Ask HN: How do you organize your TV viewing?

Over the holiday I found myself in front of the TV more than usual watching games and whatnot with the family. Several times we all ended up engrossed in something that was at least moderately interesting on History Channel, Science TV, etc. So I'm thinking I'm doing a really bad job of consuming a medium that still does some things very well.

For that matter, what do you watch, and maybe just as importantly, how?