Cable, TIVO, DVR's, TV & me

Mrs Mogul who needs our plug like that D woman needs postpartum depression is nominated for a parenting award in a blog award. She isn’t actually a parent yet, but writes about my future blogging niece or nephew as though she/he has been born. And you can vote once a day. Mrs. M tells great stories and is going to be a fabulous mommy.

I bought a TVO about three years ago. For six months after 9/11 I couldn’t get network TV, and I really wanted comfort TV on their original homes not Nick at Nite. Have no idea why I didn’t want to watch them on cable. I hadn’t watched TV comedies since halfway through Mad about you I’m a big Helen Hunt fan; but it became boring.

Weird side note. The first month having intermittent cable TV and more important to me computer cable service seemed patriotic. We were London during the blitz: self sacrificing, stoic, and going on and on. That got old fast. As most of you know my mom died a month after 9/11 very suddenly, and the cable being out so much cut off comfort and communication.

Email’s been important to my life for almost a decade now. When Google was introduced the Internet became a wonderful place. I loved both the simplicity of the home page, and the ease of looking things up. Not having the Internet more than I had it seemed like a cruel joke as did not being able to watch Everybody Loves Raymond on Monday nights. It was my mother’s favorite show. She also liked Who Wants to be a Millionaire but I didn’t feel obliged to watch that one.

I admit I could have used dial-up but everything seemed so complicated then. My super and a crew were constantly in my apartment because of massive leaks; I couldn’t use the Internet two thirds of the time or watch anything on TV. I actually joined the Mystery Guild to get books; I’m a compulsive book reader but B&N and Borders didn’t have all the comfort mysteries I needed. I don’t mean that in the traditional sense; I’m not big on cozies. I like psychological thrillers with an erotic edge best to be honest.

My low signal problem was finally fixed and I bought a TIVO. There was one small problem. It could guess the names of films, TV shows, and actors for you. I had finally found my version of computer games. I cheated; and would use the TV guide to every film made or IMBD. I would make TV guess the names of the most obscure Bulgarian films. It did. I ended up almost never watching TV; just The Sopranos, 6 feet under, and Everybody Loves Raymond The cable company came out with DVR’s and I got one.

It doesn’t guess for you; it does record two shows at once which TIVO didn’t. TIVO does let you come to a live show late and watch it from the beginning. Live meaning when shown on TV; with a DVR you can only watch from the moment you turn the TV on unless of course you had set it.

Setting a DVR to record, or whatever, is a joke. Just go the guide, look up the day, the station and the hour, and click. It will record only first run episodes if you want, and if you want will record on all stations played. Though unless you’re associated with the show and want to see if it looks different, I can’t imagine anybody wanting to do that.

The only shows I watch live areBoston Legal and Medium because I love them both. The husband on Medium is my idealized male; like Patricia Arquette, and the stories. Feel bad that I forgot to buy TV Guide to get the three d glasses, but it was still a good episode. Love the house that they live in, and all the colors it’s painted. It’s a real peoples house, and the daughters are adorable in a good way.

This weekend I’m having a Kill Bill festival, if two films qualify as one. DVR’d them both this week.

I delete most programs without watching them. I really don’t need to watch every CSI, the original, once a month is more than enough; really do need to watch every Without a Trace

In my post The Red Ribbon that I wrote last year, I made fun of Will & Grace. No more; if there’s one TV show in the history of TV I can truly relate to….I relate to Grace, Will, Karen & Jack. It gets the gay world I know without being over the top.

Yet it’s over the top dramatic in performances occasionally. Each one of them can be so Broadway or Gay piano bar. One episode mentioned The Ramrod; a gay bar in the Meatmarket that I thought had closed years ago. I have two great Ramrod stories that I just might tell. Ones spooky weird; and ones fun weird.

For the past week or so I have been into getting into bed and spacing out to to TV. It’s fun, and it’s so much better than the old VCR days. I had an obsession with General Hospital which I really couldn’t even stand after awhile. Since the VCR could only record from one channel I could only watch TV on ABC. And there was nothing to watch on ABC.

For small holiday gifts I suggest you buy DVD rewinders; I hear they’re all the rage.