TiVo’d
I’ve recommended Amazon’s Kindle to everyone. Now, I recommend TiVo. When Tivo first came out, I thought it was the stupidest idea in the world. Then I became a trucker, and my TiVo is now one of my most favorite gadgets.
While I’m on the road, my TiVo is at home busily recording my favorite television programs. It stores them until I get home, when I then glut myself on everything I missed on the road (which is actually everything, since I don’t watch TV out here). I spend most of my home time installed in front of the television, and I never lose the thrill of fast-forwarding past all the commercials. I hate commercials. I think I finally went over the edge on my hate when they came out with the commercial that was trying to convince us that we needed moisturizers in our deodorant. God forbid our armpit skin should be dry! I know it’s always been a deep concern of mine. Enough already.
You’d be amazed how many shows you can watch if you cut out all the commercials. Okay, well, not exactly all of them. Hedon always wants to the see the Geico gecko, and she used to have a thing for the barbarian marauders of Capital One Bank. The things I have to put up with.
I used to put most the shows I’d TiVo’d during the month on DVD, then bring them back out on the road with me. I don’t do that anymore because my DVD burner is kind of crappy, which means the playback is choppy and sometimes impossible to watch. Also, I’ve got my Kindle now. I seem to have separated my entertainment. Home time is for television. The road is for reading.
My favorite programs are generally reality shows. To be more specific, reality shows which involve a competition of some sort, preferably for lots of money. My favorites include the ever-popular “Survivor,” “Amazing Race,” “Project Runway,” “Top Chef,” “Hell’s Kitchen,” and “Real World/Road Rules Challenge.” I find that when a big prize is at stake, the ugliness and drama is more real than say cat-fighting housewives and brawling bad girls hamming it up for camera time alone.
I know what draws me to these shows — schadenfreude. I may be wrong on the spelling, but I’m not wrong on the definition. It’s a German word that describes people who take pleasure in other people’s misfortunes. Okay, so I don’t take pleasure in real people’s misfortunes, but if you have the audacity to stick yourself on a television show and make a complete ass out of yourself, I’m going to take pleasure in it — a ridiculous amount of pleasure. In fact, there’s no better comedy on television than a bunch of camera-hungry, greedy type-A personalities slugging it out for some cash. Good stuff. There’s a particularly sordid one on right now on VH1, “I Love Money.”
Other than the reality shows, I watch “Big Love” on HBO, “The Closer” on TNT, “My Name is Earl” on NBC, “Chuck” on CBS, “South Park” on the Comedy Channel, and am giving “Primeval” on BBC a try (liked the first two episodes, tongue-in-cheek fun). There’s others, but I can’t think of them right now.
So yay for the TiVo. Even if I weren’t on the road anymore, I’d still keep my TiVo. It’s a beaut.
When I first went out on the road with Ed, he got me a TV so I wouldn’t miss my shows. I can’t tell you how many times I had him circling a parking lot to get good reception so I could watch “America’s Next Top Model”. He was so accomodating.
When we realized we were NEVER watching TV, we took it out and made more space for something else. I don’t miss it one bit, on a daily basis, but when home or in a hotel, I do find myself freakishly glued to the television. If anyone were to see my slack-jawed viewing position, they would think I’d never seen that “talking box” before. Overall though, I don’t miss it.
I am with you on the schadenfreude thing though – I also take pleasure in watching people be morons. And for some reason, I get an extra pleasureable kick in ridiculous dating shows – mostly, I can’t believe what women do to “get” a guy – usually a guy who is as equally moronic. “I Love New York” is one of those shows, as is “Rock of Love” with Brett Michaels from that old 80′s hair band, Poison. And the Bachelor is just as bad, although I don’t watch that one ever anymore.
I do also like “Project Runway”, “What Not To Wear”, “America’s Next Top Model” and any other fashion or cooking reality show.
As for regular TV, I’m a fan of “Grey’s Anatomy”, “Boston Legal”, “House”, “The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch” and my mother has gotten me into “Law and Order” – but I only like the Criminal Intent version because it stars my celebrity boyfriend, Vince D’Onofrio!
I loved your celeb boyfriend in “Men in Black” as the bug in the Edgar (Eggar) suit. Still makes me chuckle.
I’m with ya on the power of the talking box. Hedon doesn’t watch much TV. She does have a thing for “Work Out” on Bravo, though. It’s hilarious to watch that show with her because she truly hates the main gal, Jackie. Watching “Work Out” with Hedon treats you with quite a display of disgust like “Hmmph!” and “She is so arrogant!” and “By God I wouldn’t take that crap from her!” and “She makes all lesbians look pathetic!” and “Grmph, what a dumb bitch” and the most often repeated phrase, “Who the hell does she think she is?!!”
Now that’s entertainment.