Cryptosmith

Tivo is a mixed blessing in any case, but it really rubs one’s nose in the writers strike.

Before Tivo, I would do a lot of channel surfing – I would hit the channel button every few seconds, scanning for something worth watching. It could take a bit of time to get through the 100-odd channels.

Now, the only ‘surfing’ I do is to scan through my “Wish List” listings for things I might actually want to watch. It’s actually rather inbred, because the only things I see are films and shows relating to things I already know I like.

And, thanks to the writers’ strike, there’s nothing new on any of the series my wife and I like to watch – Men in Trees, Grey’s Anatomy, Brothers and Sisters, House – all of which wouldn’t exist without terrific writers.

Thanks to Tivo, I rarely surf now, and so I rarely “trip over” something new and remarkable.

For example, I should disclose that I don’t like combinations of gore and suspense. When Silence of the Lambs came out, I simply ignored it, since serial killers and cannibals didn’t appeal to me as movie themes. One evening (pre-Tivo) a few years ago, I was surfing through the channels and saw a scene with Jodie Foster. I stopped. Then I saw Anthony Hopkins. It was their initial scene in that dungeon-style cell block. It took only a few seconds of dialog and I was hooked. Now it’s one of my favorite movies.

I guess I need to brush up on my surfing skills.

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