My BP is 11 months old and has only ever had f/t so I would never try to feed him live prey, I"d be too worried he'd get hurt.
As for ethics: I've been vegetarian for over a decade so the only meat in my freezer is rat LOL. I think you just have to accept and budget to feed 1 f/t rat per week, and leave it up to the snake to eat or not (although he's still young and I actually offer every 5 - 6 days).
As for hanging out and watching tv: I've tried this a few times but BPs are nocturnal and not really fond of the brightness of the 40" display. Although he does watch and track movement on the screen for a few minutes he'll then start trying to move around, either down off the couch onto the floor or into any dark crevasse between the cushions. So I end up turning off the tv and getting far more entertainment from observing and interacting with the snake.