My DVR is currently at 2% full.  I’ve got last night’s episodes of Copper and Leverage and then it will be empty. 

Uh oh.

I haven’t had an empty DVR menu since I first got a DVR.  I tape various television shows because (like many people) I love TV.  (Come on, you know you do…)  However, because (also like many people) I don’t watch TV to the exclusion of interacting with other human beings, I don’t always have the time to watch shows I like when they actually air. 

Thank God for the DVR.  I can set it up to tape every airing of a particular series and then watch the shows whenever I want.

At this point, I’m not even sure when the shows I like do air.  Is Supernatural Friday or Wednesday?  Did they move The Good Wife from Sundays?  Is Big Valley having a marathon next Saturday?  Well, boy howdy! 

In theory this is terrific – no commercials and if I’m in a Nathan Fillion mood I can watch as many episodes of Castle in one sitting as I want.  No problem.

No problem, that is, until this summer when my otherwise smooth schedule hit a snag.  Because this summer – if I can be so blunt – television was lousy.

Without realizing it, I kept watching the TV shows I taped over the last several months but didn’t replace them with any new programs.  Episode by episode; New Girl by Happy Endings; Suburgatory by Hawaii Five-0, I kept draining away my stash like a grasshopper with no thoughts for the long, dark winter ahead.

Sure, the Dallas reboot was a bright spot in August and there was that brief White Collar respite that got me into September, but after next week’s season finale, Neal and Peter (not to mention JR and Bobby) won’t be back until 2013.

And don’t even get me started on how long I’m going to have to wait for the third season of Sherlock.

I hope the Fall TV season starts soon.  Until then I will take a page from Tim Gunn and “Make it work!”