What's on your DVR? [Archive] - Lounge of Tomorrow

mousepod

09-20-2007, 12:27 PM

Well, after about a year with a cable-issued DVR, I'm finally back with a TiVo. So last night, armed with the list of new shows from The Futon Critic (http://www.thefutoncritic.com), I programmed the machine to record all of this season's new scripted premieres, plus Survivor. I'm sure that there'll be some major culling soon...

Moonliner

09-20-2007, 12:28 PM

Oh, and I also just added Ken Burns "The War" on PBS.

I love me the Ken Burns.

SacTown Chronic

09-20-2007, 12:32 PM

I don't own a DVR or TiVo. If they ever make a tv show worth recording and watching at my convenience, I'll buy one.

blueerica

09-20-2007, 01:49 PM

<sniff>

I was going to get one, but have decided against it on the grounds that I'll only be living here a few more months and I can actually catch the shows I want to watch most. If I had a DVR, I would most assuredly have NBC's Monday night line up of Chuck, Heroes, and Journeyman. I'm semi-interested in the new Bionic Woman, but mostly because I'm wondering how it will be the same and how it will be different. The Office would be on the schedule as well.

I'd probably have Mythbusters on there, but I seem to always catch a sufficient number of episodes in their re-runs. There are a handful of other shows, but like Mythbusters, I just seem to catch them, anyway.

mistyisjafo

09-20-2007, 01:55 PM

Lots and Lots of things! Rock of Love, 24, Pick Up Artist, Family Guy, Top Chef, Forensic Files, American Justice, The Dead Zone and Ace of Cakes.

I'm behind on watching stuff.

Ghoulish Delight

09-20-2007, 01:59 PM

Survivor
Tim and Eric Awesome Show
The Soup
Best Week Ever
Dodger games
Lost
Mythbusters
Top Chef
Rocketboom (TiVo-cast)
The Onion (TiVo-cast)
CNET (TiVo-cast)
Home Movies
Family Guy
American Dad
Cash Cab
The Office
30 Rock

Then there's stuff that TiVo recommends that we will watch on occasion, but don't have season passes for:
Property Ladder
Good Eats
While You Were Out
What Not to Wear

Removed from after disappointing seasons:
Scrubs
My Name is Earl

I bet I'm missing something.

Damn we watch a lot of T.V.

Snowflake

09-20-2007, 02:01 PM

I do not have TIVO or a cable provided DVR any longer, however, I recorded last night on my DVD-R The Trouble With Angels.

LSPoorEeyorick

09-20-2007, 02:04 PM

Good Eats
The Office
30 Rock
The Soup (excellent episodes saved)
House (deleted after watching)
Feasting on Asphalt (deleted after watching)
Ugly Betty (deleted after watching)
(until recently) Veronica Mars
and a lot of vintage movies we keep meaning to watch but never do.

Alex

09-20-2007, 03:42 PM

The DVR on my computer is set to record each night's The Daily Show and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

But It has been about 4 months since I've had the cable plugged into my computer so that hasn't been working out so well. No TV DVR. I don't need to pay extra to addict myself to watching even more TV than I already do (after most of a decade without TV at all I've fallen back into the habit in a bad way).

Ghoulish Delight

09-20-2007, 03:57 PM

BarTopDancer

09-20-2007, 04:10 PM

What will be on my TiVO as of Saturday will be:

24 (new and reruns)
LOST (new and reruns)
L&O SVU (new only)
Jericho (new and reruns)
Heroes (new only)
The 4400 (new only)
Best Week Ever
Talk Soup
E! News Weekend
Simpsons

I don't follow many shows anymore. Tired of getting burned. I won't be getting involved with any new shows in the fall either. I am sick of getting attached and then having them yanked (Most recently Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Surface and Jericho)

blueerica

09-20-2007, 04:17 PM

D'oh! How could I miss the shows I view almost nightly! The Soup and Good Eats are soooo on my imaginary DVR list!

libraryvixen

09-20-2007, 04:23 PM

DVR is my new best friend.

These are the shows that I have on my TiVo (not all of them are "in season"):
* for shows that are new this season/have not aired yet

Lost (all of season 3 is saved in anticipation for season 4)
Ace of Cakes
The Hills
Newport Harbor: The Real Orange County
The Pick-Up Artist
The Soup
Best Week Ever
Ugly Betty
Grey's Anatomy
Gossip Girl
Saturday Night Live
Family Guy
Robot Chicken
How I Met Your Mother
Beauty and the Geek
Top Chef
Hell's Kitchen
Unwrapped
*Chuck
*Big Bang Theory (in my town, CBS prime time starts at 7 PM and not 8)
*Reaper

Ghoulish Delight

09-20-2007, 04:24 PM

See, I knew I was forgetting some:

Robot Chicken
SNL

Alex

09-20-2007, 04:34 PM

[here is where a DVR advocate such as myself might respond with an explanation that having a DVR reduces the amount of time wasted watching TV even as the number of TV shows watched increases since you can a) skip commercials and b) watch TV when it's convenient for you rather than hurry up to the TV because a new episode of whatever is on. But I'm sure Alex has heard that, so I won't do that]

I don't see how time shifting actually saves any time, just makes it more convenient. And time shifting means that eventually I do watch the show where without that if I am not available I just never see it.

And as for cutting commercials, if TIVO gets me to watch one episode of something I wouldn't have that destroys the commercial free time gain from the episodes I would have watched anyway.

Without (computer based) TIVO I watched the first 15 minutes of Craig Ferguson maybe twice a week, the rest of the time falling asleep before the show came on. After (computer based) TIVO I watched the first 15 minutes every day. So, just one one show that I wanted to watch before I had the DVR capability I ended up watching an extra hour of TV, just for that single show, and if there was an interesting guest even more.

I also watched a Gary Cooper TMC marathon that I never would have otherwise.

So, yes I've heard that argument before and everything I personally experience exposes it as bull pucky (at least for me, maybe for you cutting 8 minutes out of your sitcom hasn't been replaced by other shows you would have missed).

Ghoulish Delight

09-20-2007, 04:38 PM

I don't see how time shifting actually saves any time, just makes it more convenient. And time shifting means that eventually I do watch the show where without that if I am not available I just never see it.
I didn't say it saves time, I say you don't waste as much time. It allows you to fit TV into what would otherwise be down time rather than scheduling other things around TV.

libraryvixen

09-20-2007, 04:53 PM

It doesn't save me that much time, but like GD said, it makes watching my shows more convenient. B and I can have a mini-marathon of Ace of Cakes if I save up enough of them!

katiesue

09-20-2007, 05:21 PM

I have a lot -

MI5
Top Gear
Murphy's Law
The Soup
The Girls Next Door
Bones
House
Ugly Betty
Grey's Anatomy
CSI
Numbers
Life on Mars
Graham Norton
Robin Hood
Cold Case
iCarley
Suite Life of Zack and Cody
Kim Possible
Hannah Montana
Army Wives
My Life on the D List
Waking the Dead
Silent Witness
What about Brian?
Brothers & Sisters
Murder Prevention Unit
How I Met Your Mother
Kumars at No. 42
Lost
Two and a Half Men

I think it saves me from watching stuff I'm not interested in. There's always stuff on there that I want to watch instead of waiting for my favorite show to come on. Where it totally saves me is getting Maddy to go to bed or do homework. If she's in the middle of watching something I just hit record and she has no excuse to say up "just till the next commercial". And usually she forgets about it and I just delete it anyway.

Gemini Cricket

09-20-2007, 05:39 PM

No DVR.
In fact, no cable TV at all.
:)

Kevy Baby

09-20-2007, 05:42 PM

There is a bunch of crap on our TiVo that will soon disappear because I need to do a hard reset (which wipes out everything). Instead of listing all of the crap, I will tell you the things I will be dumping to DVD before the reboot:
Tex the Passive Aggressive Gunslinger (a short from IMC that TiVo caught for us when we let it record suggestions)
Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner
Freebird the Movie
Probably some other stuff that I can't think of

€uroMeinke

09-20-2007, 06:14 PM

I can't even get through the podcasts I subscribe to - I suspect I would be constantly buying bigger hard drives.

Alex

09-20-2007, 06:35 PM

I didn't say it saves time, I say you don't waste as much time. It allows you to fit TV into what would otherwise be down time rather than scheduling other things around TV.

Fair distinction. Except with me I move the TV into what should be productive time (weekend days and early eavening) and out of my down time (prime time and late evening).

I actually get things done during a Saturday afternoon because there is nothing worth watching on TV.

Alex

09-20-2007, 06:36 PM

Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner

It is probably best if you just let that one slide by as a missed opportunity. I watched about 20 minutes of it and it was truly painful.

The Comedy Central roasts definitely have no redeeming value and are an insulting reminder of the old Dean Martin ones.

Babette

09-20-2007, 06:40 PM

I just got a new DVR on Saturday. I must have it for the new fall season. I start off watching anything and everything new (which requires a couple time blocks of *gasp* VCR to get 3 shows). After two or three weeks I weed it down based on what I find interesting. Last year the networks seemed to weed a lot out quicker than that.

Waaaa! I miss Veronica Mars, but at least we will see some of the actors on other shows. Veronica on Heroes, Logan on Moonlight and Piz on Private Practice. Remember the great line in the spin-off set-up on Grey's Anatomy? The ladies watched Piz/Dell leave to go surfing at lunch and one says something like, "The show repeats in an hour, only it's wet." I'm not sure I want to watch the show, but he will make me look. (I'm over Grey's, which jumped the shark when Meridith had no side effects from temporarily dying/drowning/hypothermia.)

My regular list: Original Law & Order (back in January - duhn duhn), Family Guy, Shark, Heroes, How I Met Your Mother, Bones, House, The Unit, Smallville, Top Chef, L&O: SVU, CSI (original).

Alex

09-20-2007, 06:54 PM

Oh, and while I don't have a DVR, I did watch the entire summer seasons of The Closer and Saving Grace via On Demand. Not timeless storage until I watch, but 4 weeks is plenty of time to allow timeshifting and the commercials are only five seconds long.

Babette

09-20-2007, 06:58 PM

I would have had The Closer and Psych if I had my DVR sooner.

Stan4dSteph

09-20-2007, 08:48 PM

Currently there's a bunch of stuff on my DVR that I would like to get OFF of it so I can edit it down on my computer. Mostly broadcasts of U2 performances. Unfortunately there's no way to do that easily without just dumping onto a VHS tape, so it sits there taking up space.

Ghoulish Delight

09-20-2007, 09:07 PM

Grumble.

So it turns out we had a Season Pass for "Survivor: Fiji", not "Survivor". Curse you CBS for embedding a variable in your show title when consumer DVR UI's aren't exactly offering regular expression searching at this point (though I don't doubt someone's got a Linux DVR solution that does). There are ways around it (which I will now have to do), but it would seem to be in CBS's best interest to just keep the title the same across seasons so it can be recorded using defaults without the extra steps of doing a keyword-based subscription.

Ah well, the upshot is that I thought to do a paranoia check a couple minutes in and caught that it wasn't recording. Just missed some of the intro hype (whcih I like to watch on Episode 1), but I can catch that online tomorrow.

libraryvixen

09-20-2007, 09:25 PM

Waaaa! I miss Veronica Mars, but at least we will see some of the actors on other shows. Veronica on Heroes, Logan on Moonlight and Piz on Private Practice. Remember the great line in the spin-off set-up on Grey's Anatomy? The ladies watched Piz/Dell leave to go surfing at lunch and one says something like, "The show repeats in an hour, only it's wet."

I miss Veronica Mars too. That was the bedrock of my Gilmore/Mars night. Now they're both gone! :(

Don't forget, Kristen Bell (fondly, Veronica) is the narrator in Gossip Girl as well!
PS... Piz is all that and a bag of chips with no shirt on. Though... I'd eat that bag of chips off his chest muscles.... *sigh*

AllyOops!

09-21-2007, 12:03 PM

With the Fall Season arriving, it's time to start programming my DVR (which I always refer to as "TiVo" for some reason)!

What's on my DVR at this moment?

The Simpsons~ Both first-run & repeats. I never remove The Simpsons. I have so many episodes saved that I watch again & again.

My Boys~ It's time to remove My Boys since they just ended their season. I love this show!

Almost everything I watch is syndicated. I love repeats. I rarely tune into the major networks- I'm far too cable happy. I watch endless Simpsons, Friends, heavily edited Sex & the City, all of the Law & Orders, and Family Guy on KTLA, Fox, TNT & TBS. It doesn't matter if I have them on DVD- I still tune in. I must have familiarity issues! I'm almost always doing something else when watching TV whether it be reading, crossword puzzles, chores or anything else, so with repeats I'll never really miss anything I haven't seen before. ;)

I have to add Heroes. I'm obsessed with that show, but Monday Night Football comes first. I tuned into Gossip Girl the other night. I was instantly hooked! I love girly shows like The Hills, too, and I love the E! channel. Golly, I watch a lot of TV!

Ghoulish Delight

09-21-2007, 01:02 PM

I would like to thank Katiesue for making my list look downright sparse.

libraryvixen

09-21-2007, 01:12 PM

My TiVo, like Netflix, is a cesspool of my guilty pleasures. I won't lie.. I'm WAY over the MTV demographic age yet I watch a ton of it. I secretly watch My Super Sweet 16 and Engaged & Underage when B is nowhere around. These shows are horrible like a vat of lard on a hot day, yet I watch them.

Capt Jack

09-21-2007, 01:44 PM

DVR...thats like....TV..right?

pass

katiesue

09-21-2007, 01:48 PM

I would like to thank Katiesue for making my list look downright sparse.

There are actually a few more but I can't remember what's been cancelled or not.

Kevy Baby

09-21-2007, 03:56 PM

It is probably best if you just let that one [Comedy Central William Shatner Roast] slide by as a missed opportunity. I watched about 20 minutes of it and it was truly painful.

The Comedy Central roasts definitely have no redeeming value and are an insulting reminder of the old Dean Martin ones.I guess this one is a guilty pleasure then. I have watched it a couple of times and love it. There are a few parts I skip (Andy Dick is an idiot), but there are some real gems in there (Betty White!).

Grumble.

So it turns out we had a Season Pass for "Survivor: Fiji", not "Survivor". Curse you CBS for embedding a variable in your show title when consumer DVR UI's aren't exactly offering regular expression searching at this point (though I don't doubt someone's got a Linux DVR solution that does). There are ways around it (which I will now have to do), but it would seem to be in CBS's best interest to just keep the title the same across seasons so it can be recorded using defaults without the extra steps of doing a keyword-based subscription.

Ah well, the upshot is that I thought to do a paranoia check a couple minutes in and caught that it wasn't recording. Just missed some of the intro hype (whcih I like to watch on Episode 1), but I can catch that online tomorrow.If you are on TiVO (I can't recall if you are or aren't), create a keyword wish list set to record any program with "Survivor" in the title.

I would like to thank Katiesue for making my list look downright sparse.If I were to post my full list, it would be longer than Katiesue's. Which is sad.

Ghoulish Delight

09-21-2007, 04:03 PM

If you are on TiVO (I can't recall if you are or aren't), create a keyword wish list set to record any program with "Survivor" in the title.
See, that's the problem. That will get ANY show with "Survivor" in the title, not just Survivor. Of course, I could do "Survivor:" or, as I ended up doing, "Survivor" in the title, narrowed by genre to Action Adventure/Reality. That cuts out things like "Survivorman" or "Ultimate Survivor" (I don't know if that's a show, but I bet it is).

But that's all beside the point.

Like I said, I know how to get around the problem, but it's dumb of CBS to make me need to. Why would they want their show to NOT be recorded season-after-season by default?

libraryvixen

09-25-2007, 02:44 PM

Bump.

I TiVoed "Chuck" last night and watched it later on in the evening. I absolutely loved it. Chuck is so dang loveable. I want nerd love.

Anyone else TiVoing any new shows this season?

mousepod

09-25-2007, 02:55 PM

I'm checking out 22 new (scripted) series this season. I'm going to check out Chuck this afternoon. Of the 5 shows I've seen so far, none have jumped out as "instant classics". I'm going to give it a couple of weeks before the TiVo culling begins...

libraryvixen

09-25-2007, 02:57 PM

Luckliy, I remebered to put "Reaper" on my DVR. My brother gave me some (free!) Justin Timberlake concert tickets for tonight.

lizziebith

09-25-2007, 04:24 PM

Our DVR never got much of a workout, since I don't watch any network/cable series with any regularity. But since we discovered Gallery HD, we've been on a television binge! This is an all-Art channel, and it ROCKS! It's so inspiring that I've got several drawings of my own in progress right now (after a long dry spell). Now that's some good TV! :)

On the DVR right now is a piece on John Singer Sargent (swoon), a study of Vermeer's favorite work, and a show about Chinese Cynical Realism...

Kevy Baby

09-25-2007, 07:01 PM

See, that's the problem. That will get ANY show with "Survivor" in the title, not just Survivor. Of course, I could do "Survivor:" or, as I ended up doing, "Survivor" in the title, narrowed by genre to Action Adventure/Reality. That cuts out things like "Survivorman" or "Ultimate Survivor" (I don't know if that's a show, but I bet it is).What TiVo needs is a super-intelligent "record what I really want but don't record any crap - crap as defined by my standards" button.

But maybe I ask for too much.

BarTopDancer

09-26-2007, 08:50 PM

Ok, TiVO is up and running. 90 minutes to download, another hour to install. That's what happens when it is offline for 9 months. I had shows on there from January.

Heros, NCIS, L&O SVU, Las Vegas, Jericho, Lost, 24, Grey's Anatomy, Scrubs, The Office, My Name is Earl, Best Week Ever, The 4400, Private Practice, I Hate My 30s. The Soup