I admit it, I am a big fan of the show “Desperate Housewives” and I am not ashamed. I mean, after all, I know it’s like a soap opera in primetime, but the stories are well written, the acting is decent, the women are HOT, and the show is genuinely funny.
My only complaint is that the show is on ABC, which lately, seems to stand for “Always Broadcasting Commercials”. Let’s be clear on one point - I HATE COMMERCIALS. I have never once in my entire life seen a commercial and suddenly felt the urge to go out and spend money on that product. Not once. I can’t stand the jingles. I can’t stand the cheesy humor. And I really can’t stand the constant interruptions to my favorite shows.
I watched the latest Desperate Housewives episode last night, and if you did too, you might have noticed that there is barely eight minutes of footage before the next round of commercials. We had a commercial break at 9:30. The show came back on at 9:32. Another commercial break at 9:39. The show came back on at 9:41. Another commercial break at 9:48. It’s more than just invasive - it’s downright disturbing because your brain and attention has to keep switching gears. It’s no wonder why we have such things as TiVo.
Which brings me to why I need $300.00. I don’t like TiVo either, and it’s because as a company, they have to bow to the pressures of the networks. You used to be able to skip commercials entirely. Not anymore - TiVo and Comcast are jointly developing an advertising system that inserts up-to-date commercials into previously recorded programming. This whopper follows news that TiVo has begun testing a new advertising format that will appear as users fast forward through commercials on its digital video recorder service. I am, however, a big fan of DIY-type PVRs. Windows Media Center, MythTV, and Sage all offer the same functionality as a TiVO, but with true ad blocking. The added benefit to building your own is that you are truly not restricted by the amount you can record. Why should I have to settle for a 250GB or 400GB hard drive in a TiVo, when I can built a fileserver with a few terrabytes of storage that can be NFS mounted to my PVR?
I’d like to say that homebrew kits like these will cause the networks to wake up and change their evil ways, but I know better. Instead, there will be a lot of congressional lobbying for boadcast flag support, anti-PVR legislation, and the criminalization of anything that records something else.
But hey, those corporate networks need all the money they can get so that they can continue producing such fine television fare as American Idol and Joey…
