Your instincts are correct, OP. Your husband is being weird about this. There are a gazillion ways to manage different tastes in TV and reading while living.

Maybe this is rooted in some childhood trauma of his?

Anonymous wrote:We compromise and he watches Real Housewives.

Hehe, +1 my Dh's guilty pleasure is real housewives.

While it is controlling for him not to want you to read when watching a show with him, you could reframe that as understanding that he essentially wants to share an experience with you, which is not a bad thing.

I would try saying "I can see you want to share an experience as a couple, and I want that too, but we have to find something we both actually want to watch" and then try to find something that you both do want to watch, which I am sure can be challenging but shouldn't be impossible.

We compromise and he watches Real Housewives.