"Boston Strangler" redux

Jack Valenti famously (well, for certain values of famously) analogized the VCR to the Boston Strangler, with the American film producer in the position of "the woman home alone." Feminist analysis of that very rich analogy aside (compare Christine Haight Farley on the feminine mystique of the brand), Valenti was, to put it mildly, in error about the economic impact of the VCR. Turns out TV executives are rethinking the DVR and its timeshifting ways as well, because Americans are such couch potatoes that they watch a bunch of the commercials even with the 30-second-skip button readily to hand.