Alright so as a preface I have been through plenty of google searches through forums with other people who have the same problem. The TV is not seeing the HDMI signal from the Wii U.
I was using the cable that came with the Wii U so I used it on other HDMI machines like the Apple TV and the Xbox 360 and it ran fine.
To see if the Wii U was the problem, I took my old Wii's RCA A/V composite cable and used that to see what I would get. The Wii U was on and running the introduction sequence so I sync'd my gamepad and setup the wifi (which was it's own problem) and updated the system to the latest version hoping that there was maybe a fix from Nintendo's side. It still did not work.
I will also say that when I use the Wii U's "TV settings" and switch from "Non-HDMI" to "HDMI" it says it is unable to connect to my TV and that I should make sure that it is, in fact, powered on.
And that is the story of what brings me here.
Any ideas or suggestions? I going to say that being on a tight budget, buying a good component cable for the Wii U would be a pain.