I love my TiVo but I don't love the fact that so many TV networks play fast and loose with start/stop times. I have, of course, a recent example…
This evening, since Leno and Letterman are in repeats, I set my TiVo to record an episode of the old Banacek show off the Hallmark Channel. The episode was scheduled to run from 9:00 to 10:30, which was what TiVo recorded. If the Hallmark folks had actually broadcast the show from 9:00 to 10:30, all would have been swell.
But the start of my recording was the last few minutes of Son of Flubber, which was what was on just before. The Banacek episode didn't commence until around 9:04.
At its close, Mr. Banacek was just about to reveal whodunnit when the recording ended. I'm guessing the show actually finished around 10:35.
This was not a huge loss for me since Dick Van Patten was playing one of the suspects. If Dick Van Patten's in a mid-seventies Universal mystery show, you can just about bet the farm that he's guilty. (And also, I'd seen the episode before and remembered that.) But there had to have been some folks out there who had never seen the show, set a TiVo or VCR for it…and didn't get to find out how it ended. Yes, you can program your TiVo to record a few minutes beyond the scheduled end time but (a) who thinks to do that? And (b) that limits your ability to record another show right afterward on another channel.
I've groused about this before and will probably grouse again in the future. Perhaps if enough of us grouse, TV networks will start airing their shows when they say they're airing them. I don't see how they benefit from the way it is now. The folks who recorded Son of Flubber didn't get the whole thing, either.