Channel surfing. It has become an American pastime of sorts over the last 20 years. So many channels, so many programs on, and the constant fear in the back of your mind that there could be something better on the next channel.

But within the last few years, channel surfing has evolved into something else entirely. Digital cable introduced an onscreen TV guide, with the ability to see what’s on and even what’s on next.

DVR added to that with the ability to record your favorite shows and watch them when you want. But it’s 2010 — we not only have cable/satellite, we have Netflix, Blu-ray and things on iTunes. Not to forget YouTube, Hulu and others that we want to watch not only on our computers, but on TV and our phones, too.

Google sees the problem at hand, all of this media, all these different mediums, and the problem of organizing it all. Because if anyone is going to fix this problem, it will be Google, right?

Yes, of course Google can fix it, but they can’t do it alone. Google isn’t in the hardware business — yet — and it has turned to partners such as Sony and Logitech to get its Google TV into living rooms across the nation.

But that raises to so many questions and so many problems. How will this new system work? Will I need a new box? What will I use to control it? How much will it cost?

Google TV is going to take all of those things I mentioned before and put them onto your TV using one box that can pull things from the Internet, your cable TV and from your DVR.

Google TV looks amazing on paper, but in terms of practicality, it’s a mess. To make this work, you need to buy a box for your TV set. Simply put, you would hook up your cable/satellite box up to this new box, hook Internet up to this new box, and then hook your surround sound into this new box, and then hook your TV up into this box. So easy your grandmother can do it.

Once you get it all hooked up it raises the question of how things will be controlled. It’s connected to the Internet, so you’d maybe want a keyboard and mouse to control it, right? Probably not, so how can this be solved?

Phones. Google wants us to use our Android smart phones to control our Google TV. An ingenious idea to say the least. It’s small, you can type on it, you already know how to use it.

A perfect match, but what happens when your roommate or a family member wants to watch TV and they don’t have a Google Android phone? You’d have to leave your phone in the living room at all times, or get everyone you know a new smart phone.

Logitech and Sony both understand the problem and have come out with their versions of Google TV remotes. The Logitech remote looks like a standard keyboard with a touchpad on it — like on a standard laptop — and Sony has made a small keyboard with a directional pad on it that reminds me of some sort of Playstation controller-TV remote fusion.

Another feature of the Google TV is video chat. Since you’re running an Ethernet cable to your TV, you might as well hook up a webcam, right? That’s Logitech’s doing. Skype in the living room? Not a bad idea, but nothing I’d pay a large sum of money for.

Here’s the problem. Google TV is cool, but will you buy a new box for your TV for the low price of $300? Or the Blu-ray version for $400?

If you are a home theater geek, you probably will. But if you’re a home theater geek, you probably already have the Roku XD in your house or have the Boxee Box on pre-order.

The only way Google TV will really take off is if two things happen, the first being that Google TV gets integrated into TVs, something Sony has already started doing. Secondly, the only way it will be sold as a third-party box is if cable companies start putting Google TV boxes in people’s homes instead those Motorola Boxes we all get from Mediacom Digital.

Let’s not forget, this whole process is just to make watching TV “easier.” In some ways, we’re probably making it worse than it was before.