TiVil

Last year I got a dual tuner TiVo, and it rocks my world. Getting that new box meant moving my old TiVo into my bedroom for those times when there are more than two shows that I want to see at a given time. I set it up. It did its thing. And all was good with the world.

Back in, I think, November, that TiVo done died on me. Fatal disc failure or something. It was one of the old Sony machines--although at six years old, it really wasn't THAT old; such is the lifespan of consumer electronics. Getting the thing fixed would cost a couple hundred bucks, which would have been ridiculous since some new TiVo boxes cost less than that. So I basically unplugged it and forgot about it. Since I was able to take advantage of free streaming video on most network TV sites, the problem of missing those third shows on a given night was solved, and the need for a TiVo (or a TV, for that matter) in my bedroom was virtually nil.

Then I remembered I was actually still paying a monthly service fee for that dead box, and finally gave TiVo a call last week to cancel it. When I told them the situation, they told me they could sell me a brand new TiVo box to replace it for only 10 bucks, and I'd be paying the same subscription fee with the new one that I was paying with the old one.

Well, twist my arm why don't you!?

So, now I have a shiny new TiVo in the bedroom, and the TV that hasn't been turned on since last year is now getting nightly viewing. This is not good, especially since one of the things I have now started to watch is "Dancing With the Stars."

God help me.

I have successfully avoided this show for the three seasons it's been on. When I first saw ads for it, way back when, I was sure it was a joke, or at least thought it would be a show played for laughs, not an actual competition featuring a bunch of second-rate celebrities actually dancing, like, seriously. Really? And when it turned into a smash hit, I was dumbfounded. And yes, I did try to watch it during its second season, but I just am not that enthralled by ballroom dancing to begin with, and the whole thing just felt so...weird to me; like everyone in the world was pretending to be totally and non-ironically into the show, but they were all, in fact, just doing it to make me look stupid. Or something. Anyway, I was not a fan.

And I still am not a fan; I still think the whole thing is BIZARRE. But the prospect of seeing Heather Mills's leg flying off during a meringue is just too much to resist.