Hello Zachary,
the verb "fernsehen" is almost exclusively used on its own, as it describes precisely the act of using a "Fernseher", so you would not use the word "Fernseher" together with it in a sentence. "Das Fernsehen" is actually the same verb again, but used as a noun, so it is the noun meaning "the act of watching TV". You might note, that in english "watching" can not be used standing alone, as it always needs an object, in contrast to "fernsehen".
I hope I could answer your question, I am new and this is my first reply to anything :D
One counter-example which I just came up with, would be:
"Ich wollte fern sehen, aber der Fernseher ist kaputt." Meaning "I wanted to watch TV, but the TV is broken."
Here you explicitly need to tell something about the object "Fernseher", and when it is broken you obviously can't watch it any more. But it still is not in the way you meant by your question, if I understand the question correctly.
Best wishes,
Günter