Category: TV

Annoyed by my DVR

Posted on

Comcast recently updated their DVR software and I really hate, nay, loathe, the new auto correction feature. It drives me even more crazy every time I use it. So much so, that I e-mailed Comcast about it. I figured I’d also complain about the new history feature too while I was at it.

First, here’s how two of the new features are described in the documentation I found on their website:

Second, here’s the e-mail I sent. I was much nicer than I was feeling considering my husband works for them. I wonder if I’ll hear back, other than some silly form letter.

Please allow users to disable the new DVR Auto-Correction “feature” because it is annoying! I don’t appreciate my DVR assuming it knows where I really wanted to stop when rewinding/fast-forwarding. I want it to stop when I click play. End of story.

Now instead of fast-forwarding once, I have to do it several times while my DVR tries to second guess me and put me at a spot I didn’t want. I really do not appreciate that. Some of us have good reflexes and can stop the DVR where we actually want it to stop. Now it’s a game trying to anticipate where it will rewind to so I can over fast forward to get the desired result. It is frustrating, and not a good user experience. The fact that you forced it on people instead of making it optional is what makes it even worse!

Trying to rewind is even more frustrating. If I am rewinding, why does the DVR fast forward a bit when I press play? It doesn’t make sense to me at all.

Also, the DVR History option is nice, but a bit of a tease. Why can’t it allow you to un-delete something that was deleted in error? Maybe within a given time limit since the data might be overwritten.

Please consider these changes. Oh, and next time a message warning people of the upcoming changes and then after the changes are made would be nice. You send messages for everything else but not something useful like this. I’m sure it would cut down on customer calls too, particularly if you directed users to the document explaining the changes in detail.

Late Night Wars

Posted on1 Comment

This article reminded me to write about how this whole “Team Coco” stuff is total bullshit.

I get that NBC seems to be screwing Conan O’Brien over royally. Although truth be told, it’s his staff who will be hurting more so than he will be, unless he’s a complete moron who has spent every dime he has ever made.

You can tell by watching his show that he’s feeling really salty about the whole thing, but from this has come some pretty entertaining stuff, including a post on Craigslist selling the studio. He’s really ripping NBC a new one which is so weird to me because they’re still his employer and it seems wrong, but I guess that’s nothing new since SNL does it all the time. Not that I can blame them. From what I’ve read, NBC really can’t make up their mind what they want to do.

What I don’t understand is all the scorn against Leno, particularly if what he said on a recent show about the situation is in fact the truth. All these people are taking sides when this is all NBC’s (un)doing.

Admittedly, ultimately I really don’t care who ends up where or in what time slot. I DVR all the TV I watch anyway. I don’t have a favorite late host, although I seem to record Leno more than the others so maybe he’s my favorite without my knowledge. I check the guest lists every week and program my DVR accordingly regardless of what show they are on. Sure, there are certain segments I enjoy, like Jay’s Headlines and Jay Walking, but I also like Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and some of the goofy things Conan does. I also like Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Fallon, and Jimmy Kimmel. They all have value.

The only host I don’t like is David Letterman, which is why I’m not crying a river over the fact that he didn’t inherit the Tonight Show over Conan in the first place. And even with my dislike, I’ll skill DVR a show if someone I really want to see is on, like Kiefer Sutherland who showed up wearing a dress last week.

Why no mention of Carson Daley? Well, I’ll just take a quote from Jimmy Fallon when he played Carson in a Total Request Live skit on SNL – “Hi, I’m Carson Daley and I’m a complete tool”.

Thank you, and goodnight!

CategoriesTV

Cigarettes on TV are bad

Posted on1 Comment

Haha Twitter is over capacity. Too many tweets. Now that’s funny.

I was just going to Twitter how sometimes I wish I could kill all the rude/ignorant people. I think that would take care of a good 50% of the population and I’m being very generous with that number. I had to deal with so many psycho drivers this morning and then on the way home that I was ready to blow my top. Don’t even get me started about stuff that happened at work…

Last night’s EP of How I Met Your Mother is what I really wanted to talk about. What the hell were the writers thinking? Thank you for completely ruining my mental picture of the characters. I’m supposed to believe that all this time not one, not two, but all five of those people were smokers and that this whole time they never showed it because future Ted didn’t want his kids to know? Well you guys all know how I feel about smoking and I think that it was a very irresponsible thing for the writers to put in that show. HIMYM has been on a decline in my eyes for some time now and that EP really didn’t help it.

My new favorite show is The Big Bang Theory. Oh my god do I love Sheldon! Last night’s EP was disappointing, however, and I actually deleted it off the DVR immediately after viewing it instead of watching it 2-3 times more first, but normally it is highly entertaining. I can’t believe I thought it was stupid for the first year it was on. I only recently got addicted during the second season. Now I own Seasons 1 and 2 on DVD so I can watch them anytime.

I also bought the entire Seinfeld series on DVD back on Labor Day when Amazon had it for $99. They had it for $85 on Black Friday but it’s back up to $140. That’s another show I used to think was stupid but now find entertaining. They put together the box set nicely too where 9 seasons of DVDs don’t take up a ridiculous amount of room (unlike Friends, thank you very much). I’ve really stopped buying DVDs other than the TV series. I almost never go back and watch movies so they are a waste of money. And thanks to my Discovercard’s cash back option I have an endless supply of free rentals from Blockbuster so I can see the latest release for free.

CategoriesTV

Yay or Nay

Posted on1 Comment

I called in sick today because my stomach has been doing flip-flops ever since yesterday afternoon. I don’t think it is food poisoning since I’ve only eaten my own food which Joe has also eaten and he’s fine. Perhaps it’s a stomach bug? Or can iodine give you issues? I had a CAT scan with contrast on Friday. Would it take that long? I drank plenty of water as advised.

In any case, I “slept” until 9:30-ish this morning when my director called to check on me since apparently my boss had called in sick and no one was sure if I had as well. I’m sure I will have a heck of a time sleeping tonight now, but my stomach wasn’t allowing me to sleep well last night either so I was exhausted. Getting up every few hours to…. well, you know, isn’t fun.

So that would be a nay for the stomach issues.

But here is a yay: Scrubs returns on January 6th, but on ABC. I’m not sure if this is the final season, but if so, at least we should get some closure.

Nay: The State DVD set still has no release date. I really can’t wait for it; I just hope it’s as funny as I remember.

Huh?: These are the best albums of 2008? Well, either I have poor taste, or this magazine doesn’t have a clue.

Nay: Pownce is no more as of December 15th. It’s too bad, because although I didn’t use it much (because friends weren’t on it), I did like the concept.

TV

Posted on3 Comments

Let’s talk TV now that we’ve entered the best time of the year.

With all the new and returning tv shows airing, my DVR is working overtime to keep up. I haven’t really added too many new shows to my viewing repertoire though, just The Mentalist and The Fringe. I highly recommend both of them, though. I love the old guy in The Fringe and the main character on The Mentalist is funny and very charismatic.

Oldies but still goodies:

    Californication
    Dexter
    How I Met Your Mother
    My Name Is Earl
    The Office – although the premiere was not that funny
    Pushing Daisies

Shows I’ve stopped watching:

    Chuck – I don’t hate it, I just don’t have time for all these shows so it had to go.
    Prison Break – It just got to be too much and I found myself watching last year out of habit, but dreading it.
    Sara Connor Chronicles – Joe is still enjoying it but I just don’t care anymore.

Shows I’m looking forward to returning:

    24
    30 Rock
    America’s Funniest Home Videos
    My Boys
    The Sarah Silverman Show

And what the heck did FOX do to ‘Til Death? Their neighbors, The Woodcocks, are gone and they recast the daughter with a blonde? It’s not even remotely believable that this chick is their offspring. I can’t see this lasting another season and I doubt I’ll even watch any further episodes. It’s just not funny anymore. FAIL.

Speaking of not funny, I am always torn on whether to keep DVRing Saturday Night Live and MadTV. Neither one has been any good this season but I just can’t seem to let go.

What shows are you watching/enjoying/dropping?

CategoriesTV