regarding recording television

Upcoming (sort of)

as soon as i get home i'm going to schedule the dvr to record HOOTIE & THE BLOWFISH: MIC'D FOR PLAY (Feb 27th, 6am). it first aired this past tuesday on the golf channel and i can't believe i missed it. okay, okay, i have no trouble believing i missed it. i don't play golf and i've never listened to a full hootie record.

what's more interesting than the actual show, is how i found out that it's airing. andrew grumet has a great feature on his website called Program My TiVo! i can't wait to start checking the history of recommended shows to see what interesting things people are suggesting. (link via pvrblog)

shootout special!

at 10pm on monday (that's tonight, basically) check out PRIMETIME SHOOTOUT. a few weeks ago i learned about SUNDAY MORNING SHOOTOUT. it's the show with peter guber (movie producer) and peter bart (editor of variety) chatting about movies. i've really come around to the show and enjoy each episode. PRIMETIME SHOOTOUT is all about the oscars. after watching it and picking up the new issue of entertainment weekly i'll be ready to complete my ballot.

Upcoming Recordings 02/17 - 2/20

Tuesday night at eight, it's hard to resist the block of programming on TV Land called PUFNSTUFN' STUF. It starts at 8pm and continues for four hours with various celebrations of Sid & Marty Krofft. I'm mostly a LAND OF THE LOST fan, so that's probably what I'll watch before turning in for the night. Now that I'm no longer a child, I'll be able to sleep without any nightmares.

Late Wednesday night / Thursday morning (2/19 @ 1am) finds my DVR set to record UNDER THE COVERS. It airs on public television, New York's WLIW, channel 21. The hour long documentary looks at the record cover art created by Gary Burden and Henry Diltz. It's easily the only new thing I'm looking forward to watching this week (and ties in nicely to my rant a few weeks ago about homemade fake album covers).

And, uh, Friday night at 9pm there's a good chance I'll be recording MAN VS. BEAST #2 on Fox.

cult audiences

i forgot to mention that yesterday evening i recorded the orange british film academy awards on BBC America. i watched them this afternoon and bill murray won for best actor. sofie coppoloa read a speech he had faxed to her. it was funny and has me hoping he'll win the oscar.

in the meantime, via whedonesque, here are some interesting thoughts about the cancellation of ANGEL and the prognosis for SMALLVILLE.

last call

tonight's episode of last call with carson daly features an appearance by death cab for cutie. and cedric the entertainer. and al roker. and chris noth. and mike birbiglia (a comedian). and the houseband of the week, billionaire boys club. i'm not sure how there's room for all of those people on the show, but that's what the line-up is promising.

in an effort to increase the number of television shows i "sample," i watched some of 'last call' last night and enjoyed it. earlier in the night he'd made an appearance on 'the apprentice' and during his show he called the woman who bid on him during the celebrity auction. it was cute.

Upcoming Recordings 02/11 - 02/14

Later this week I hope to explore the topic of “Viewer Sampling” and owning a DVR (a headline on Lost Remote pointed me toward Mermingas on Media and her take on the threat DVRs pose to Broadcast TV.

Until I can get my full thoughts on that subject out, I should mention that there’s hardly anything new worth sampling this week. And that’s super frustrating. I now wonder if I’ve sampled too much. Some of the less adventurous things I’ve got on tap for this week include:

TOOL SCHOOL on DIY (Wednesday, 7pm). I think it’s a show about learning how to use power tools. The only tools I own are two screwdrivers and a hammer I stole from a cheap toolbox I got my father one Father’s Day. Oh, and I also own a multi purpose crimp tool. I bought it before moving out on my own; figuring that the only handy thing I really wanted to do was cut and strip speaker wire.

I still haven’t seen The Big Bounce but I’ll admit that I’m interested. If you’re feeling a bit Elmore Leonard-y, check out an episode of
SMITHSONIAN ON SCREEN Thursday (Ovation, 1pm). The show is all about the novelist.

If you haven’t seen THE TARGET SHOOTS FIRST, it airs on Sundance Friday at noon.

Speaking of indie rock, the indie rock show that airs on Fuse is now called THE DIVE. It’s time to re-program your recording device and tell it to record this show Saturday at 9:30pm.

Every night on VH1, look for BEST WEEK EVER. It’s a fun “this week in entertainment” wrap-up show. New episodes air Fridays @ 11pm. The accompanying blog is even better.

if there are no commercials...

In an attempt to pretend that I'm paying more attention to television and recording shows than I actually am, I'll mention that I was intrigued with Josh Paul's idea of "Verified Viewing." He suggests that the most notable function of a digital video recorder is that it allows viewers to skip commercials. This skipping of commercials leads to a loss in advertising revenue. His proposal is that a line of digital information registering the viewing of a scene (along with frequency) should be encoded into a program during product placement points, then collected in a central hub where payments to advertisers can be processed.

Product placement certainly seems to be on the way up and it’s not something I’m actively campaigning against. Dan and I had a conversation about the subject the other day and agreed that if it’s done well and in a subtle manner, we’re okay with it. I like that it adds a bit of reality. One of the downsides is that I’m fairly conscious of it (or, maybe that’s an upside?).

There are lots of issues to get into with the idea and Josh and Mark Paschal begin discussing and debating them. I’ve probably got a few more thoughts about the topic but I’ve got to track down an old episode of Young Americans.