the trick

1. Convince him to push mute so we can have an important conversation about something, you know... important. Important enough that we need to hear each other, so please push mute.

2. Distract him with conversation or (more likely) reading material (in this case, an atlas, from which I just learned the fascinating fact that it takes ten hours and 43 minutes to get to Casper, Wyoming)

3. Move around a lot, picking things up and moving things around so that he doesn't notice when you reach for the remote that is right next to his hand. Be smooth.

4. Turn the TV off.

Success!