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Goodbye TiVo, hello Internet
Full-length episodes online help save money
By Michelle Holtz
Get ready to breathe because your life just got easier. If you’re too busy to actually sit down and watch your favorite TV show and you’re too poor to get a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) or TiVo, you can still put your missed-TV-show anxiety aside.
Following MTV’s lead, many networks are now airing full-length episodes online. NBC, ABC, CBS and FOX all offer full-length episodes of numerous primetime TV shows.
Viewers who miss their beloved shows can now log on to the networks’ various Web sites to view them.
Viewers have the option to see a short summary — via NBC’s “Two-Minute Replay” for example — as well as the option to view the full-length episode.
The only problem with watching the episodes online instead of on TiVo or on your DVR is that you cannot fast forward through commercials. The episodes online force you to watch 30-second ads in between segments, just like “normal” TV does. You can always walk away from your computer the same way you do the TV, but the fact is, you’re still dedicating 30 minutes or a full hour to your computer. For the busy college student, TiVo and DVR provide the quick viewing needed when you can’t dedicate a lot of time to TV.
The other problem about waiting to watch your favorite TV shows online is that the shows aren’t usually posted online until after they air and aren’t available forever. This might create problems in the classroom or workplace if you plan on partaking in the day-after chatter about what happened on last night’s episode of “The OC” or “Lost.” It’s true that you might save $14 a month not getting DVR, but is that worth being left out?
Not splurging the $14 on DVR or TiVo will also leave you without all the other programs that aren’t available on the network Web sites. It’s true you can watch a missed episode of “Survivor,” but if you missed a football game, you’re out of luck. When everyone is talking about the crazy fourth-quarter comeback, you will be left nodding, not participating in the conversation.
You also can’t save the online episodes; you can only view them. iTunes provides the option to buy full-length episodes for download by many different networks — from Animal Planet to Spike — but they cost $1.99 each. Buying episodes defeats the purpose of trying to save money by not getting DVR, where you can save multiple shows for as long as you want.
Online episodes are only a good idea for the viewer who doesn’t care about the social part of TV. If you sincerely like watching commercials and don’t mind sitting at an uncomfortable computer desk, then online episodes are a good thing. If you like chatting with the girls about how cute Sam (Bret Harrison) was in FOX’s “The Loop” or sharing an interest with the hottie who also watches NBC’s “Friday Night Lights” then DVR or TiVo is the way to go. It’s really not that expensive, whether you live alone and pay for it all or share the cost with roommates. Online episodes seem like they’re something for the cheap TV viewer.
One thing online TV does have over regular TV is that sometimes premiere episodes are posted online before they arrive on TV. I must admit; this is a nice perk.
Personally, I’d say DVR or TiVo is the way to go. I like watching shows as they happen, but if I can’t be there, I like coming home to watch my favorite shows quickly before I go to bed so I can join conversations the next day. DVR lets me watch a 30-minute episode in 20 minutes, because I can fast forward through commercials, and sometimes that’s all the time I have.
But for all the people who can’t or don’t want to buy TiVo or DVR there is the online option now. Just be prepared to get some funny looks when you try to talk about CSI on Monday morning instead of Friday.
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