Desert islands now come with cable!

Tim Goodman at the San Francisco Chronicle came up with a great "what if" game: What if you could only watch three TV channels? 3. Tres. Drei.

Goodman's picks are HBO, ESPN and FX.

I'm really not sure what he's watching on FX that's so hot, but whatever.

I'd agree that it would be tough to dump ESPN now that it has Monday Night Football, but I'm not a big enough baseball or basketball fan to miss it the rest of the year.

HBO... now that's a tough one. There's really nothing on there now that I simply could not live without (as much as I like Flight of the Conchords). But there certainly has been before and I have faith that there will be again.
Of course, the rules of the game don't stipulate that you're stuck with the same three forever, so presumably I could add HBO or ESPN for part of the year and limit myself to other choices the rest of the time. Heck, there's long periods of the fall and summer when I'm not too far away from that now.

Man, I just realized there's really nothing other than "Lost" I watch on ABC. I can't pick a network just for one show, can I? ABC is pimping "Pushing Daisies" this fall - probably my favorite new show of the fall - but that's still just two shows. It'd be easier if they still had MNF. Of course, they do still have the best college football package...

OK, so my three:
1. NBC - "30 Rock," "Friday Night Lights," "Heroes" and "The Office." Those first two may not last the year, but I'd still need my NBC for the other pair.
2. Discovery - There's no one thing I couldn't live without here, but lots of stuff I like - "Dirty Jobs," "Deadliest Catch," making fun of "Man vs. Wild," repeats of "Survivorman," "Mythbusters."
3. Comedy Central - "Daily Show," Colbert Report," "Reno 911," "South Park." Really, Comedy Central is HBO with a better track record. I don't see how I could make it through an election year without Jon Stewart (even when he goes off on moralistic rants like he did last night with Stephen Hayes).

Now it's your turn.