Imagine the Wii U as a cable box and the controller as a TV remote.

[richardhutnik]

d21lewis said:
But if you're watching TV, you're not playing video games. I like to imagine my TV is the top half of a Nintendo DS and the Wii U controller is the bottom half--with a few new tricks.

You could then also switch to the playing of a game on the Wii U system and back to TV.