But in any case, I'm certain that, on the *tivo*, I did not need to do a Wish List to get a given TV show on all its channels. I only needed a single Season Pass, and it would get all instances of that show no matter which channel.
Tony,
The only way to do what you want on the DirecTV DVR is to do a keyword search, the choose the "Autorecord" option that appears on the left of the results screen.
But, having said that, I'm 100% positive that a Season Pass on a TiVo box is tied to a specific channel. Setting up a Season Pass for a particular show on a particular channel will record all instances of that show on that particular channel only.
http://www.tivo.com/setupandsupport/technicalsupport/compatibilityhelp/Glossary_of_Terms.html Not a detailed reference, but still.
Keep in mind that when you go to the Now Playing list and open the folder for that show, you may find other instances of that show from other channels thrown in there. But, if you do, that's because the suggestions engine picked them up, and that's no guarantee that any episode on any other channel will always be recorded.
Now, it's possible that TiVo has modified this behavior in some recent release for the standalones. But it's definitely the way Season Passes have always worked on the DirecTV boxes.