Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Dustin Rowles | TV | February 4, 2026
Besides the television itself, I would argue that the greatest technological invention of the 20th century was a device old timers might remember. It was called a TiVo, and it quietly changed our viewing habits forever. Before TiVo, we had something called VCRs, which allowed us to record television shows and movies onto videotapes we stored on shelving units that sometimes covered entire walls. The quality was mediocre, the tapes frequently broke, shows were constantly taped over by other members of the household, and, crucially, you could not watch a tape until the recording had finished. If the Oscars started at 8 p.m. and you did not get home until 9:30, you either waited until the telecast ended at 11 or, more likely, watched it the next day. Civilization persevered, but just barely.
The TiVo changed all of this. It allowed viewers to store hundreds of hours of programming on a single device for weeks or even months at a time. You could pause live television. You could rewind it. And best of all, you could start watching a show from the beginning while it was still recording, sometimes catching up by the end of the broadcast by skipping all the commercials. It felt like the future. Because it was.
Somehow, we have since gone backwards. Yes, there are dozens of streaming services with millions of hours of on-demand television at our fingertips, and many of them offer ad-free versions. But we have also lost something important. While some services now let us watch live television, we often cannot pause it or restart from the beginning once the telecast has started.
More frustratingly, there are shows we either have to watch live or wait until the next day to see, and for most non-sports programming, we are forced to wait until tomorrow, no matter what. As I write this, three shows I watch are airing tonight, High Potential, Will Trent, and Best Medicine, and I will not be able to watch any of them until tomorrow. It is not the end of the world, but it is annoying as hell. I do not want to wait until Tuesday to watch St. Denis Medical on Peacock. I am paying for this service. I should be able to watch it while it is airing or, better yet, an hour or two later.
There is absolutely no reason we should not be able to do this. HBO Max makes full episodes available on streaming at the same time they air on terrestrial cable, for the six people who still watch HBO on cable. Several other platforms manage this just fine, too. I understand why next-day on Hulu or next-day on Peacock is still a thing. Networks want those sweet ad dollars. But I am also paying more for Hulu and Peacock than people who watch for free with antennas or through their cable bundles. We should get priority. Or at least basic TiVo era functionality.
It is obviously not a tragedy that I have to wait until Wednesday night to watch Will Trent, but also, why should I have to wait at all? Disney Plus could release it immediately. It could be appointment television for the vast majority of viewers who now use streaming services. It is 2026, damnit. We had this figured out in 1999.
