There are some folks who make huge proclamations about NOT WATCHING TV. Afloat on the seas of pride, they wrinkle up their face and announce it�with an expectant look and an odd-little shrug signifying that the rest of the world is JUST wrong as shit.

Me?

Nothing of the sort.

But even with elaborate gadgetry around the digs, DaSauce�s use of high-def idiot boxes is limited at best.

I have a lot going on. Television is one of those things that doesn�t often make the cut. For the most part DaSauce�s toob-tasting has been Hockey, some HD-Net (thanks to DatCubanGuy,) and a wonderful guilty secret called Gilmore Girls (recorded by DaTiVo and watched weekly at a whim.) WB�s Gilmore is an oddly compelling small-town soap opera with great writing that puts witty-banter in front of all else.

Tonight is going to be different. There is a plan in place. A tactical maneuver that hasn�t occurred in forever�your diarist is going to be on the couch at Primetime. [Albeit with the personal commercial-skip labeled-MUTE-button at the ready for those insidious and overtly annoying interstitials.]

I can�t think of the last time I actually lined my arse up on the chesterfield at an appointed moment�especially not during dat Primetime thing�

The rationale?

Roald Dahl was a master. His children�s books were unconventional and spooky. His Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the follow-up�Charlie and the Glass Elevator are dear old friends that hang out in 1st edition around DaDigs.

Then there is Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. This 1971 movie was, er, never quite what folks hoped and in many ways always more than they expected.

Jack Albertson (as Grampa Joe) nearly rips the show out from under the paws of the unsettlingly near-mad Gene Wilder, as Willy Wonka�

And the characters? Veruca Salt, Oompa Loompas, Charlie Bucket, et al, are all wonderful.

So. Tonight at Primetime, the American Broadcasting Company (no Disney bashing for the nonce,) is playing for my viewing-pleasure (even with the damned commercials) a lovely remastered 720-lines-of-progressive-scan digital version of Willy (complete with a new Dolby Digital soundtrack.)

I expect to have my eyes carefully glued on the Loompas and be listening to their ongoing parental warnings�as the son is NEVER going to become Mike Teevee.

If it turns out to be something I can cope with, I may just watch Alias for the first time in high-def when it follows. I hear it is kinda fun.

Gene Wilder�s tumble at the front is always amazing.

Wonka: It's everybody's non-pollutionary, anti-institutionary, pro-confectionery factory of fun!

--ScrumdillyiciousSauce