In the TV doldrums
I am not a big watcher of TV. I like music too much and spend a good deal of my time on my PC writing so TV is not a constant. However I like good TV drama (and science fiction - can't forget science fiction). The thing is at the moment there's not much of it out there.
And I'm not complaining about the quality of the TV shows being made at the moment. There are some extremely good shows about - as well as some that are okay but for some reason just appeal. The kind of thing I'm on about can be found on the below list.
The Bridge
Game of Thrones
Grimm
Super-Girl
Arrow
The Flash
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Crossing Lines
Agent Carter
That's just a sample - there are others.
Anyway the point when I get to it involves something that seems to have come into UK TV viewing of late and that thing is the mid season break. This is a weird thing. It's one of those US/UK culture things.
Now I understand why we are starting to get it in the UK. The American schedule has these breaks in their season and UK broadcasters want to put the episodes out as close to the US air date as possible. A number of them even use it as a marketing tool - only a day after US transmission, that sort of thing. I guess part of the thinking is also that it is an attempt to cut down on the numbers of illegal downloads.
After all if you don't have to wait the weeks for UK broadcast as in days of old then you're likely to not hit the interweb and find a streaming site. They keep their viewing numbers up and hence can ask more for the advertising slots. All good business sense.
The downside is times like now. Of the shows mentioned above four of them are on mid season breaks and will be returning "soon". The other three are finished in their current (shorter) runs so don't really count.
Now I'm not a fan of mid season breaks. I don't like the disruption. That's just me and I realise hoping that the world changes to suit me is pointless. And I think this is only going to happen more.
I think what I need to do is store up the second tier shows - the ones that are okay (some of which might be in the list above) and fill in these gaps from my stored (or purchased) complete series.
Of course all of this might be becoming moot with the new streaming services dumping entire seasons onto their subscription sites in one go. Yes I am getting rather tempted to sign up to one of these, be it Amazon Prime, Netflix or whatever, as there are some shows I seriously want to watch. The Marvel shows like Daredevil and Jessica Jones, Mr. Robot and the Man in the High Castle tempt me.
Ah well.
And I'm not complaining about the quality of the TV shows being made at the moment. There are some extremely good shows about - as well as some that are okay but for some reason just appeal. The kind of thing I'm on about can be found on the below list.
The Bridge
Game of Thrones
Grimm
Super-Girl
Arrow
The Flash
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Crossing Lines
Agent Carter
That's just a sample - there are others.
Anyway the point when I get to it involves something that seems to have come into UK TV viewing of late and that thing is the mid season break. This is a weird thing. It's one of those US/UK culture things.
Now I understand why we are starting to get it in the UK. The American schedule has these breaks in their season and UK broadcasters want to put the episodes out as close to the US air date as possible. A number of them even use it as a marketing tool - only a day after US transmission, that sort of thing. I guess part of the thinking is also that it is an attempt to cut down on the numbers of illegal downloads.
After all if you don't have to wait the weeks for UK broadcast as in days of old then you're likely to not hit the interweb and find a streaming site. They keep their viewing numbers up and hence can ask more for the advertising slots. All good business sense.
The downside is times like now. Of the shows mentioned above four of them are on mid season breaks and will be returning "soon". The other three are finished in their current (shorter) runs so don't really count.
Now I'm not a fan of mid season breaks. I don't like the disruption. That's just me and I realise hoping that the world changes to suit me is pointless. And I think this is only going to happen more.
I think what I need to do is store up the second tier shows - the ones that are okay (some of which might be in the list above) and fill in these gaps from my stored (or purchased) complete series.
Of course all of this might be becoming moot with the new streaming services dumping entire seasons onto their subscription sites in one go. Yes I am getting rather tempted to sign up to one of these, be it Amazon Prime, Netflix or whatever, as there are some shows I seriously want to watch. The Marvel shows like Daredevil and Jessica Jones, Mr. Robot and the Man in the High Castle tempt me.
Ah well.
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