Just wondering what people think about the mid-season breaks.
Whilst on one hand it is nice to have a break and not worry about missing anything over the holiday period, I do find it a bit of an annoyance as it gives me another opportunity to miss the episodes.
I "series link" these shows on my Sky box. This is great provided the show is on next week, but if it takes just one week off, it gets dropped from my "series link" list. I've missed more than a few episodes of shows I enjoy because of this! Mid season breaks is just another opportunity to miss out!! Not only that, my "series link" sometimes throws a dickie-fit and has a wobbler resulting in odd shows vanishing for no reason. I can cope when there are only a couple of shows that I'm watching, but this time of year i have more than one page of shows....
Also, we have a dreadful time in the UK of finding out when stuff actually begins (or at least I do). The stuff I miss out on...I'm not convinced that I haven't yet missed Heroes, V and Desperate Housewives (yes, I like Desperate Housewives. Got hooked in on series 1 and been watching since, One of the few loves I share with my wife!!!)
What's other peoples opinion on midseason breaks?
They can be maddening, but I suppose they are better than waiting a whole season. The last one that had me on edge, was the Battlestar Galactica mid season break. I think that was more the result of the writers strike - but it caused many anxious months till the season finished up.
I have never watched Desperate Housewives. Is it worth a look?
I'm enjoying it because, for the most part, it has meant the introduction of off season shows instead of reruns.
Back years ago in TV, seasons were very predictable. Ran from about September to about May with breaks and reruns during certain months. Now, with cable channels and new shows all over the place shows start and end all over the year. I kind of like it this way. Some start in the fall, some start in Jan. and some even over the summer. This means there usually is almost always something new to watch. I do think some of the breaks are too long (such as "V" and "Flash Forward" with 3 month breaks). But, I guess they have their reasons. I can wait.
I have a love/hate thing going on.. love it because it give me time to catch up on DVR'd episodes.. sometime I fall four or five episodes behind.. but I hate it when I'm really into a series and make sure to watch it each week like "V".. but for the most part I'm use to TV shows coming and going.
I don't really mind the breaks, at least for the most part, when the show runs it is a new Episode. Before they used to mix new and rerun episodes throughout the season, and sometimes that would get frustrating to get a rerun in the middle of some new episodes. Also these days shows have story arcs and need to be watched in order, where in the past a lot of shows were more stand alone episodes and not as dependent on what order they were watched in. It is a bit tough to wait on some shows like Flash Forward and V, but other shows like LOST will start up in the new year, so it doesn't bother me to much.
The dvr tech makes the situation a little more bearable. I setup to record only new shows but what has become annoying is ABC - mostly - who want to get in another 1 minute of commercials. The other thing is jamming shows on a single night. I would like them to repeat shows later in the week. For a while, they were repeating Heroes on sci-fi. Its the mighty dollar that controls this - whaddya gonna do?
Quote from: sheldar on December 13, 2009, 11:40:34 AM
The dvr tech makes the situation a little more bearable. I setup to record only new shows but what has become annoying is ABC - mostly - who want to get in another 1 minute of commercials. The other thing is jamming shows on a single night. I would like them to repeat shows later in the week. For a while, they were repeating Heroes on sci-fi. Its the mighty dollar that controls this - whaddya gonna do?
these are tactics that they are using to get you to watch the show live. They are also in competition with other networks and if you repeat a show during the week, you can drop the viewership for both episodes and that can drop the money they get for the comercials.
I have two DVRs and while I love them, they sometimes do more harm than good when it comes to the enjoyment and funding of the shows that I like to watch. By using a DVR, I know full well that I am contributing to the possible cancelation or funding cuts of a show because I don't like many commercials.
I don't think that the mighty dollar controls this, but it is a business. They can't go to a subscription based model because people wouldn't want to pay for broadcast tv. They have to depend on the commercials to fund the stations who pay the shows to make the programming. DVRs tend to cut out the guys paying for the show and then we get mad when a show is cut.
Advertisers get smart and try product placement, to which the studios agree, but then viewers get upset that the show is selling out for the money.
Bottom line is that even the least expensive shows cost money to make and the people that cut those checks are getting weary of tossing their money down the drains because of DVRs.
I prefer the American way of season breaks as opposed to the way they do in in the UK. At least with small breaks throughout the year it makes the gap between seasons a lot smaller.
Traditionally in the UK we would run straight through a whole season then have to wait sometimes 9 months+ for a new season of a show. This is still true for our hone grown content but US material is getting to us a lot closer to the US broadcast so a lot of the time our broadcasters are forced to follow the US model.
Breaks can be pretty annoying, but like others have previously stated, they do give you some catch-up time for the some of the other DVR content you may have been putting off watching. This also has the advantage of clearing out some of that storage space.
As far as product placement goes, I don't mind it that much. I'd rather have that than have to sit through several minutes of commercials. In some cases (like the show Psych for example) it can be funny.
Don't worry Antony, your secret Desperate Housewives addiction is safe with us. :)
Quote from: Bromptonboy on December 13, 2009, 08:36:28 AM
I have never watched Desperate Housewives. Is it worth a look?
Series 1 was light and fluffy in appearance, but was actually quite a dark comedy as it got deeper into the story. They never quite repeated the feel of series 1, but by then I was hooked on the characters and the situations they find themselves. I still reel in surprise when a main character is killed off and I still want X and Y to fall back in love and can't believe that A and B got married etc....
It isn't what I'd call a "macho" show, but has some clever plot twists and very clever writing...I call it a guilty pleasure!
Quote from: ChadH on December 14, 2009, 08:24:28 AM
Don't worry Antony, your secret Desperate Housewives addiction is safe with us. :)
Thanks, I know I could rely on everyone here to keep shtum! :)
Breaks are fine to a point but at the moment, because of breaks, there's nothing on my view list except Sanctuary so the TV is getting a bit of a rest. I don't know what we get put up in the schedule instead of the series I'd normally watch, I don't tend to investigate, rather searching the schedule for the programmes I want to see and not a lot else. I'm sure I miss a few gems that way, but it seems to be the way I work.
p.s. my Sky box copes with missed weeks. That was a problem with the Freeview DVR but the Sky schedule seems to have their series linking a little more together.