TiVo

Remember that big list of Stuff Parents Need that I posted last week? It occurred to me that I left out one of THE most important products that a new parent can buy.

TiVo.

HBO's "Rome" started back up again last night. So did SciFi's "Battlestar Galactica." And "Heroes" begins new episodes tonight. We're looking forward to the newest installments of "Lost" and "Veronica Mars" that are coming up pretty soon. Not exactly shows you want to watch with a little person in the room. Especially if your little person can ask "Why? Why? What's that? How come?" and so on. (Not that ours can. Yet. Right now, he mostly just says, "Da! Da! Da!" But you catch my drift.) You just TiVo them and watch them later. Ta da! David and I are watching old episodes of "Northern Exposure" at night after William goes to bed, in addition to our TiVo'd new shows.

Remember the episode of "Sex and the City" in which Miranda's housekeeper breaks the TiVo remote, and Miranda gets all hysterical because she's going to miss her esoteric British serial that she is addicted to? "You broke TiVo?" she keeps asking, her voice rising each time. I understand that. TiVo allows me to at least attempt to watch a few of the television shows that I like. Plus, you fast forward through the commercials and hit pause if you get interrupted. I love this.

I've had other parents tell me that they TiVo "Blue's Clues," "Dora the Explorer" or "Sesame Street," and then dole those episdoes out to their eager children on an as-Mommy-needs basis. Yeah, you can say you never ever want your child to watch any TV ever, but if you say that, I bet you haven't had a toddler yet, right?

I am not being paid by TiVo to endorse it, by the way. Man, I wish I was, though. That would be all good. IF anyone knows anyone affiliated with TiVo, send 'em my way.