... the TV is a mute point right now
Perhaps turning up the volume will help. j/k
Black out curtains should work. But they can destroy the aesthetic of a room and can be cumbersome to open/close, open/close anytime you want to watch the news. Likely, you'll keep them closed more often than not, leaving your room feeling like a bat-cave of sorts.
PJ's are really cool for big pictures. But they are not the best for picture fidelity. Too many outside influences affect the image. Light being just one problem. When you jump up to 100" or so, DVDs can look a little soft and analog TV becomes very washed out (especially if there is any ambient light in the room). PJs are just not very practical viewing. They can't be beat for movie night and "event" tv (Lost in HD rocks like a night at the movies on 100" PJ Screen), but I bet that most of your viewing will be of the "casual" sort (Simpsons or the news on in the background while you cook dinner, or some dumb sit-com or reality show).
You'd be surprised just how damned big a 60" screen is. If your current TV is 27 inches, a 60" TV will be more than 4 times as big as that. 60" would feel like a monolith in the middle of that space.