So after having it look all lonely and forlorn in a corner for a week, my guy roomate and I FINALLY hooked up our TiVO.
We expect it to grow legs and go running down the street to report itself stolen, as in the episode where Homer finds the telemarketing box, because it will assume that no one with as juvenile tastes in TV as I have can afford to have legally bought a home electronic product. After all, the first things I used it to Season Pass were “The Oblongs”, “Drawn Together” and “The O.C.”
As far as I’m concerned, it’s also a godsend to my woefully short attention span. I managed to watch the “Daily Show” and the “Colbert Report” pretty much simultaneously with the TiVO tonight. Which was great, because the guest on the Report was Richard Clarke, who wrote “Against All Enemies”, the nonfiction tell-all about his time as the Counter-Terrorism Czar, and the events and circumstances that led up to 9/11. He makes a very strong case against the War in Iraq, and actually went so far as to make a smartass remark during the interview about how the White House doesn’t know anything about stopping wars in the Middle East.
I digress though. The point is, I’ll be an evangelist for TiVO anytime. It’s an intuitive product, with what must be a great deal of focus group testing behind it. It makes sense. It has some technical glitches, but it’s still perfect for catching all kinds of media I wouldn’t see othewise. I’ll never have to miss another episode of “Conquest of America” (on History) or “The Critic” or “I Love The 90s” again. It allows me to accomplish TV consumption in a much less restricted, linear way, and I like that.
Now, if it wasn’t so addictive, I wouldn’t have to be suspicious that it’s really an alien plot to take us all over, like that episode of ST:TNG where Wesley brings that addictive game onto the ship. I’m pretty sure those background images have subliminal messages. But for now, I’m just happy that I was able to tag & flag for recording “A Flintstone Christmas Carol”. Having access to this much cheesy media makes the mental threat that much more worthwhile.
Jillian's Blog 
Nerd alert: It’s actually Riker that brings it aboard. Wesley is the one that figures out the hypnotic effect. 😉
In exchange for the ST:TNG reference, I offer this.
I have a ReplayTV, and while it doesn’t offer the new show discovery that Tivo does, it lets me watch TV when and where I want. I would never willingly go back to watching without it. Is yours a Series 1 or Series 2 recorder? If Series 2, then Click Here.
Since she just got it, I’d have to think it is a Series2 – they stopped making Series1 units in late 2001. 🙂
TiVo can do a lot – check out, especially the info page for resources.
My uncle just recently bought and set-up a Series 1 player — you don’t ALWAYS have to buy them new. 😉
Any way you slice it, new system or old, easily-recorded TV is totally the way to go.
It is indeed a Series 2 since we only got it because we can wi-fi it up & transfer stuff to our computers.
It just wasn’t nerdy enough before.