7 Very 2000s Jokes About TiVo As We Say Goodbye to the DVR
It’s the end of an era: TiVo has removed every physical DVR from its website and will no longer sell the device.
In an era when live television is almost obsolete, it might be hard to remember how much TiVo changed the game when it was introduced in 1999, allowing viewers to skip commercials (the networks had a heart attack over that one) and watch shows on their own schedules. The device became so ubiquitous that it was featured in several TV comedies and stand-up sets.
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Here are seven times that a TiVo reference was a cutting-edge pop-culture punchline…
The Simpsons
In 2005, The Simpsons turned TiVo into a couch gag, running into their living room to watch TV only to have the episode deleted before it begins.
Patton Oswalt
On his Feelin’ Kinda Patton album, Oswalt devotes a track to his misadventures with TiVo. “It’s the greatest gift I’ve ever received,” he enthuses, “greater than even the gift of life!”
But TiVo’s ability to record shows based on its perception of Oswalt’s viewing habits soon goes sideways. “It will record shows based on the most fucked-up criteria,” he jokes. For example, Oswalt recorded a classic Western, then “overnight, TiVo went fucking apeshit! It recorded 15 children’s shows like Uncle Salty’s Lighthouse and Mustard Fart Station. Then I realized all the shows TiVo recorded had horses in them. TiVo, no! No, TiVo!”
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Because Larry is more concerned about his TiVo malfunction than Cheryl’s near-death experience on an airline flight, she finally decides to leave him. “Honey, you couldn’t have called at a worse time. I got the TiVo guy here.”
How I Met Your Mother
DVR recordings could be erratic, so the guys offered a prayer to the TiVo gods: “Almighty TiVo, we thank you for all the gifts you have given us. The power to freeze live TV to go take a leak is nothing short of godlike. Let’s not forget fast-forwarding through commercials. It seems greedy to ask anything more from you, Oh Magic Box, but if you malfunction and miss the Super Bowl, we will destroy you in the alley with baseball bats. Amen.”
Futurama
The opening credits in the “Anthology of Interest 2” episode made its own prayer to the digital gods: “Hey, TiVo! Suggest this!”
Dane Cook
Like Oswalt, Cook experienced hiccups with his TiVo. Unlike Oswalt, his admonitions got physical. “My TiVo just went on this rampage,” he confessed. “It didn’t do what I wanted, and it recorded Antiques Roadshow for eight hours. So I actually got physical. I actually went up, and I pulled it out of the entertainment center. And I go, ‘Record my shit!’ I grabbed it by the faceplate and I started threatening it. I actually threatened it. I was like, I’ll dip you in fucking water, do you hear me? Do you understand me? I will burn a candle on you. Do you know what wax does to your components? You’ll never get it off!”
Robot Chicken
TiVo puts a viewer under its spell, destroying relationships, ruining jobs and eventually leaping out of the TV to kneecap his mother. “TiVo! It will change your life!”