We've been having trouble with the Dish Network satellite lately. It always cuts off in heavy precipitation, but something broke last week, and we can't pick up any signal at all any more.

Eri has been hoping to buy a Roku to compliment our NetFlix subscription. And she figured if we cut off the satellite and Tivo, we'd have enough money for the Roku.

Unfortunately, Melissa wasn't very happy with that idea. She overheard the wrong thing, and thought we'd be cutting off the TV altogether. Even when we explained that we wanted to replace it, she wasn't very happy.

Of course, I promised not to turn off the Dish unless we all thought the Roku was a suitable replacement. But I needed to sell it somehow.

So I came up with The Awesome Channel. I should've been in marketing.

Read on to see how it all transpired.

At first, Melissa was worried that we'd have to watch only movies. I explained that wasn't the case. There are plenty of TV series on Netflix. That's how we watch Eureka, after all.

Then she explained that she didn't really like watching our anime and other TV series episodes in "clumps". I explained that the Roku effectively provides us with infinite queues, so we can go back and forth between different shows as often as we like.

She wasn't convinced that the Roku would have a nice interface, like the Tivo. I offered that we wouldn't cut off the satellite until we were happy with Roku, and that we could always pipe it through the Tivo to get our skip functions.

Then she brought out the big one: no Ace of Cakes. I was never really all that involved with the show, and neither was she, but I knew that this was the big stumbling block. She gave me the solution while I was still thinking: she mentioned that there would also be no Nova, and no Doctor Who.

Ah! But there is Doctor Who. Pretty recent, too. And there's probably Nova, but even if there's not, there are a lot of other interesting science shows that she's never even seen! There's Contact, and The Day the Universe Changed! And The Secret Life of Machines! Even if we couldn't get Doctor Who, there's Quantum Leap! Maybe we can't get Hannah Montana, but Disney has lots of other great stuff online. There are probably more fantastic shows she hasn't even heard about than shows she'll miss.

And the great shows aren't on Dish. They're not on Discovery, or Disney, or Nick. You either need to wait for a DVD or get them through Roku. And Netflix even keeps track of what you like and recommends other great stuff that you didn't know about! It'll be like having all the terrific television ever made available on one channel, with a Tivo that records it all and lets you watch it whenever you want. An amazing channel. A fantastic channel.

The Awesome Channel.

At least, that's the argument. Melissa bought it. Every day now, she asks when we're getting The Awesome Channel. I hope Roku and Netflix can live up to her expectations. We picked the cheapest shipping, so we should find out in a week or so.