I once got half way through watching the English Patient with comercials and the naughty bits edited out, when I came to my senses and remembered that I owned it and there was no reason to watch it on TV. I've done it with other movies too.
People do this all the time. It's because when it's on tv you know other people are watching too, so you get to escape the horrible horrible crushing loneliness of your life, side_show, and feel connected, albeit in a sterile and technological fashion, to your fellow humans.
One of my extremely flakey ex-girlfriends had a theory that everyone's brain waves eminated from their heads like radio waves and that subconsciously we could receive each other's brain transmissions and be affected by them.
Of course, this girl's a spitter, too, so you can't take too much of anything she says too seriously.