I find myself in an unexpected predicament these days. Or you could call it a perfect storm. But however you want to label it, I’m stuck.

The new fall season has taken me by surprise with a number of additions to the old TiVo season pass list. That on top of my shows that made it past the grim reaper last season, times cable series that tend to be good more often than network offerings … as a result, there are a couple of series that are stacking up on my DVR. Fast. Read the rest of this entry »

All right, everyone! I hope you’ve cleared your DVRs and TiVos of all those Housewives of Atlanta episodes, the selective Daily Show programs from three months ago, and all the Eurekas you recorded during the Viewer Picks marathon of a few weeks ago. According to my sundial, the Fall 2009-2010 season begins in earnest tonight. And, if you only own one digital recording device that can only mean one thing: DVR Emergency!

Yes, once again you need to peruse the TV schedules and select only those shows that you will absolutely watch sometime in the next nine months. This week is particularly bad since 1) a majority of shows are premiering, and 2) many of these shows are offering extended premieres to kick off the season. Other than Saturday, you probably won’t get a break from DVR scheduling either, thanks in part to all the summer shows still running on cable. Needless to say, the term “hosed” seems adequate.

Take tonight’s schedule, for example.

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Julia Hass is back Guest Clacking for us again after her great five-parter last month:

Like every other family in America, my family will, when asked what the best part about our relatively new acquisition of a DVR (yeah, we’re behind the times) is, answer “we get to fast forward through commercials.” Commercials have been the bane of any television watcher’s life, the scourge of their existence. They are the meaningless fodder stuck in between the tensest moments when you very desperately need to know what happens on the other end of the commercial break.

I don’t know. Call me crazy, but I kind of miss them.

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That’s right. I’m out baby! I have officially closed the book on Addison (Kate Walsh) and the gang at Oceanside Wellness Center (no offense, Jane). I feel good. A little sad that this time I’m leaving Taye Diggs instead of hanging on for dear life until the network sends him packing, but the truth is he’s kind of MIA these days anyway (and when he is around he’s mooning over his ex Naomi (Audra McDonald)? He’s Taye Diggs! At least give him someone half as good looking as he is!) Read the rest of this entry »

I realize this isn’t the timeliest of topics. Long story short, my TiVo worked its magic on the first two episodes of Eli Stone’s second season; it recorded them in full, and self-deleted them upon completion. Before you recommend to me how to solve the problem, yes, it was set to save all episodes, and yes, it was set to delete only when I manually deleted. It’s a problem I’ve had with my TiVo box since the beginning, and one of the major reasons I dislike DirecTV; their DVR boxes suck. They often don’t automatically update their software, so if your version is outdated, you’ll encounter countless recording problems until you manually update. Real high quality.

Anyway, my wife and I also missed the ball on the tiny window ABC provides for viewing their shows online, so we decided to gamble by waiting for the re-runs to air. In the meantime, we dutifully recorded episodes three through nine.

Well, this past weekend I came to grips with reality: Eli Stone is gone, never to return. Of course, I knew it’d been canceled, but in my heart-of-hearts I held out hope that ABC might see the error in its ways. I mean, my God, shows like (I’m hiding underneath the table here) According to Jim, America’s Funniest Home Videos, The Bachelor, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Supernanny, Ugly Betty and Wife Swap have all been given longer lives than Eli Stone. Leaves me speechless, too. Read the rest of this entry »

I love my TiVo; I’m not ashamed to admit it. The creation of the digital video recorder has been a godsend to those of us who still confess that we love watching TV. 100 hours of memory, the ability to tape two shows at once, a searchable two-week guide, season passes … TiVo has leveled the playing field, and then some.

At the same time, our friend TiVo has us trapped. 100 hours! It seems like a lot, but we all know what its like trying to watch a backlog of even half that, as new shows are added to the total every night. It’s an uphill battle each and every day, because who knows when circumstance will force you and TiVo to be apart for an extended period of time. It’s like gambling: you can never seem to get ahead.

And, fully realizing that this is a nice problem to have, I often find myself frustrated at the fact that watching TV these days seems like work. My wife and I have to constantly press ahead just to clear some space on the box. Often we spend four straight hours watching our favorite shows without experiencing any pleasure. It can be rather disappointing. Read the rest of this entry »

CliqueClack’s recent poll about our Wednesday night television preferences got me to thinking about the variety we’re offered on other nights of the week. Inevitably, my mind wandered to NBC’s Thursday night lineup. As much as that night has declined in quality, I still find myself recording almost the entire three hour block (Kath & Kim is just too much of a dip.) And I found myself considering all of the great shows that we’ve lost in the past few years.

So, I went back to the beginning of my life: 1981, taking a look at what Thursday night on NBC has offered us over these past twenty-eight years (or twenty-four years and four twenty-fourth year anniversaries, as I celebrate the day of my birth now.) And the first thing that came to mind? Wow. NBC has given us some amazing fare, from the dramatic to the comedic, with stops all along the scale. A lot of classics have been offered, and I wondered what the perfect lineup might look like. If I had my pick, what gem could I assign to each 30-minute slot to create the perfect evening of television? Read the rest of this entry »