I have to read while doing cardio or I'd go nuts. If I try to watch TV (unless it's a football game), it makes time go even slower because you can track time with things like commercials.
I remember the leanest I ever got was eating at a few hundred calories above my BMR (well that and calories burned with a fairly active job). I lifted intensely on a four day split and did cardio for 35-45 minutes the other three days of the week. Shredded man.