I have many great memories from growing up. For better or worse, a lot of them revolve around watching television with my parents and siblings.

Back then, before everyone had their own screen, we would gather together to watch our favorite shows, especially M*A*S*H. I developed much of my sense of humor from watching these shows.

We watched some hour-long shows too, but I mostly remember the comedies. Most of my TV watching over the years has focused on sitcoms.

That’s why I felt terrible when the networks announced the TV schedule for next season. A half-dozen comedies I liked to watch will not return for 2014-15. One that does – “Parks & Recreation,” perhaps my favorite – will air just 13 episodes for its final season.

I feel like my best friend has stabbed me in the back.

Now I know that I shouldn’t get too worked up about this because of the many different ways we can experience television. I don’t even sit down and watch shows when they air that often any more.

But I would prefer having my favorite shows come back so I could watch them OnDemand on my own schedule instead of having to go hunting around for new things to watch.

I don’t just watch sitcoms because the evoke a nostalgia for growing up. Comedy gives me something to look forward to, even if I have seen so many that it’s often easy to see the joke coming,

The skill of the writers and actors makes me feel good. They have literally proven that laughter can help improve people’s health so I take my comedy very seriously. It’s not necessarily a matter of life or death, but it can certainly make your life better.

That’s why I hated seeing that not only are some of my favorite shows going away, but the networks have greatly de-emphasized comedies in general. I have a lot fewer choices for my preferred television shows.

I just don’t have the attention span for most dramas or the stomach for most reality shows. I kept up with “Hawaii Five-O” for a couple of seasons, but even the kitschy nature of the show and the physics-defying “everything is Hawaii is a 10-minute drive away) couldn’t keep my interest.

So I figure I will spend the summer trying to figure out how I can make use of my time when the TV season kicks off in the fall. I could try and sound all kinds of smart and say I will read more books, but I know that won’t happen with any great regularity.

I can find the full run of a lot of shows I never really invested time in on the various streaming services, but the irony is that most of those are dramas. I might commit myself to “Breaking Bad” now that it has ended, but that will take real commitment.

I will manage to occupy my time somehow. Hopefully a comedy or two I have never seen will call to me from a smaller network or the Internet. Or I will just watch reruns of shows I love and have seen a dozen times and can quote from memory.

If my wife complains, I’ll tell her to call the networks because it’s all their fault.