# Congratulations, ABC, you boneheads **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 3, 2005, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-abc-you-boneheads/324507 "2005-10-03T01:09:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-abc-you-boneheads/324507/1 "2005-10-03T01:09:23Z")
I have TiVo. This will be important. So Desperate Housewives runs 61 minutes, starting at 9. And the local UPN affiliate reruns Veronica Mars starting at 10. And VM is a higher priority season pass than DH. So DH didn’t record. Which means that all of their clever clever force people to keep watching bs means that I didn’t watch. Is that really what these bozos want? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-abc-you-boneheads/324507/2 "2005-10-03T01:11:38Z")
Why didn’t you record VM last Wednesday? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-abc-you-boneheads/324507/3 "2005-10-03T01:17:46Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Why didn’t you record VM last Wednesday? Because I had the option of recording it tonight. Which meant that we could record Lost and watch the Indians lose live. Yip. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-abc-you-boneheads/324507/4 "2005-10-03T01:33:09Z")
You could have just recorded _Deperate_ manually. But I guess you didn’t realize it until too late. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-abc-you-boneheads/324507/5 "2005-10-03T02:34:46Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Because I had the option of recording it tonight. Which meant that we could record Lost and watch the Indians lose live. Well hell, like you didn’t already know the Indians were gonna lose? I have no sympathy! Meanwhile, I’m the one who should be pitied. I’ve had standing social engagements every Wednesday and Sunday for the last ten or so years. So with VM moved to Wednesday and the stupid UPN affiliate showing the repeat on Sundays instead of Saturdays like they used to (because God knows everyone wants to watch not one but two fucking episodes of _Eve_ or _Girlfriends_ or whatever blaxploitation sitcom they stuck on Saturday night) and my stupid cable company being so far behind the times that I can’t record two different networks without physically changing the channel on the cable box, I have to tape Lost (and Invasion, although that may drop off the schedule soon) every week, wait to watch the World Poker Tour until Saturday, and then choose on Sundays between taping VM and Family Guy/American Dad, and then throw in a two-hour Amazing Race on GSN, the Ultimate Poker Challenge, Poker Superstars and Footballers’ Wives, and it’s just too much to get a handle on. I have to go to work tomorrow, for god’s sake! ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-abc-you-boneheads/324507/6 "2005-10-03T02:37:26Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Well hell, like you didn’t already know the Indians were gonna lose? I have no sympathy! Bastard! But oh so right. Heey, though. My TiVo came with channel changer cables that allege to work with cable boxes. Is that something you’ve heard of? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-abc-you-boneheads/324507/7 "2005-10-03T02:41:09Z")
Help the Tivo-illiterate. Other than CNN and some Animal Planet for the kids I can’t remember the last time I watched commercial TV (C-SPAN is popular for my livelihood). Are networks really altering their schedules to screw around with Tivo users? Are there many examples of this? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-abc-you-boneheads/324507/8 "2005-10-03T06:15:01Z")
Oh yeah. All of the majors are starting their big programs a minute before or after the hour/half hour to thwart digital recorders. I refuse to get Tivo or any other digital recorder if it snitches back to some marketing department what I record. Most of the time my VCR is fine all by itself. It’s only a problem when the networks do stupid shit like schedule two must see shows across from each other, like VM and Lost this season. And there’s usually a work-around like a re-broadcast. Bless the mass media conglomerates who recycle all the network programming onto their wholly-owned subsidiary cable channels. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-abc-you-boneheads/324507/9 "2005-10-03T12:37:04Z")
> [@Jonathan Chance](#): > > Are networks really altering their schedules to screw around with Tivo users? Are there many examples of this? They would probably say that it isn’t to screw around with dvrs but to make people more likely to stick with whatever network because the other shows have already started. ABC is the only network that seems to do this regularly. They did it last year with Lost and DH. I think Lost went 6 minutes over one time. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-abc-you-boneheads/324507/10 "2005-10-03T14:01:18Z")
Can’t you record two shows at the same time? I can, as long as I don’t plan to watch a third live show while the other two are recording. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-abc-you-boneheads/324507/11 "2005-10-03T21:17:06Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > ABC is the only network that seems to do this regularly. They did it last year with Lost and DH. I think Lost went 6 minutes over one time. NBC’s been doing it with ER a lot, and I’m sure with other shows.