tivo is my lord and master

Things I watch live:

Battlestar Galactica
Lost

The best stuff on TV. Nothing I can say that hasn't already been said. I want to get to it before the spoilers start seeping.

Things TiVo gets for me on purpose:

Top Gear

One of the funniest shows ever. It makes me laugh until I hurt pretty much weekly. If the US ever makes a version of it, it will doubtless pale in comparison to the effortless fun of the original. Somehow it is a car show that you don't have to care at all about cars to love. I of course care about cars, so it's like a win win win win win.

Law and Order Criminal Intent

The best written procedural, with the best cast of all. A psychological Sherlock Holmes, it is intense and engrossing and I don't feel like I always outsmart it. Not sure what else to say, except that it's really high on my list.

CSI: Miami

It's not just that it's sexy, or the orange gel on the lens... it's the charismatic characters who somehow seem to *give a fuck*, unlike other CSI casts. I believe them, somehow. Even Horatio's glasses care. I can tell.

Various reality : America's Next Top Model, Top Chef, Project Runway, Hell's Kitchen etc.

Skill-based reality gets its hooks in me. ANTM must only be watched with the fast foward and mute close at hand. Top Chef is great just for the inedible looking food people pretentiously throw out. Project Runway is worth watching just for Tim Gunn (my hero).

I am presently probably not watching Hell's Kitchen after it was clear this season is going to be the "Beat on and say nasty things about women" season.


CSI

The original is still good, but totally pales in comparison with Miami. I stopped caring about these characters about a season ago. Apparently the cast is starting to rotate, which kills the chemistry of even a once good show.

Things TiVo decieds I might like (Nothing else is on):

Las Vegas

Trashy! It's a guilty pleasure. And really stylishly done.

Crossing Jordan

I have a harder time suspending belief about the level of investigation a coroner's office would do, even though the role of the CSI is equally exagerated. Also, a lot of the time I want to smack Jordan.

NCIS

So much cheese. The stories are somehow good, but every time the goth-punk-haxor chick comes on screen I want to break things. Preferably her hair extensions. I'd actually like this show if it wasn't for her.

Various History & Discovery channel stuff

I like the subjects usually. Really Big Things I will often watch, as well as Mythbusters or Smash Lab. But How It's Made bores the living hell out of me, and most of the History and Discovery channel shows seem like rehashes from school filmstrips.

It strikes me as perhaps not healthy that I can watch hour upon hour of CSI: Miami before I'll watch the history of war machines on History Channel.

It's Horatio's sunglasses. I blame them.