I haven't seen a commercial in 4 years unless I wanted to.
I love it when people ask me, "have you seen that funny commercial where the guy blah blah blah..," and I get to answer, "no, I don't watch commercials anymore. I have TiVo."
They're way ahead of you:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1618235/posts
"Everybody Hates Chris" is hilarious. I am guaranteed to laugh out loud several times per show. (When was the last time you could say that about a TV comedy?) You couldn't pay me to see Chris Rock live, but his show is great family comedy.
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All the episodes from the '74 show, "The Night Stalker," are on a three disc set. A couple of days ago I watched all the shows, 20 episodes. Some were, well, pretty bad, but they were kind of fun, even the bad ones, compared to the shows today. All the episodes told one story, none of that story-arc crap and they just tried for fun, they didn't pretend at "social commentary" or "relevancy." I think bad writing is the only problem that Hollywood has now. |
I know. I'm behind the times but I've got to get a DVR. It's not so much that the commercials irritate me as much as athletes and NASCAR drivers telling us about their favorite charities. If you haven't heard, Kurt Busch donated a million bucks to a charity.(I have already had to sit through two extended conversations about it!) Wow! I know he's trying to improve his image but I tuned in to watch qualifying and practice. I really don't care about charities right now. If I had a million bucks to give away, maybe I would. I turned down the volume on ESPN last night during the Suns/Clippers game. The two pixies working as announcers were driving me ****ing crazy with all their "human interest" stories about the players. I thought I was listening to Dr. Phil while trying to watch the game. The Leftist ESPN has gotten their Lefty hooks into NASCAR. That should about do it for NASCAR fans. I'm betting REAL race fans are going to lose interest and move on to something else.
Such class.
Just a few weeks ago,, Senator Stevens included a provision (written by lobbyists from the broadcast industry) within a bill to allow the BROADCAST FLAG to go forward. This means that the cable companies will be able to PREVENT the recording of most television programs.. on TIVO, or DVR. The concept of Time Shifting will be dead.
The Broadcast Flag will only have three modes.. "Copy ONCE".. "Copy ALLOWED" and "Copy NEVER".
They will also be able to plug "The ANALOG hole"; that is; after 2009, when the various cable and satellite systems are set to broadcast ONLY in "Digital" format, NO cable company or satellite company will be allowed to broadcast in Analog format, and we can't recieve anything except in the Digital format (for those of us with Digital tv sets; and for those who have yet to buy a new Digital Tv set.. we can't recieve anything without a Digital/Analog conversion box).
The Broadcast Flag will affect EVERYONE'S viewing habits.
Soo.. THAT's probably the reason WHY the networks are not worried that much about TIVOs and DVR's skipping commercials.. with the Broadcast Flag in effect.. we won't be ABLE to USE our Tivos and DVR's as we have in the past for time shifting.. the Broadcast Flag won't allow us to USE the Tivo's and DVRS in the way that we are accustomed to.
Soo.. get ready for some major changes in how we are able to watch tv. People are NOT gonna like what is being planned for us.
Tivo is one of the greatest tech inventions of the past fifty years, and that's not an exaggeration IMHO. After having it for five or six years, I've spent the last eight months without it because I'm in a temp apartment in which it just won't work. I STILL reach for the remote to pause, or to FF, or back up and catch something I didn't quite understand.
Most of all, I hate the fact that to watch a show, I'm a slave to someone else's timetable. Can't work too late on Monday or I'll miss 24, which is totally unacceptable. If I wanna watch a little ST-TNG, I have to stay up til 1 AM. Thankfully I'm moving into my new house in ten days, where I'm installing a pair of HD DirecTiVo boxes!
MM