Don Whitten, who serves as maintenance manager for a large assisted living residence, says that his true title should be "television remote programmer." Every day, according to Don, he re-sets no less than 3 TVs for residents who manage to mess up the teeny, tiny buttons on their remote control units. "It's a true emergency around here," he laughs, "when Wheel of Fortune goes black."

Our seniors depend on their televisions as their window to the world. Remote control units are a blessing for those who aren't as mobile as they once were. They can change channels and volume without having to jump up and down (although there might be an strong argument for the loss of exercise opportunities). But combine dozens of miniscule buttons, worsening eyesight and a little arthritis and you have a recipe for frustration. Hit just one wrong button, or two at the same time, and you can lock up your television or lose the programming your family so carefully set up. And now you have to wait until someone comes by to fix it for you. Not everyone has a cheerful Don Whitten around.

At our house we have a nothing-special television. The remote control unit that came with it has 49 BUTTONS. What were they thinking?! I'd bet that not one in 100 users has any idea what most of those buttons are for or what to do if they get pushed accidentally. I surely don't. I'd have to find the five-year-old manual and start over - good luck with that!

What most of our seniors need is not a friendly visitor or family member who can re-program their TV remotes. What they need is one that is easy to set up, easy to use and very, very hard to mess up in the first place, so it doesn't have to continually be re-programmed. They need one that runs their television with or without a converter box, and whether they use rabbit ears, cable, or satellite. There aren't many on the market that fit the bill. We've spent quite a bit of time looking at the various easy-to-use television remotes, and these seem to be the two best options available right now:

The Flipper Big Button Remote works a cable ready TV, satellite or over the air dtv box. If you're using a television with a converter box, once it's set up the On/Off works both the TV and set top box at the same time - no need for two remotes or multiple button-pushing. The channel buttons work the set top box, and the volume works the TV. You can pre-program and then lock up to 30 channels. If that's too complicated for your senior, lock the selection buttons out completely and use just the channel up/channel down buttons. If help is needed with the initial set-up, customer service is excellent. Here's more information . . .

The Tek Pal - Large Button TV Remote would be hands-down our first choice for a TV remote because it's about as foolproof as it could get . . . except that it will only work on cable-ready televisions - no satellite or cable converter boxes. Many of our seniors are using "older" televisions or satellite tv that this remote can't handle. If your set fits the bill, your senior will probably love this remote. Even if someone pushes a button by accident, the only thing that can happen is the channel changes, the volume changes, or the television turns off. All easy enough for your senior to correct independently. Just about everyone who has one of these is very happy with both its simplicity and its price. Here's more information . . .

If you're tired of constantly having to "fix" the television for your senior, and your senior is tired of having to beg you, one of these two remotes should solve the problem and be a big relief to both of you.