#121 When you’re fast forwarding TV and you stop exactly when your show starts

Neil Pasricha

Does your station have a tell?

Sometimes it’s that little commercial before the break ends where the network just advertises itself for fifteen seconds. “Tune in afterwards for the news,” they say, as your eagle eyes and trigger thumb pound the “Play” button before the show begins.

Stop too early and you’ll be forced to sit through a painful seven or eight seconds of commercials. Stop too late and you’ll see your show whiz by while simultaneously trying to rewind and not pay attention at the same time.

Stop just right and you’re laughing.

Stop just right and you’re

AWESOME!

Thank you to Antonia Hodges for today’s awesome thing!

Photo from: here

25 thoughts to “#121 When you’re fast forwarding TV and you stop exactly when your show starts”

  1. “…forced to sit through a painful seven or eight seconds of commercials.”

    That sounds like an exaggeration. The sad thing is that it isn’t. It really, really isn’t.

    Stopping just right is, indeed, AWESOME! :D

    1. Some of the commercials these days are just getting rediculous. I’m so glad I don’t have to sit through them anymore.
      Every once in a while I will take the time to watch a few, just to feel a little human, ya know….

    1. Couldn’t agree more. Which is why I’ve taken to watching TV solely online on a non-network site. No commercials! But then I have to deal with the whole “You have watched 72 minutes of video…” thing. :(

  3. I agree with you Jan Simson and have just about given it up altogether!!!
    For those of you who have the technology;ability to fast forward through commercials to the actual program, you do have it truly awesome!

  4. Lol. I didn’t have the ability to fast forward television, but sometimes I would watch my favorite TV show while recording it on the VCR and I would try to time it just right so I wouldn’t get commercials on the tape :)

    1. You have a VCR???!!! I swear I thought they stopped making those….

      Anyway DVR is seriously the best thing invented. No more commercials and you can pause live TV.

            1. I think my DVR is the single product I get the largest “consumer surplus” of any item I pay for. (Ok, ok.. you caught me – I was an economics major in college.. the idea of a consumer surplus is it’s the benefit you receive for paying less for an item than you truly value it..) For example, I have to pay $8 a month for my DVR.. they could easily triple that, and while I’d be annoyed, I would absolutely pay it. A DVR is an awesome thing in it’s own right.

              (Don’t get me wrong – I feel like I’m getting totally gouged on every other single element of my cable bill, which seems like the cable company is single handedly charged with trying to rip me off.. but just not with the DVR fee, because that makes me enjoy my TV watching experience immeasurably more..)

      1. Well… I have a *DUAL*~ VCR AND DVD player*!
        Now I know dual means two, but I needed to stress the awesomeness!!!

  5. I don’t watch commercials anymore and honestly, I kind of don’t even like watching something in real time anymore. I’m spoiled, I know. If its not on my DVR, I don’t want to watch it. If its something that I really want to watch, I will record it and watch it later when I can fast forward through commercials.
    I’m fairly good at pushing that play button just in time. Very rarely am I too early, but I do push it late.

    1. +1

      I can’t watch things in real-time anymore.. it’s awful.. If I happen to sit down at my TV when a favorite show is starting? I’ll read a book (or comment on this blog) for 20 minutes, until I’ve built up enough of a buffer to watch the TV show with skipping all the commercials.

      And like you, I consider myself a bit of an “expert fast-forwarder”..

      1. The worst is when you’re watching sports, or something that’s actually happening live. You want to watch it live, but oh, the pain when the commercial breaks come on! (Although it does allow for a quick snack or bathroom break).

  6. Bonus awesomeness points if there’s no indication the show’s about to come back and you still get it right.

  10. Yes, i hate commercials!
    Whenever my friends mentioned about commercials, i was like” hmm?i dont watch them:)”

    This is an awesome post

  11. This reminds me of grabbing the exact right amount of what you need for what you’re using it for… like the exact number of hangers for your clothes or something like that. It’s my favorite!

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