Each fall, the avid television watcher faces the daunting task of sorting through all of the new shows to decide what to watch. The traditional method would be to trust a reviewer to suggest a few new shows to catch and make sure to watch the pilots of those shows, lest ye never understand what the heck is going on (I’m looking at you, ‘Lost’). Reviewers are sometimes on a different wavelength than the general public, though, so thankfully there’s another way to play this game. Just have your PVR record everything and be your own reviewer.

Last year, I decided to no longer trust the media to tell me what to watch. Instead, I recorded nearly everything and methodically watched it all (or as much of each show as I could stand) until I figured out my favorites. The details of my system are below, but the jist of it is that I did my research ahead of time to help plan out what to record and when to watch it. My goal was to spend as little time as possible previewing shows that weren’t up my alley. After it was all said and done, I came out of the fall 2005 season with a good list of shows I religously watched, and they served me well for the year.

In sharing my methods (which I’m calling “Project Hoover”), I hope you too can gain back the hours of your life normally squandered by bad TV.

This article is a four-part guide:

1. First, I’ll walk you through how to setup your Beyond TV PVR to record all the shows that are on so you can decide for yourself. When I say all the shows, I mean all the shows. I’ll show you a setup that can actually record all 6 networks at once.
2. Next, I’ll give you my tips on how to choose what YOU should watch.
3. Then, I’ll give you the full buffet of shows to choose from, in order of start date.
4. Last, I’ll walk you through my guide of what to look out for this season.

Part 1: Record Everything in the New Season And Be Your Own Reviewer

Recording all six major networks all the time is actually an easy proposition with Beyond TV. My colleague Percy Bell has described several multi-tuner Beyond TV setups in detail:

• “Godzilla PVRâ€? (11 tuners = 7 analog and 4 digital)
• “Hydra PVRâ€? (10 analog tuners)
• “Medusa PVRâ€? (6 analog tuners)

For an average user, you’ll just need three Hauppauge WinTV PVR-500’s, conveniently available (bundled with Beyond TV 4) through our “Medusa Combo� in your basic PC. Assuming you record half of everything that is on in primetime on every channel for an entire week, you’ll need around 300 gigabyte of disk space.

Taken to the max, to record everything on primetime on all six channels for a whole week in High Definition, you’ll need right at 1 terabyte of raw space. Using ShowSqueeze or StreamSnip in Beyond TV cuts this requirement down by a large margin.

You’ll need a bunch of coax cables and a splitter

Inside the fully loaded Godzilla PVR (it has 11 tuners, but you only need 6 analog ones to record every new show in this TV season)

There are a few features of Beyond TV 4 that significantly help when recording this much content.

#1 “Record All New� instead of “Record All�
With this much TV on, you don’t need to be barraged by old episodes. Save yourself the time and only record the new shows.

#2 Schedule using SnapStream.net
The full-screen viewscape is pretty to look at, but sometimes slow to use to schedule a batch of shows. Logging into www.snapstream.net will allow you to schedule your shows to record via a web based program guide. This speeds the process up.

#3 Search instead of Browse
From “Setup Recordings�, choose to search by Title. This will allow you to locate the shows you’re interested in much faster than browsing for them in the guide.

#4 Use ShowSqueeze To Cut the Size
Even with standard definition recordings, this much TV can take up a lot of space. From the Settings Screen -> Showsqueeze, set automatic showsqueeze to DivX to save space while keeping the video quality the same.

The Nuts and Bolts of Actually Setting Up These Recordings

Since the program guide data is only extended out 14 days, and the shows don’t start all at once, you’ll need to make sure to come back and setup new shows a couple of times in the upcoming weeks. Fox kicks off the new shows with “Vanished� on August 21st. So plan on setting up your recordings on Saturday or Sunday (the 18th or 19th) and then coming back each weekend to keep up to date until “The Knights of Prosperity� finally bows on September 17th.

Part 2: Zack’s Patented Recording and Watching Methodology

Over the years, I’ve discovered the best practices for dealing with the information overload of the new TV season. Here’s the game plan:

#1 Do your research
This guide, along with the Google Calendar, should be a good starting point, but don’t rely on it for everything. Take a look at the different websites for each network to decide what shows you want to watch.

#2 Get organized
Using the calendar as a starting point, make a note to yourself (or check the updates on this blog) to remember to schedule the right shows to record. If you miss the first episode, it’s already too late.

#3 Selectively Watch
For shows you “have� to watch, go for it. For the rest, though, wait a couple of weeks, or at least until you’re really bored. There are two major pitfalls in watching every show early:

1. the show sucks and you wish you didn’t watch it.
2. you love the show and it gets canceled.

I’ve had both of these scenarios happen to me. To remedy this, watch the entertainment news and talk to friends before committing to a show. This way, you won’t wind up disappointed.

#4 Drop shows that suck or that you don’t watch
This can be a hard one for shows that you have an emotional attachment to (for me, “Joey” since I long for “Friends”), but your time is more valuable than the entertainment gathered from crappy tv. Along those lines, if there is a show you have tons of recodings of, but don’t ever watch, either have a marathon watching party, or delete them. If you can go three months without watching a show, you obviously don’t care about it. Take out the trash!

#5 Don’t watch reruns
Similar to bad shows, re-runs are mearly filler that waste your time. Use your PVR to schedule only new airings of shows. If new shows aren’t airing that you want to watch, expand your horizons with other series instead of watching something you’ve already seen.

Part 3: The Full List
To facilitate choosing your own schedule, I’ve compiled a list of all series start dates for both new and returning shows. You can even add this calendar to your Google calendar.

If I’ve got something wrong, post a link to the right info in the comments section so I can update it.

Part 4: My Opinions and Picks for New Shows

This season has a mix of traditional new shows, as well as one whole new and one sorta new network.

I’m divvying up my picks by:

To Watch: Shows I’ll check out as soon as they air
To Record: Shows that I’ll record and watch at my leisure or if someone says it’s good.
To Skip: Shows I’m not even spending disk space to record.

Please note: My commentary is based solely on what marketing collateral (commercials, websites, other reviews) I’ve seen. I haven’t seen any full pilots, so I could be really wrong about some shows. Also, my reviews are not comprehensive. For brevity, I’ve left a number of things out. There is, however, a full schedule of start dates below.

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My Network TV

The biggest bang award for new ideas has to go to My Network TV. These guys have turned the traditional network tv idea upside down and come out with a novel format for primetime tv. Instead of having one episode per week over a year’s time, they are starting new shows that will air new episodes five nights a week (read soap opera style) for thirteen straight weeks. For non-pvr users, they offer a recap on the weekend. Their target audience is similar to the old WB’s, looking for teenagers and young adults to tune in. Out of the gate, they are starting with two shows (Fashion House and Desire) that have exactly zero appeal to me, but hey, someone will probably get hooked on it. I’d be interested to see what they could come up with in the action or sci-fi genre.

To Watch: None
To Record: None
To Skip: The whole thing (for now)

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The CW

Also (sorta) new this season is the CW network. Comprised of old shows from the WB and UPN plus some new series, the CW will try to accomplish what its predecessors accomplished; create a true hit show and make a steady profit. Leading the way for the new shows are “Runaway” (think “The Fugitive” with a whole family on the run) and “The Game” a seemingly run of the mill sitcom based around girlfriends of football players. Starting off with a whimper, there’s nothing on the CW (old or new) that I plan to record.

Runaway: think “The Fugitive” with a whole family on the run

To Watch: None
To Record: None
To Skip: I’m too old to watch this network, it seems.

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ABC
ABC’s making a good showing this fall with a slew of Dramas and Comedies.

In what I think will be a replay of the success of “The Office” (where you steal a show from another country), “Ugly Betty” is a redo of a telenovela that is popular around the world.

“Brothers & Sistersâ€?, just a drama about a family, also looks to have promise if done right, and makes me happy that Calista Flockhart is back on TV. I posted the preview image for B&S intact from ABC. I love that for an ensemble cast show, it’s only Calista shown.

“The Knights of Prosperity”, about a group of normal joes turned thieves, also sounds like a good idea, and has some credibility coming from the creators of “EDâ€?.

“The Nine� is a serial drama about a group of people trapped as hostages. Given how frustrated I was last year with “Prison Break�, I don’t know how I feel about another drama that needs a whole year to tell one story. That being said, I’d start from the beginning watching this show, since it won’t make any sense if you try to jump in later.

And then there’s “Day Break�… A drama in the fashion of the Bill Murray hit “Groundhogs Day�. It really sounds like a corny device to use for the plot, but maybe it will work.

To watch: Brothers and Sisters, Ugly Betty, The Knights of Prosperity
To record: The Nine, Six Degrees, Day Break
To skip: Big day, Notes From the Underbelly, The Bachelor Rome

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CBS
Coming off of a reasonably successful 2005 season, CBS isn’t adding too many new shows to its lineup.

“Smith� seems to be a remake of “Ocean’s 11� for TV, while “Shark� seems to be another random Lawyer series. “Jericho� smells of “Lost� but with an explosion instead of a plane crash.

Once again, I feel let down by CBS. I reckon them to the Accord or Camry of television. They obviously have a formula that works, but the watered down nature of most of their shows dissuades me from being a viewer. I’m still enamored with “How I Met Your Mother�, but can’t help wondering what it would be like if it were on Fox.

To Watch: None
To Record: Smith, Shark, Jericho, The Class
To Skip: None

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NBC

Unlike ABC, NBC chose to try out only a few new shows for the Fall, and some of them really have promise.

By far, “Heroes� (Think X-Men on a tv series) is on the top of my list to watch, but also one of the ones I fear will suck the most. The concept has a ton of promise, and the previews so far have really excited me to watch it.

On the other end of the spectrum is “Friday Night Lights�. Based on the movie (which was based on the book), it hopes to repeat the success of the franchise in episodic tv. I have no desire to watch this show . (note: I was the kid that got picked on by the football players in my south texas high school.)

“30 Rock� is probably going to be another page from the “Saturday Night Live� alumni get a show and suck book, but I’ll watch, cause I like Tina Fey.

Similarly I’ll watch, “Twenty Good Years� because of the actors. It has John Lithgow and Jeffery Tambor, who remind me of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau of “Grumpy Old Men�.

“Studio 60� has all of the ingredients of a show I’d like, so I’m putting it right next to “Heroes� on my watch list.

To watch: Heroes, Studio 60
To record: Twenty Good Years, 30 Rock, Kidnapped
To Skip: Friday Night Lights

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Fox

Fox took a very conservative route this season by picking concepts or shows that have been done successfully before and repeating them.

I’m going to give “Vanished� a chance to have a spot in my “serial drama’s I watch� space, hopefully filling the void from when I kicked out “Desparate Housewives�. It’s either going to be good, or just be another serial, something happened to someone and it’s a mystery show.

“Standoff�, thank goodness, will not be serial (like “Prison Break� or “Lost�), having new crisis every week, so it may actually have episodes that are viewable in a bubble. On top of a reasonably interesting concept of the hostage negotiator, it also has, as I call him, that dude from “Office Space� (Ron Livingston).

“Happy Hour� sounds like a repeat of “Cheers�, which doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. I’ve been looking for a show to sprout up to fill the “Friends� void and maybe, just maybe, this will be it.

To Watch: Standoff, Vanished, Happy Hour
To Record: ‘Til Death, The Winner
To Skip: The Wedding Album, Justice

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Everything Old is New Again
This season also sees the return of a number of successful and entertaining shows, as well as some I’d rather see put down.

The big boys are back this year. “Lost�, “CSI�, “Law & Order�, “The Office� and “My Name Is Earl� all steamroll back into 2006 with more power than ever.

Sophomore shows “Prison Break: No Seriously We’re Not In Jail Anymore and the Name is Still the Same� (Title augmented by me), “How I Met Your Mother� and “The New Adventures of Old Christine� all attempt to repeat their success from last year, and all seemed poised to do it.

Hopefully being canned soon are: “Deal or No Deal�, “Desperate Housewives�, “Family Guy� and “American Dad�. I just don’t see any of these guys making it past this year. (You heard it here first)

The “Phyllis Diller� award for “isn’t that show dead yet� goes to ER. Someone euthanize that show, STAT!

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More to come
In order to help you on this quest, we will be posting weekly reminders about the shows that are going to start soon. Subscribe to our RSS feed to be kept up to date on those.

Zack Price
Lead Tester (and all around tv watcher)
SnapStream Media

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 16th, 2006 at 4:13 pm by zack and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.