TVSquad

Martha Stewart is re-purposing some of her craftier segments for a new series on DIY network. Her new show is called Martha Stewart Crafts and a press release from Marth Stewart Living Omnimedia describes it as a "best-of compilation". She'll be showing viewers how to do all sorts of things, from scrapbooking, hand-made gifts, holiday decorations, etc., etc.

The series premieres on Thanksgiving Day. So far, 39 episodes are scheduled. Each one will have a theme, but the content will be grabbed from segments she has already produced over the years on her various shows. Coinciding with the new show is a line of paper-based craft and storage products over at MarthaStewartCrafts.com.

While waiting for What Not To Wear on Friday night, I caught the premiere of TLC's I've Got Nothing to Wear. It's the show in which three up-and-coming designers take various items from a -- let's just say it -- victim's wardrobe and cut and mix and match and sew everything into new garments. The concept sounded fantastic, especially to the artsy-fartsy types like me who love the DIY approach to fashion and enjoy cutting up old raincoats into evening wear or something.

So what's the problem?

If you are a PVR enthusiast and it comes time to choose a new PVR, do you build it yourself and possibly save some money, or do you play it safe and buy an off the shelf solution?

DVR Playground decided to toss two of the top PVR solutions into the ring together to see who would win: MythTV or the TiVo Series 3. Some of the factors that they looked at included ease of use, setup and the features included with each product.

DVR Playground made sure to note that the biggest downfall about using MythTV (and most do-it-yourself PVR's) is the hassle involved with setting it up. Whether it be the actual software setup, or even choosing the right hardware (think surround sound and hi-def output), things are never quite as straightforward as is you had a manufactured PVR.

However, if you are technical enough that you feel comfortable playing with the guts of a computer, then MythTV is probably your better choice. But if you are giving this Grandma and you don't want to get calls every day when she can't watch her soap operas, then the good old TiVo is probably your friend.

The DIY network has created its own programming as an alternative to Super Bowl Sunday, which is one week from today. The cable network will air a knit-a-thon, called Super Knit Sunday, which is just a marathon of the series Knitty Gritty. The event is in conjunction with the charity, Wake Up America! It starts at 5 pm, so get your needles ready, people!

Other counter programming is also pretty creative. Howard Stern is planning an "all-wardrobe function all-the-time transvestite flag football game" for Halftime and the Hallmark Channel is offering a "tear-jerking Commercial-a-thon".

Yeah. I think I'll stick with the Super Bowl.

Although Todd Oldham said, at the TCA panel for Bravo's Top Design this morning, "Copying is boring, but reinventing is quite interesting" ... which really doesn't explain why we have another reality show about home makeovers, ack! It's invasion of the paintbrush wielding contestants this time, with no end in sight.

... So I did. Yeah. Because I do everything the television tells me to. The search quickly led me to a YouTube video of a short cartoon that inspired Terry Gilliam's animations for Monty Python. Created by Bob Godfrey in 1961, "Do It Yourself Cartoon Kit" is extremely amusing. The sense of humor and animation is remarkably similar to Python's, so I really enjoyed it. Check it out after the jump!