In the old days, if you were stranded at the mall waiting for your wife’s shopping spree to end all you could do was sit – and eat.

In the old days, if you were driving home with your bickering children all you could do was yell, “Don’t make me pull this car over!”

In the old days, if you were a teenager held hostage at a family reunion all you could do was send text messages.

Now, residents in Athens, Decatur, Madison and Huntsville can watch television on their cellular telephones. These are the first four cities in Alabama to receive mobile TV service, “It’s like having a mini TV right in front of you,” said Verizon Wireless spokeswoman Kelly Shrout of Madison.

Verizon is offering broadcast and cable television – with live content and other programming – through what it calls V CAST Mobile TV.

“It’s like viewing real-time TV with only a slight delay,” Shrout said. “If someone calls or sends you a text message, once you have ended the call or finished reading the text message, it goes back to the program in progress.”

Atlanta, Nashville, Chattanooga and other big metro areas already have the service along – about 50 cities in all. How did Athens, Decatur, Madison and Huntsville make the list?

“We have an extremely good network in this metro area, so we were able to offer it,” Shrout said.

While some may consider trying to watch television on a tiny, handheld telephone just plain stupid, others may see portable TV as the breakthrough they’ve been waiting for.

Either way, the service is out there and Verizon is offering, depending on what you pay, Fox Mobile, CBS Mobile, Comedy Central, MTV, MTV tr3s, NBC, Nickelodeon, NBC News, ESPN and ESPN Radio.

You can’t get the service from just any cell phone.

You have to buy one of four phones, ranging from $69.99 to $199, and pay a monthly rate, ranging from $39.99 to $100-plus, then you can add mobile TV service for an additional $13 to $25 a month.

“Once you buy the package, there are no other charges for the TV service,” Shrout said. “There are no airtime or data charges. They can even try it for free for a month.”

Here’s what you get for your money:

• Limited Package for additional $13 a month – Fox Mobile, CBS Mobile, NBC and NBC News.