As a longtime TV and media writer,I'm not sure what scares me worse: That newspapers think so little of our jobs that they're laying critics off en masse -- or that Hollywood may be so desperate, they've finally decided to start listening to us.

This notion surfaces following two developments: News that HBO has hired former theater critic and New York Times columnist Frank Rich as a consultant (along with former Talk magazine editor Tina Brown), and the announcement of a new deal in which TiVo users can consult the choices of my pal in Chi-Town, Chicago Tribune TV critic Maureen Ryan.

Oddly enough, the New York Times seems to have broken the story of TiVo's deal with Mo -- that's what we call her hanging around the TV Critics Press Tour each July -- in which users who sign up for the service will get recommendations straight from the sweaty remote of the TV goddess herself.

It's a way-cool, high tech way to handle the question I get most often: "What's your favorite TV show? Or "What the best TV show on right now?" Both of which I'm woefully underprepared to answer most days (right now, in the dog days of TV's summer, that answer would include Lost, Deadliest Catch, Late Show with Craig Ferguson, and precious little else). 

Rich's HBO consultant deal, known for many days now, seems a desperate move from a premium channel whose luster is all but gone. All its groundbreaking original series have ended -- from the Sopranos and Sex and the City to The Wire -- while big ticket movies and miniseries such as John Adams and Recount have received mixed reviews.

"Okay smarty pants critic," the channel seems to be saying, "you hated John From Cincinnati so bad, YOU figure out what we should be putting on." But us experienced entertainment writers know there's a big difference between reviewing a Beyonce concert and trying to play lead guitar in her backup band.

It will be interesting to see if these experiments bear fruit. I'm certainly ready to give local TiVo users a peek at my favorites list -- the Oprah Winfrey and Lifetime stuff is for the wife, of course -- and I can move into a corner executive office in Los Angeles at a moment's notice.

Given that the latest Big TV Ideas have involved reviving Knight Rider and American Gladiators, I could hardly mess things up any worse.