Yes, you need a TV to appreciate this.

February 23, 2006 2:53 PM

The 25 most popular television broadcasts, actors and directors based on anonymous, aggregated data from DVR owners, updated weekly.
posted by crunchland (27 comments total)

Woody Allen at #5 is a shock. I had no idea he had that mainstream popularity these days.

Tivo is still kinda alien to me. Do Tivo users ever watch commercials?
posted by Protocols of the Elders of Awesome at 2:56 PM on February 23, 2006

Lists! I love lists! More lists!
posted by MarshallPoe at 2:56 PM on February 23, 2006

Hang in there, The Office.

Nice to see Family Guy with ratings, even if they are just Tivo ratings.
posted by FeldBum at 2:56 PM on February 23, 2006

Kinda inexplicable lack of American Dad! though, which has become the superior show by far.
posted by Protocols of the Elders of Awesome at 2:58 PM on February 23, 2006

I was surprised to see Eastwood at #1. That's encouraging...
posted by brundlefly at 2:58 PM on February 23, 2006

If they're anything like me, Tivo users do watch commercials if they are visually arresting enough to convey their message in ffw, and cause the remote control operator to press rw or replay.

And if excellent shows inexplicably don't show up on the list, it's because, like me, people stick to their wishlists, and unless acted upon by some outside force, they never add them in.
posted by crunchland at 3:04 PM on February 23, 2006

That's interesting and cool. Given that people who have TiVo are as a group more desireable to advertise to (but of course watch less commercials) this must be somewhat distressing for some.

American Dad superior? You must be on crack.
posted by chaz at 3:05 PM on February 23, 2006

Looks pretty similar to recent Nielsen ratings, except for all the Olympic broadcasts (and the uplifting absence of Two and a Half Men from the TiVo list).
posted by brain_drain at 3:08 PM on February 23, 2006

Law and Order: SVU is on the list? Ugh. That show is sickening. And I enjoy Law and Order.
posted by orange swan at 3:13 PM on February 23, 2006

ooh this is neat.

People still watch Boston Legal? I didn't even know it was still on.
posted by nuclear_soup at 3:25 PM on February 23, 2006

Protocols of the Elders of Awesome writes "Woody Allen at #5 is a shock. I had no idea he had that mainstream popularity these days."

Does WishList mean you enter the name of a director and it records that director's movies when they appear? If so, I'd chalk this up to name recognition rather than mainstream popularity. All those directors are household names and I'd bet that that is the key to making this list. Also, consumers of mainstream Hollywood crap are probably less likely to know the name of the directors they watch - but when given the option to enter a director, they'll just put in the name they know. Whether they actually watch the movies is another thing. Or perhaps only more serious film buffs use this feature. Either way, I doubt this means much for Woody Allen's mainstream popularity.
posted by mullacc at 3:37 PM on February 23, 2006

I always wondered when TiVo was going to do their equivalent of google zeitgeist, and now they have. Yay!

Meaningless, completely. But yay!
posted by davejay at 4:00 PM on February 23, 2006

Does WishList mean you enter the name of a director and it records that director's movies when they appear?

Yes.
posted by davejay at 4:00 PM on February 23, 2006

One more: wouldn't it be fun to start a campaign to have hundreds of thousands of people put a nonexistent or ridiculous name into the director or actor wishlist? Let the TiVobombing begin.

Then again, that would take effort.

And I got my stories to watch.
posted by davejay at 4:02 PM on February 23, 2006

davejay, it's been a while since I set up a new director/actor-wishlist, but I'm pretty sure it's still a selectable list, not a type-in. You have the option of creating key-word wishlists, but they search across all metadata fields equally.

Of course I have a series 1 tivo, so perhaps series 2 is different these days.

ps, I love my slingbox. With it, I can remote watch my Tivo, and verify that my memories are indeed correct. =)
posted by nomisxid at 4:12 PM on February 23, 2006

i've been wondering when DVRs would replace Nielsen boxes as a source for how many people are watching a show. i've always felt that the Nielsen's system was flawed and i sincerely hope this is a sign that more accurate measures may be forthcoming.
posted by quin at 4:14 PM on February 23, 2006

Woody Allen might get a bonus for a last name starting with "A," too. Seriously.
posted by callmejay at 4:29 PM on February 23, 2006

And what is the most downloaded show?
posted by kika at 4:34 PM on February 23, 2006

Unlikely, since in order to get into the list, you need to enter in the first letter, so arbitrarily, any letter would be as likely a random letter as A. That, and the director "Paul Abascal" is the first name on the list.

And wishlists don't necessarily record items. They're also used just for searches. You can set it up to automatically record any movie directed by Allen Smithee, for example, or you can just use it to see what movies are being broadcast in the next 2 weeks directed by him.
posted by crunchland at 4:36 PM on February 23, 2006

I loves my TiVo...well, i would if I was allowed to use it! I bought one...then the wife filled it up with home improvement shows...so I got another one for the tv in the guest room, and that got filled up with Medium, Oprah, Dead Like Me, WonderFalls.... and she won't erase them..

so I got another one and that got hooked to the tv in front of her treadmill and is used to watch the shows recorded on the other two (via the wireless network).

I told her I needed another one..... Not sure that she's convince yet!
posted by HuronBob at 5:19 PM on February 23, 2006

HuronBob: Maybe instead of trying to watch TV, you should be searching the house for the box she's keeping your testicles in.

(I kid, I kid.)

I'm happy Kubrick's high up on the director's list. Although it seems Lolitais the most oft-shown film of his on TV, stupid Tivo keeps picking it up over and over again.
posted by wolftrouble at 5:54 PM on February 23, 2006

no meryl streep, like the best actress in the world!
posted by brandz at 6:28 PM on February 23, 2006

Sweet. I enjoy data.
posted by graventy at 7:04 PM on February 23, 2006

You Tivo-ing bastards need to start watching The Shield.
posted by graventy at 7:05 PM on February 23, 2006

Is this a new list, or is there an archive of past weeks? Data on whether or not the show being recorded is new or not would also be helpful. For example, I record The Office and My Name Is Earl, but if they're reruns, the TiVo picks up (ungh) The OC instead.

I'm especially interested in how the final two hour Arrested faired.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:54 AM on February 24, 2006

I tivo'd the Arrested Development finale while I watched the olympics opening off-tivo. I was wondering the same thing, robocop.
posted by pithy comment at 8:10 AM on February 24, 2006

I'm surprised there are no soap operas in the list. (Non-primetime).
posted by OmieWise at 12:10 PM on February 24, 2006