Sunday pause
By Erica Hill
CNN Headline News
(CNN) -- I don't watch much television. Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against TV -- heck, it pays my bills! Like most people, I have my favorite shows, but because I work nights, I rarely see them during the week. Sunday nights, however, I rarely miss.
Last week, one of my closest friends and her husband were in town. We had dinner reservations for 7:30 Sunday night. I don't have a digital video recorder (DVR) like TiVo or Replay, but I do own one of those antiquated VCR-thingies (in case you're not familiar with them, think of it as a DVD player that uses large plastic tapes, without the DVD extras and easy scene-shuttling features). I didn't want to miss "American Dreams," so I found a tape, popped it in, and thought I set the channel correctly. I hit play and record, and off we went.
After a wonderful dinner and plenty of good conversation, it was home to the couch. After settling into my sweatpants, I was ready to settle into the couch to watch my show. If all went well, I would finish just in time for the replay of that night's episode of "The Sopranos." My Sunday evening was nearly complete.
Of course, I should have known nothing is that simple. Setting the VCR was never a challenge for me, even if I was getting it ready to tape a show on a different day. I don't buy that whole "women-can't-work-the-VCR" routine, either. My grandmother can program the pants off anybody's VCR. However, I will concede that it helps to practice.
My last VCR tango was likely in the '90s, when I would have never forgotten to push one very important button: TV/VCR.
Alas, this time I did forget. My dream of "American Dreams" was not to be (although luckily I got the rundown from my Mom -- she's the one who got me hooked). Maybe it was better in the end, because by the time we got home and I got my sweats on, I was too tired to stay up for "The Sopranos."
Still, it makes me think again about the pluses to a DVR -- no tapes needed, and once you set it to tape a show, it does it every time. On the downside, it may offer too much incentive to settle into the couch on a sunny afternoon, when I would be better off walking our dog through the neighborhood. Ahh ... the dilemmas of technology! Still, if I had it to do over, besides remembering the all-important TV/VCR step, I still would have gone to dinner -- an episode of true friendship is worth more than a TV show any day.