comedy called “Idiocracy” in which he takes a very satirical look at the future based on current trends. In said film, the future America has become a lowest-common-denominator society, in which people drink a Gatorade-like beverage called Brawndo (It’s got electrolytes!) from water fountains and the most popular TV show involves watching a guy get kicked right where it counts over and over again in any number of painful ways. Everyone has names like Frito or Lexus or Sprite. And the presidency is sponsored by Carl’s Jr.

I really hope this isn’t the direction we’re going. It’s kind of amusing to watch a satire of it all, but really, it’s scary what we call entertainment.

So for me, the best thing is to turn it off. That’s the great thing about TV’s. They haven’t made one yet that can’t be silenced with the press of a button.