Oh, Tivo, you so awesome. Me love you long time. One of the benefits of owning a DVR is, of course, the ability to skip over commercials, but Scott Colbourne writes in the Globe and Mail that, despite having a DVR that affords him that luxury, he still watches the commercials. He does have a point that commercials can be just as entertaining, sometimes even more entertaining, than the shows they interrupt. Also, one should note that Colbourne is Canadian, and because most Canadian shows are imported, the commercial breaks are the only chance to get any kind of cultural news. You know, besides watching the actual news.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-07-2005 @ 12:34PM
Elliott said...
RE: "most Canadian shows are imported"
I thought Canada had laws about showing mostly domestic shows on their stations. I don't know if it's true, but I also can't figure out why I would think that if it weren't.
Reply
12-07-2005 @ 2:22PM
Patrick said...
Canada does have rules that stations must air a specific percentage Canadian content, but they are very crafty at finding ways to get around that. Although there have certainly been some successful primetime Canadian shows, a lot of the cancon seems to air during day time, or during unpopular weekend slots. The majority of evenings are still dominated by US shows. Except for the CBC (public broadcaster), of course, which airs minimal US content compared to the others.
Reply
12-07-2005 @ 2:40PM
Alan said...
After owning a TiVo for a year I refuse to watch anything that isn't TiVoed. I hate commercials just that much. If all commercials were as entertaining as Scott Colbourne reports, it might be a different story. Either way it doesn't make "Globe and Mail" sound good if it reports that commercials are entertaining. How good could it be?
Reply
12-07-2005 @ 4:17PM
Andy Poon said...
I agree completely with Alan. I have had TiVo or UltimateTV (before I became part of the TiVolution) for about 4 years now. Unless it's the Super Bowl, I try to avoid commercials if at all possible.
Oh yeah, Blame Canada!
Reply
12-07-2005 @ 5:15PM
Lampbane said...
Sometimes I like commercials, too. But I also like the option of skipping over the ones I don't care about.
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12-07-2005 @ 5:20PM
Chen said...
I totally agree with both Alan and Andy. I don't watch commercials any more ever since I got TiVo. The only exception is, like Andy, Super Bowl, where I do the reverse. Skip the game and look for funny and entertaining commercials. The 2005 4-hour Super Bowl was distilled down to 2 and half minutes of memorable commercials.
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