Yesterday I was greatly disappointed when the latest prime-time trend didn’t pan itself out the way I predicted. Lately, networks have developed the repetitive habit of, well, repeating the latest episodes of their top-rated shows for tardy or absent viewers from the week before.
These days, seeing as how the prime-time airwaves are chocked full of various must-watch TV programs in the same must-watch time-slot, it’s hard to get your TV-fan fun time in without having to tape, or TiVO your faves. My VCR died a slow death a few months ago, and as for TiVO? Try NoGO.
So it was somewhat refreshing when UPN jumped on the bandwagon and started airing a re-run of the latest Veronica Mars episode on Tuesday, a night before the Wednesday dose of a brand new one. Little Veronica would often drown out in the mountainous shadow of Lost, and as a viewer, I felt my Wednesday nights being overwhelmed with a sense of Show-ism I was not comfortable with. That, and the incessant need to flip between shows during boring scenes or commercials, always meant I missed odds and ends of both, and never truly figured out what happened in each.
With the rerun policies that networks have adopted, however, catching my faves hasn’t been such a feat. I felt comfortable when I laid down for some R&R last week during Mars hour, thinking that I’d be able to tune in on Tuesday and catch the episode I had missed. Unbeknownst to me, Tuesday came and whopped me in the face with a Marsian mystery I’d never seen. Why? Because Ms. Mars et al. decided to switch day and times to Tuesday at 9/8 central, without so much as an info flash to its most devoted fan.
Thus, I ended up missing an episode and the health status of my current computer has not and will not make it possible for me to download the hour within the span of the next week.
This brings to light two obvious dilemmas; one, I require some technological fix-ups in my household and two, these network people really need to work out their timeslots so that fans can enjoy their favourite shows without indulging in a little TV vs. every week. I realize that network business means that top shows must wrestle head-to-head, but some of us, in our surf-between-shows frenzy happen to miss very important information about day and time changes, because we are forced to deem commercials appropriate time for a quick tune-in to the other show.
Perhaps if networks rallied together and scheduled a little more sensibly, we’d all win out. Equal rating opportunities for every head TV honcho out there, and a world where I wouldn’t miss the day and time changes for my favourites. That, ladies and gents, is the future of television.
The present, however, demands compensation for one angry TV fan in the form of a new VCR, TiVO and computer.
Thank you, and as always, enjoy your show.
