UnEnlightened

So HBO cancelled Enlightened. A show of loneliness, wry humor, compassion, awkwardness. Brilliance. Low ratings, even for HBO. I had DVRed the second season episodes I hadn’t caught up on. I erased them for space but wanted to catch up on the show and give it its due. It’ll be On Demand, I said.

They took it off On Demand. I’ll watch it on HBO Go, I said, but I want to watch it on my 55” Samsung Smart TV. It has an HBO Go widget. But I am a Comcast Xfinity subscriber. The widget doesn’t work for Comcast Xfinity subscribers.

Comcast Xfinity says I can watch it on my laptop. Comcast Xfinity says I can watch it on my iPhone and my iPad. I want to watch it on my 55” Samsung Smart TV. Can I do it? Google it. Look, you can! The HBO Go app now works with Airplay! With an Apple TV box. I don’t have an Apple TV box.

I have a Mac Mini attached to my TV. Can I send Airplay from my iPad to my Mac Mini? Google it. Look, someone makes free media center software called XBMC. It works with Airplay! Download. Install. Open.

The software won’t open. Security Alert. Apple OS X Mountain Lion doesn’t want me to use software that’s not from the App store or an approved software maker. For my safety. Open System Preferences. Change the settings. Now open XBMC. It opens.

Preferences. Set it up to use Airplay. Try it with the YouTube app from my iPad over Airplay. It works! Try it with Apple’s Movie Trailer app from my iPad over Airplay. It works! I’m watching it on my 55” Samsung Smart TV! Open HBO Go on my iPad. Look, an Airplay button! Push it!

It doesn’t work. Google it. Internet says “DRM.”

Watching it on my laptop.