Let's all do the time shift

We live in an age filled with all sorts of digital video equipment, huge flat-screen televisions, home theaters and more. And yet nothing changed the way we watch TV more than a little device that has become all-but obsolete. The VCR.

With the advent of VCRs, which became a home staple in the 1980s, viewers became their own program directors. For the first time, we could watch shows when we wanted to, not when TV programmers told us we had to.

It's hard to remember — and kids today can hardly believe — but before VCRs, we had to watch TV shows when they aired. If there were two (or more) shows we wanted to see airing at the same time, we had to choose one.

And you couldn't catch up on the past season of your favorite show by buying the boxed set because such a thing didn't exist.

The emergence of VCRs began what we know today as "time-shifting." Instead of being forced to sit down and watch "Lost" on Wednesdays at 8 p.m., we can record it and watch it when we have time.

Today, when more than a quarter of American homes are equipped with DVRs, it's easier to time-shift than ever before. And tens of millions of us are doing that every week.

According to the Nielsen Media Company, here are the 10 most time-shifted shows that aired during 2008, along with the number of homes that time-shifting added to each show's viewing total in "live-plus 7" ratings — viewers who watched a show within seven days of when it originally aired:

1. "American Idol" Tuesday (Fox) 2,153,000 homes

2. "American Idol" Wednesday (Fox) +1,945,000

3. "Heroes" (NBC) +1,832,000

4. "Lost" (ABC) +1,793,000

5. "Fringe" (Fox) +1,602,000

6. "House" (Fox) +1,454,000

7. "The Mentalist" (CBS) +1,445,000

8. "Survivor: Gabon" (CBS) +1,396.000

9. "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC) +1,358,000

10. "Bones" (Fox) +,1331,000

Or, looking at it a different way, here are the 10 shows that showed the biggest time-shifting increase by percentage when the live-plus 7 numbers are added:

1. "Battlestar Galactica" (Sci Fi) +53 percent

2. "Burn Notice" (USA) +53 percent