Couch Potatoes and Internet surfers might have something in common -- the desire to get a comfortable seat.

Traditional chairs designed for the home or office often are too uncomfortable for those who like to spend hours watching TV or working online.

Luckily, the furniture industry is starting to catch on to the change in people's sedentary habits. Consider the Explorer e-cliner recently introduced by La-Z-Boy and WebTV ( http://www.lazyboy.com/ ).

The Explorer e-cliner is a comfortable-looking chair that hides its high-tech attributes in concealed armrests. But, when you are ready for business, it opens up to give you a convenient Web-surfing station. A tray table that folds out of the left armrest holds a Sony WebTV keyboard.

The battery-operated keyboard interacts with the WebTV Plus Internet Receiver by way of an infrared beam.

The Explorer tray allows for 360-degree swivel motion even when the arm rest is closed, so consumers can stand up and sit down without putting the keyboard and table away. When not being used, the keyboard is stored with the foldout table inside the arm of the chair.

The chair also comes with a built-in data adapter, phone line and 120-volt outlet. In addition to using the WebTV features, you can prop your notebook computer on it and use the built-in surge-protected power line.

When you buy the Explorer e-cliner, you get a Sony WebTV Plus Internet Receiver, a keyboard and two free months of WebTV Plus service.

If you were to buy the receiver alone, you'd pay nearly $200 for it. The Explorer retails for $1,049 in fabric and $1,299 in a vinyl that looks like leather.

Once you have everything installed, you can surf the Web while watching television, participate in more than 500 weekly hours of interactive TV programs and exchange e-mail with anyone on the Internet. Using a video camera or digital camera and VCR will let you add pictures and audio clips to e-mail.

You also can browse and search on-screen interactive TV listings to find shows, request a reminder before a favorite show airs, or program the system to automatically record a show on a VCR.

If a picture-in-picture feature is part of your WebTV Plus package, you can watch television and surf the Internet at the same time. Children can get in on the action with the Kid Friendly feature, which helps guide them to fun and educational sites.

For now, the WebTV system runs on a dial-up line. If you already have a cable modem or DSL line in your house, you'll notice that WebTV is slower -- but the comfort of a reclining chair might make the trade-off worth it.

One note of caution for families: The e-cliner and all the interactive services from WebTV might turn into too much fun for the children. If you buy an e-cliner for yourself, don't be surprised if you have to compete with the rest of the family for time in it.