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Chicagoist loves television. Chicagoist loves all television. There are no prejudices here; we watch an episode of "The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency" with the same reverence as we watch "24." We’re rooting for Rob and Ambah as much as we’re rooting for Chris Sligh. We’re looking forward to "America’s Next Top Model" as much as we’re looking forward to answers on "Lost."
Our world suddenly upended when we arrived home to find a catastrophe. The TiVo — much to Chicagoist’s dismay — is broken. Frozen. Ruined. We don’t want anyone to go through this alone like we have, weeping on the couch, tears streaming as we made the Sophie’s Choice of television: "Heroes" or "24?" So we thought we’d help you out with The Chicagoist Survivor’s Guide to a Dead TiVo.
First, go through the normal stages of grief:
Denial: Oh, it’s just frozen, let’s just unplug and restart, it works with the computer all the time.
Anger: We just got this stupid thing, how can it already not work?
Bargaining: We promise we’ll read more if we can just get the stupid thing started.
Depression: TiVo doesn’t work; might as well go get a cookie.
Acceptance: Two weeks, we can handle two weeks before getting another one. No big deal. We're not slaves to the television.
After passing through these stages of grief, the real work begins.
- You will need to find a TV Guide; they’re free in the Sunday paper. Who knew?
- Next, you must re-learn show times, it does matter.
- Search the house for the VCR and VHS tapes you know are around somewhere.
- Prioritize and compromise. What is more important this week? Can you watch the "Amazing Race All-Stars" and switch to "You’re The One That I Want" at commercials?
- Quiet the phantom limb of the TiVo remote. This may require meditation as you learn to sit through commercials again. Be patient, it will pass.
- Make chocolate chip cookies, it will give you something to do during the onslaught of ads.
- Watch your timing; this is a skill that gets lost when not used. If you switch to another show during your priority show, make sure you don’t get caught up in the second show.
Most importantly, remain calm, hang in there, stay strong and remember … just be careful out there.
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At some point we ended up with 3 tvs for our 1 bedroom apartment (and no storage) so my husband set up the 19" and the 13" next to each other. With both remotes in hand, I can effectively have picture in picture, muting one while watching the other. In this way, I never miss coming back to the main program after commercials!
Only the Sunday Trib carries the free TV listing mag each week now. The Sun-Times discontinued it last month.
It will be interesting to find out how much Janice Dickinson really means to you.
We've been w/o TiVo since the HDTV upgrade throughout the house last year. It sucks, but help is just around the corner. Comcast has partnered with TiVo and will offer a DVR this spring that runs TiVo software. The remote actually looks just like a TiVo remote with the exception of a new "ON DEMAND" button added to it.
Prior to this, the choices were either: go with the craptacular DVR that Comcast has or shell out $800 for the new HD TiVo (then getting two cable cards and losing ON DEMAND functionality).
Or you could just download your TV shows via bittorrent and be done with it.
this post was absolutely irrelevant and completely unfunny
And don't forget learning a foreign language, taking up a martial art, or meeting new friends. Right...
Sara, you're my kind of tv watcher!
And Scott, I think Janice will probably be the first to go!
Between Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency, Campus Ladies and the Bad Girls Club, I'd say your best bet is to keep it on Oxygen - with the occasional foray to TLC for What Not To Wear.
The Sun-Times DOES have a TV guide, every day and on Sundays. They discontinued the weekly one on sundays, but after a public outcry [who knew?] they reconsidered. It is supposed to be back this weekend. They also have a Sunday only TV page in the sunday paper, as well. Not that i'm biased or anything ...
Sorry if those of us who don't even have cable, much less a DVR, and are too busy watching Rick Steves on Lakeshore Public Television (because it's the ONLY watchable thing on) can't join your little pity party ;)
I totally feel your pain. I've been there. Time, and a replacement, will heal all wounds.
I'm old school. USENET is my TiVo. Although I do have an actual TiVo around just so I don't have to download the Daily show and the Colbert Report
this is one of the most terrible of first-world problems. i'm so glad that someone is giving it the coverage it deserves. bravo Chicagoist!
this is one of the most terrible of first-world problems. i'm so glad that someone is giving it the coverage it deserves. bravo Chicagoist!
I had to go without Tivo for a year. Never again. I know it's not in any way comparable to, say, going without food for a week, but still.
Also, Comcast's DVR interface is crazy bad. Plus, no satisfying "ding" when you access the menus.
This lil post rocked my world. :) We don't know what we're missing until we don't have it anymore. or It becomes a necessity only until after you have it..
I avoided that whole problem. I just netflix the tv shows, and not care about whether I'm hip enough to know what happened on Lost or whatever. Plus, there is great satisfaction in watching an entire season of a show in a week.
Except when I feel like a lazy mofo for spending every night of the week at home.
No tivo, No HBO, No Showtime, but I gets all the shows.
At the same time, this post was a sad commentary on our society. We get depressed over not being able to watch some stupid tv show when we want.
I swear, if it wasn't for my need to have the Daily Show and the Colbert Report, I would dump my cable in a second and get dsl.
Real simple solution, dual tuner...
I AM so jealous of the sound TiVo makes when you fast forward, that little "blip" sound is pure bliss. I have SBC/ATT's Dish; 5 bucks a month for dual HD tuner and 100hrs. The interface rivals TiVo and requires no fee for the unit. But man, I am still jealous about that TiVo blip noise...
And let's be honest, watching commercials is for the birds.
I AM so jealous of the sound TiVo makes when you fast forward, that little "blip" sound is pure bliss. I have SBC/ATT's Dish; 5 bucks a month for dual HD tuner and 100hrs. The interface rivals TiVo and requires no fee for the unit. But man, I am still jealous about that TiVo blip noise...
And let's be honest, watching commercials is for the birds.
I don't have TiVo, but my "adopted" parents do and I hang out at their house and do laundry on the weekends, and catch up on the shows I missed or that conflict with what I usually watch. Their TiVo died right before the Super Bowl, and their satellite provider sent them a replacement DVR instead of another TiVo. The DVR sucks. And yes, there are global problems much more important than whether or not the TiVo died, so why don't the posters who are lamenting that this discussion isn't serious enough just go get their sackcloth and ashes, shave their heads, sell all their wordly goods and sell flowers on the streetcorner. I know, I sound grumpy, I am just annoyed.
I don't have TiVo, but my "adopted" parents do and I hang out at their house and do laundry on the weekends, and catch up on the shows I missed or that conflict with what I usually watch. Their TiVo died right before the Super Bowl, and their satellite provider sent them a replacement DVR instead of another TiVo. The DVR sucks. And yes, there are global problems much more important than whether or not the TiVo died, so why don't the posters who are lamenting that this discussion isn't serious enough just go get their sackcloth and ashes, shave their heads, sell all their wordly goods and sell flowers on the streetcorner. I know, I sound grumpy, I am just annoyed.
nellnee
my main disappointment with this post is that it tells us nothing new or interesting about CHICAGO, as CHICAGOist usually does.
nellnee
my main disappointment with this post is that it tells us nothing new or interesting about CHICAGO, as CHICAGOist usually does.
Get ready for more heartbreak. Once you hook the new Tivo up - it's still empty. You'll still have to wait another week for it to build up stuff to get behind on watching.
And Martin - Tivo is as much part of the iLifestyle we all seem to be living as Chicagoist is. How does having a TV contributor write about their TV experiences not fit?
First of all, why is the site telling me there is an error, then posting anyway? That is why I posted twice. Sorry.
Second of all, the discussion IS relevant, in that the Sun Times (and its suburban sister papers) has brought back its TV book because Sunday single copy sales took a huge hit after they dumped it. Apparantly not everyone has TiVo, a DVR, or digital cable yet, or still prefers to look up their TV shows the old fashioned way.
And, finally, as Juan indicated, we are living in a digital age where, when technology turns against us, we are affected.
Juan3000 wrote:
It does not fit on chicagoist.com because it has nothing to do with Chicago. No mention of, perhaps, TV shows that are being filmed here, or changes in local cable regulations that might affect our TiVo experiences, for example. The post is a tongue in cheek how-to guide on how to work a machine.And nellnee, I am continuing to refer to the original post of this article, not the following discussion. I enjoy chicagoist for all of the interesting bits about Chicago. If I wanted to get a better sense about how our lives are "affected" by technology, etc. I would go to wired.com, cnet.com, or maybe slashdot.org. I come to Chicagoist because I want to learn about Chicago, not about random people struggling with their tivos.