The commercials and trailers and other promotional crap which seems to account for at least 30% of the programming are what drove me to get rid of my TV 10 years ago. I just cannot stand it for one second. The stupid put-on voices, the excruciating music, the assumption that we're all dumb, the same visuals and dialog over and over and over again...I have no idea how anyone can sit through that without feeling stabby. 
 
Beepster, I too suffer from insomnia but they could never get any of those drugs into me. I tried sleeping pills years ago and I hated everything about them. Over the last couple of years I've gradually worked out what causes it and have been able to alleviate it to a large extent. I'm convinced that one of the main reasons was staying up late in front of a bright screen in a brightly lit room. This messes with sleep patterns so much. So what I did was install fl.ux on my computer, and that warms and darkens my computer screen as it gets later. At night it's a mellow orangey glow and it really helps wind me down. I also removed any "full spectrum" lightbulbs from my apartment and replaced them with the bog standard yellow kind (although pretty soon we won't be able to buy these - thanks politicians!). On nights when I feel like I'm not going to be able to sleep, I also take 3mg or so of melatonin which works wonders for me and is totally natural. If I don't have any melatonin I'll eat a large bunch of bananas and that seems to do the same thing. 

sharke
The commercials and trailers and other promotional crap which seems to account for at least 30% of the programming are what drove me to get rid of my TV 10 years ago.

Even more than 30% now Dave.  A full 20 minutes of each hour is nothing but brain-washing crap.  You can only hope that the remaining 40 minutes is actually filled with something entertaining (and not just trying to shove some minority agenda down your throat like gay marriage or adopting a vegan lifestyle).  *Sigh...*

Zanaflex... will make you sleep and will wear off in about 4 hours... but start off with 1mg. Trazadone works too at a low dose. I used it for about 10 years then it stopped working, I got no side effects from either, no sluggishness in the AM. Melatonin at 3mg or 5mg will help you get to sleep but wont keep you asleep.
I HATE insomnia, can't deal with it. Can't take Benadryl, it hangs on in the AM. There is always seconal or Nembutal. or better yet tuinal if you can get it!!! Yeah baby!! Drugs are god for you!
 
J

Unfortunately I create some of that crap. It can be a challenge to balance need to make a living witht the fact that most of it makes me gag

sharke - make sure the melatonin is not made from animals.  The safe kind is made from vegetables.  The all organic label can be deadly to your brain if it is based on animals.  Check this out if you haven't already.  
 
Rimshot
 

melatonin and all the other herbal remedies do nothing for me :(