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Roamin' around
Sep. 21st, 2006 02:58 pmSigh. I don't know why I thought it would be different.
I've more or less given up watching TV programs that require a long-term commitment. Partly out of lack of interest, but mostly because I know Australia's useless commercial TV stations will break my heart. The time delay I can understand; it's not their fault our seasons are different to the northern hemisphere. However, once they start showing a drama series, they are incapable of just letting it run. They play episodes out of order; they run two episodes together and call it a "special movie-length episode"; they will randomly insert repeat episodes in the middle of new ones to make the series longer; they will bump it around the schedule to a different night or different timeslot, often without changing the printed guide. Most inexplicably of all, they seem completely oblivious to the ill-will this generates.
For example, not that long ago, I listened to a radio colleague ranting about how Channel 10 treated Veronica Mars, which was apparently to play half the first series early on Monday evenings, drop it for six months, play the second half of the series at a different time each Friday night, and finish the run by playing the first episode of the second season. That sounds awful. Why would they be surprised it didn't rate?
Anyway, I foolishly allowed myself to get slightly excited by the (belated) arrival of Rome, even though it's on Channel 9. That was until last night, when I watched the first episode (which started over half an hour after the scheduled time), and was completely baffled. There was this odd jump in time about halfway through, and various things happening that were never explained. How could so many people worldwide have enjoyed this? So I decided to read the episode recap over at Television Without Pity and all became clear. I hadn't watched the first episode at all. I'd watched the first episode and half the second episode, butchered to fit in to one hour. I suppose that means they'll have to cut into the third episode to fill an hour next week too. That's the end of that then; I'll catch it on DVD soon enough.
Is it just us with this problem? Or are your TV stations doing this as well?
I've more or less given up watching TV programs that require a long-term commitment. Partly out of lack of interest, but mostly because I know Australia's useless commercial TV stations will break my heart. The time delay I can understand; it's not their fault our seasons are different to the northern hemisphere. However, once they start showing a drama series, they are incapable of just letting it run. They play episodes out of order; they run two episodes together and call it a "special movie-length episode"; they will randomly insert repeat episodes in the middle of new ones to make the series longer; they will bump it around the schedule to a different night or different timeslot, often without changing the printed guide. Most inexplicably of all, they seem completely oblivious to the ill-will this generates.
For example, not that long ago, I listened to a radio colleague ranting about how Channel 10 treated Veronica Mars, which was apparently to play half the first series early on Monday evenings, drop it for six months, play the second half of the series at a different time each Friday night, and finish the run by playing the first episode of the second season. That sounds awful. Why would they be surprised it didn't rate?
Anyway, I foolishly allowed myself to get slightly excited by the (belated) arrival of Rome, even though it's on Channel 9. That was until last night, when I watched the first episode (which started over half an hour after the scheduled time), and was completely baffled. There was this odd jump in time about halfway through, and various things happening that were never explained. How could so many people worldwide have enjoyed this? So I decided to read the episode recap over at Television Without Pity and all became clear. I hadn't watched the first episode at all. I'd watched the first episode and half the second episode, butchered to fit in to one hour. I suppose that means they'll have to cut into the third episode to fill an hour next week too. That's the end of that then; I'll catch it on DVD soon enough.
Is it just us with this problem? Or are your TV stations doing this as well?
