10/15/02: Cable has arrived.
 

Well, our house finally got cable yesterday. It's been over a year since i've had it, so i'm pretty excited.

The first thing I noticed was that CNN was covering the maryland sniper thing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Don't these people ever take a break? It couldn't possibly take more than 10 minutes to relay all the important facts about the story, yet they feel it's necessary to just talk about it indefinitely. What the hell? I think I finally understand UT's reaction to the comment about him relying on CNN. :]

I've found that my tv card will only go up to channel 12 in linux, yet it shows every channel in windows. Very frustrating. Once I fix this, though, i'm going to be in heaven, man. :] I'm going to have like 50 cronjobs just recording stuff.

Anyone know any good shows I should try to catch?

Re: 10/15/02: Cable has arrived.
 

No.

Hmm. Well ok.

Nothing personal, I'm just anti idiot box. I find it to be an effective tool for mass culture/state propaganda, leading folks away from their own determination of what would be a well lived life. Its a pleasant occasional diversion but regular viewing isn't healthy. None of which had anything to do with your original question, just me being a freak.

I don't watch TV either. So I'm no help.

But man do I love me some good movies. And video games. I've got a TV for just those things.

Though I'm thinking about adding a receiver on to my dad's DirecTV just so I can watch Headline News every once in a while.

Comedy Central:
- The Daily Show. Especially Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert bits
- Trigger Happy TV. Relentless insanity. Post-punk Candid Camera
- South Park. Still funny and on point
- The Man Show. Adam Carolla is great, even feminists think it's funny
- Insomniac. Lettermanesque "man on the street" bits, but at 2 AM
- Whose Line repeats. It's better without Drew Carey

Food TV:
- Good Eats. Mr. Science does cookery
- Iron Chef. A lot of people love this but I don't really get it

MSNBC:
- Hardball. The hard questions, asked quickly

Animal Planet:
- The Crocodile Hunter. Fun for the first five viewings

VH1:
- Behind the Music. This is a bit played out, but if you find a group you like it's trashy fun

yep love that Netflix.

And as far as the card going up to channel 12, I think you'll find it really goes to channel 13, and I think you'll find it's set up for on-air reception instead of CATV reception.

Hey, you're right. Now I get all 72 channels! Good call.

I don't actually watch a lot of tv myself. But I am ecstatic at not having Judge Judy and Jerry Springer contantly being played in the background anymore. :)

Plus, I have a feeling there's always going to be some cool documentaries on TLC and Discovery. Also, now I can record Nightline, which I really dig, but never could get good enough receptoin to record before.

Hey, I forgot about South Park! Man, I haven't watched that in forever.

Oh, I also forgot. I now have the sci-fi channel for the first time in my life.

If you get the History Channel, watch it. It is truly addictive (and superb).

Re: 10/15/02: Cable has arrived.
 

I watch too much fucking TV...I admit it.

--Most of the shows on TLC and Discovery Channel during the evening.

--MSNBC's prime-time line-up (Jerry Nachman can be incredibly dry, but he's not bad), along with Buchanan & Press (which is on 1-3p CT). I don't know if Curtis and Kuby is still on (11a-1p CT), but I used to like watching that too when I was home.

--Food TV (It's all Rho's fault...damn her): Unwrapped, Iron Chef (Shut up Tony! It fucking rules!), East Meets West, Ming's Quest, Follow that Food, FoodNation, Good Eats, Food Finds

--TNT: L&O 6p CT every night. Period.

--VH1: I still like Behind the Music.

--MTV2: What MTV should be and used to be: videos

--CourtTV: Forensic Files is good stuff (they showed it on NBC during the summer), Hollywood and Crime

--A&E: City Confidential, Third Watch reruns, Biography

And I agree with Dave...History Channel is great stuff.

We get 4 PBS stations on our cable system...one of them always has something interesting to watch.

It's cool to see Donahue on tv again. It's really funny how over-the-top he is. Almost corny. He brings up points noone else seems to, though.

Food TV , I thought it was just me.....Alton rocks, and I have to put in a plug for The Thirsty Traveler- (how do these hosts get these gigs?)basically a guy travels to fabulous places and has welcome access to the best local spirits. Lonely Planet with a good drink.

And I enjoy any of the Jamie Oliver shows- Naked Chef, Pukka Tukka, Twist.

I don't get Food TV here, unfortunately. How interesting can food really be, though? After all, you're not eating it. You're just watching someone else make it. Sounds boring to me.


I'm recording all my shows on Linux via my tv card. For each show, I've created a script like the one below using a program called vcr.
<blockquote>#!/bin/sh

DATE=`date +%m%d%y`
FILENAME=/home/ftp/tv/nightlynews_$DATE.avi
v4lctl setstation kfaa
vcr -t 30m $FILENAME</blockquote>
Then, I create a cronjob to record the show every week. When I come home, I have a directory full of divx avi's to watch whenever I want. Just like Tivo!

Here's all the entires I have so far:
<blockquote># minute hour day_of_month month day_of_week comand

# weekly shows
00 9 * * 1-5 /home/juju/scripts/drphil.sh
00 16 * * 1-5 /home/juju/scripts/oprah.sh
30 17 * * 2-6 /home/juju/scripts/nightlynews.sh
25 22 * * 2-5 /home/juju/scripts/nightline.sh
30 23 * * 2-5 /home/juju/scripts/dailyshow.sh
00 2 * * 2-5 /home/juju/scripts/donahue.sh
30 16 * * 1 /home/juju/scripts/dailyshow.sh
30 17 * * 1 /home/juju/scripts/nightlynews_and_60min.sh
00 19 * * 1 /home/juju/scripts/donahue.sh
30 21 * * 1 /home/juju/scripts/crankyankers.sh
25 23 * * 1 /home/juju/scripts/nightline.sh
00 19 * * 2 /home/juju/scripts/crankyankers2.sh
00 19 * * 3 /home/juju/scripts/60min2.sh
00 21 * * 3,4,6 /home/juju/scripts/southpark.sh
28 19 * * 4 /home/juju/scripts/scrubs_and_frontline.sh
00 1 * * 7 /home/juju/scripts/nova.sh
00 4 * * 7 /home/juju/scripts/saf.sh
30 10 * * 7 /home/juju/scripts/stephanopoulos.sh
30 21 * * 7 /home/juju/scripts/crankyankers.sh
30 17 * * 7 /home/juju/scripts/dateline.sh

# one-shot shows
0 22 20 10 * /home/juju/scripts/fullmetalchallenge.sh
30 13 21 10 * /home/juju/scripts/music_behind_bars.sh</blockquote>
I haven't actually seen all of these shows yet, so I don't know if I'll like them or not. I still have to add some of your suggestions. I want to check out more of the msnbc shows you suggested, but I'd like to wait until they're off they're sniper kick.

I've tried getting VH1's "Music Behind Bars" twice so far and failed both times. Apparently the listings I have for VH1 are wrong. I'm really curious to see that show, though. The media sure are having a fit over it. How dare they give criminals airtime!

There was a big stink over it here, particularly since it was done at Graterford, which is near Philadelphia (and currently houses our friend Ira Einhorn).

Rho and I watched it...and we found it very interesting. I don't think it glorified the prisoners in any way...it showed them trying to do something positive while being locked up. Unfortunately though, from what I heard, VH1 will not be doing the show anymore.

I understand that victims' families are still hurting over what has happened to their loved ones. Yes, these guys are criminals, and they've done bad things. But as I see it, the prisoners may get a little notoriety from it, but they can't profit off it. They won't get signed to a record deal; they can't make money off the show. People like a good documentary...and I think a show like Music Behind Bars gives a taste of what life is like in a prison. Maybe it'll convince some chuckleheads not to commit crimes.

You know, I had the same opinion about it when Rho started watching it so often. But many of the shows are rather interesting, and funny too (particularly Alton Brown shows and Iron Chef). And you actually learn things (like learning how saltwater taffy is made on Unwrapped). And Rho has gotten some great recipes that she's tried here at home with success.

Trust me, it can be addictive. Warch, if you're ever in town, or if I'm ever in MN, we'll get together, get drunk out of our minds, and watch Iron Chef. :)

Oh, two new shows on TLC that are great stuff: Full Metal Challenge (co-hosted by Rollins) and Beyond Tough (hosted by Ice-T). Some people might be screaming sell-out, but Rollins and Ice are so damned cool that it doesn't hurt their street credo. Besides, Ice is already on L&O: SVU (and he is a muthaphuckin pimp on there) and Rollins was funny as hell in The Chase.

Yeah, I caught Beyond Tough the other day. Ice T has a really great voice. He could probably recite Green Eggs and Ham and make it sound cool. Doesn't look like the show's on next week, though. I wonder if it was just a one-time thing?

I saw a show on PBS last night on sociology and prison. It said that in order for someone to adopt society's morals, they have to actually interact with society. It's like, you learn morals from the society that you're in. The people around you reinforce it. But you don't learn to function properly in society through prison. You just learn how to be a prisoner.

Nah...it's a new series...I think there have been 3 so far. Maybe it's just taking a week off.

Ice-T is just a pimp. He's still one of the best hip-hop artists ever. He does an okay version of rock. And he's a great actor (New Jack City, Trespass, his work on the TV shows New York Undercover, Players, and SVU).

"Goddamn, goddamn, I do like some muthaphuckin green eggs and ham, bitch!"

Also, I have all of Henry Rollin's spoken word stuff on mp3. He is just amazing. I strive to communicate my thoughts as well as he does.

I'm not as big of a fan of Rollins Band as I used to be, but yeah...his spoken word stuff is just fantastic.

My favorite pieces from him are from the Sweatbox CDs. The airport stuff (James Brown, the new age pilot, and the airport courtesy phone) is hysterical.

And then of course there is "Edie Brickell is an agent of Satan." And the "rock chix."