Christmas Around the Tube

Tim from Parker, CO writes in with some advice on how to have your Midnight Mass and Pee Wee too:

You say you won't stay up until one a.m. to catch a highly recommended episode of Pee Wee Herman. I would agree. But maybe it's time a certain resident of the State of Minnesota caught up with the rest of the world. One word: TiVo.

The rewind feature alone is worth it all. When those damn talking-head football and hockey announcers get a replay wrong, you simply rewind it and watch in complete control of the slo-mo.

I'm not sure how you sell this to your Significant Other. My wife made the decision one day out of the blue; who was I to argue. Last week, she said it was time to get a big screen HDTV. I fear the apocalypse is upon us.

I think I need to work up the technological ladder a few rungs before getting a Tivo. I must admit the whole concept of easily recording and rewatching anything anytime confuses and frightens me. And having the ability to have complete control of the broadcast and fast forward through the boring parts threatens to smash my already Internet ravaged attention span to the subatomic level.

Laura M. from parts unknown also writes in with another Christmas Classic recommendation:

I enjoyed your post about the Christmas classics. After reading it though, I realized you did not mention Frosty the Snowman. Now, you may not rank it up there with Charlie Brown, but it's one of my favorites. Not to worry, he's on right after Rudolph on this Friday nite (both on CBS). Thanks for the heads up about The Grinch being on network TV again. If I'm not mistaken, it's been on cable the last few years, and I always managed to miss it. Thanks again for the entertaining commentary.