When I've had enough SportsCenter for one day...

August 13, 2010 7:26 PM

What to watch while getting dressed for work.

After waking up and showering, I get dressed for work. I'm in my room for around 10-15 minutes before leaving. During that time, I generally have SportsCenter on.

I'm interested in recommendations of shows to DVR that I'd be able to put on and get something out of by just having it on for 10 minutes. SportsCenter is good in this sense because any 10-minute span will feature plenty of sports recaps from the previous day.

I'm interested in all types of programming: entertaining, informative, funny, historical, educational, whacky, etc. Could be a series, daily show, whatever.

Just something that I can put on for 10 minutes and not have to sit down for the entire 30 minutes or hour to actually "enjoy" the program.

(Remember, I have a DVR box, so I can record a show anytime to save for the morning.)

Thanks.

posted by rastapasta to Media & Arts (11 answers total)

I like having a short from Rifftrax on my video iPod during such down time. You may or may not be able to get that to work with your setup.
posted by Countess Elena at 7:32 PM on August 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

I constantly record the Colbert Report for a similar purpose (eating dinner).
posted by hellogoodbye at 7:35 PM on August 13, 2010

How about the TED video podcasts on your computer? Fascinating talks, short, informative, wide-ranging.
posted by musofire at 7:38 PM on August 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

Does it have to be "watch"? Radio is made for that kind of partial-attention stuff. You could do R4's History Of The World In 100 Objects podcast, which works out at about 13 minutes per if you strip the intro and outro stuff, and you'll have a little nugget of history to take with you for the day. (TiVos do podcasts just fine; other DVRs, I dunno.)
posted by holgate at 7:41 PM on August 13, 2010 [2 favorites]

Some (and far from all) cartoons that look like 30 minutes on TiVo but are actually two 11 minute episodes: Spongebob Squarepants, Beavis and Butt-Head, Metalocalypse, Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
posted by gnomeloaf at 8:24 PM on August 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

That's how I use The Daily Show.
posted by ErikaB at 8:30 PM on August 13, 2010

Seconding the Daily Show and Colbert. They're great for that, plus I read somewhere that starting each day laughing keeps you in the positive all day.
posted by Polgara at 9:58 PM on August 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

James Burke's Connections series. Much of it is available on Youtube, and it loses nothing when sliced up into halves or thirds. Maybe even gains something?
posted by migurski at 11:13 PM on August 13, 2010

There are a couple of shows on the Science channel - How It's Made and Factory Made - that profile how 4 products per show are manufactured. Each section of the show is watchable separately - they don't interweave the segments like some shows do. You can see some samples online - the clips are of full segments, so you can get an idea of length - typically 2 to 4 minutes.
posted by clerestory at 4:29 AM on August 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

I logged in to suggest How It's Made, so now I'm just going to second that.
posted by cooker girl at 6:44 AM on August 14, 2010

The Daily Show, especially since I usually find the opening (before the first commercial break) to be the most entertaining part. Same with Colbert.

And god I love How It's Made.
posted by magnetsphere at 6:47 PM on August 15, 2010