Lately I just haven't had much time to post on here... sorry about that! Seems like all my time lately is spent trying to keep our Primetime News Page updated!
We have a lot of great new volunteers writing daily soap opera updates and more. We also have a new Volunteer Manager, Sammie, who is going to help us keep track of everything. Very helpful! All of our volunteers are great. You can check out all the new stuff put up on our What's New Page.
The other two things keeping me so busy are interviewing TV actors for our Articles Page and reviewing DVD's and new TV shows for our Primetime TV Review Page. These are also great perks, of course, for me, to talk to actors that I love and get free DVD's! But it takes up a lot of time. ...the site is so big and there's always too much to do! We always need more volunteers...
TV has been great this season, at least for primetime. Daytime is suffering badly. It's very sad that the networks don't seem to recognize the value of daytime soaps any more (if they ever did). They can blame the falling ratings on lots of things, but the plain truth is that, back in the 90's when the ratings started falling, they did nothing to improve the quality of the shows (and in fact, did the opposite). You can't just continue to underestimate your viewers with crappy writing and bad cliches, and hope that things will turn around. For some reason, soap operas keep hiring the same writers that got fired from other shows! What other industry does that? It's ridiculous. If they got fired because the ratings went down on their shows from bad writing, why hire them again?? It makes no sense. And they are so afraid of taking any chances. They just recycle the same old boring stories over and over again, instead of making fresh new stories that make more sense in today's world. People want good drama that intrigues and surprises them, whether you're talking soap operas, science fiction, cop shows, or anything else. If it's all predictable and boring, of course people will tune out. The top people at the networks either don't want to bother spending the money to get better writers, or they just think that soap viewers will put up with anything, so they don't need to bother improving the shows.
The laws are the same for TV shows as they are for people - you must progress, or die. In TV terms, progress means improving by getting better writing and acting (although this does not really hold true for reality shows or other "trash tv"). If you watch most shows from the past, the writing is not only not quite as good as today's shows, but the dramas today are far more complex. Even if you look at a show like Law & Order, the earlier episodes are much simpler than the more recent ones. People expect more now from TV. The competition is much more fierce. While it's true the ratings of all TV are falling, not just daytime soaps, and people are finding other things to do that they like better (like the internet or playing video games, or watching DVD's), that means TV has to get even better to compete for our attention and to avoid cancellation. Unfortunately, cable seems to have the upper hand in quality shows compared to network TV. It helps that they produce far fewer episodes per year than network TV, I'm sure.
The viewer is the one that wins in all this (at least while TV is still around). We are the ones that get the better shows to watch. This fall season I had a hard time sticking to my "only one new show per season" rule. I'm afraid that "Ringer" was not enough. I have to keep up with "Once Upon a Time", "Secret Circle", "American Horror Story" and "Terra Nova" as well. I have also occasionally been watching "Person of Interest". These are all very good shows. But, you know, I'm a TV junkie :) You can read a list of all the shows I watch. I'm always very sad when they cancel my favorite shows. Right now I am bummed about the end of Men of a Certain Age, Memphis Beat, The Protector, and soon, Eureka. That is the only problem with being a TV fan. Eventually, everything gets canceled (some a lot sooner than you'd want).
It will be interesting to see what the future holds with TV. We already have the technology to stream the net from TV's, and they show many TV shows on the net, so you can watch not only "regular" TV on your TV but net TV as well. We have a lot of TV on demand. The question is where it will go from here. We had all hoped that the company Prospect Park would come through on their promise to move All My Children and One Life to Live to the internet, but they couldn't get the funding. I think they handled it very poorly and were very short-sighted. One has to wonder why ABC didn't try to do that first, but we all figure they would have messed it up, anyway. Eventually, network TV is either going to have to find a way to get more internet advertising dollars or go all on-demand, or they will die.
There are lots of reruns on TV right now due to the holiday. For me it's a good thing. Since I'm always behind, it's a good way to catch up! But I do miss my favorite shows, like The Mentalist and Supernatural...
Happy Holidays, everyone!
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
The TV MegaSite's Blog Post #89
I hope everyone is enjoying the end of spring, the start of
summer....
We have all been really busy at The TV MegaSite putting so much news and other stuff up, that I just haven't had any time to blog! Way too much to do and not enough time or volunteers.
We now have recaps of the TV show "Vampire Diaries". Katya is writing them, and she is an excellent writer. She has been starting with the first season so far...we still have writers who are catching up on episodes of "The O.C." and "24".
We can always use more recap writers!!
We are still building the pages for newer shows like The Mentalist, Dexter, Mad Men, and much more. Jacques and I have been working on that whenever we have the time.
Of course we are all deeply shocked and saddened by the cancellation of "All My Children" and "One Life to Live". I have been putting up a list of all of their sponsors and contact information so that you can write to the show and their sponsors to protest. Other fan protest pages and information is found on our AMC Links Page. There are a lot of rumors that General Hospital is next on the chopping block, so make sure to write your letter to the show to tell them not to cancel it!
Of course, as long as there are soaps, we will be keeping up our pages with transcripts, updates, short recaps, and best lines!
Nowadays I tend to post any TV-related stuff that's important to me on our new TV Facebook page, so please check it out!
This time of year is tough because the TV networks announce which of our favorite shows are not returning. Personally, I am still upset that Stargate Universe, Capricorn, Medium, Terriers, and Lights Out are not coming back, but now I also have to add Human Target to the list. I'm not really shocked, but still upset.
I am very relieved, though, that Fringe was not canceled. I hope that CSI: NY, V, and Brothers and Sisters will return...
This week is the series finale of Smallville, and that is very sad for me. Even though the show can sometimes be really stupid, most of the time I love it, and I will really miss it. I love all sorts of Superman shows and movies, and I never missed an episode of this show.
Which of your favorite shows have gone or are staying? Let me know!
summer....We have all been really busy at The TV MegaSite putting so much news and other stuff up, that I just haven't had any time to blog! Way too much to do and not enough time or volunteers.
We now have recaps of the TV show "Vampire Diaries". Katya is writing them, and she is an excellent writer. She has been starting with the first season so far...we still have writers who are catching up on episodes of "The O.C." and "24".
We can always use more recap writers!!
We are still building the pages for newer shows like The Mentalist, Dexter, Mad Men, and much more. Jacques and I have been working on that whenever we have the time.
Of course we are all deeply shocked and saddened by the cancellation of "All My Children" and "One Life to Live". I have been putting up a list of all of their sponsors and contact information so that you can write to the show and their sponsors to protest. Other fan protest pages and information is found on our AMC Links Page. There are a lot of rumors that General Hospital is next on the chopping block, so make sure to write your letter to the show to tell them not to cancel it!
Of course, as long as there are soaps, we will be keeping up our pages with transcripts, updates, short recaps, and best lines!
Nowadays I tend to post any TV-related stuff that's important to me on our new TV Facebook page, so please check it out!
This time of year is tough because the TV networks announce which of our favorite shows are not returning. Personally, I am still upset that Stargate Universe, Capricorn, Medium, Terriers, and Lights Out are not coming back, but now I also have to add Human Target to the list. I'm not really shocked, but still upset.
I am very relieved, though, that Fringe was not canceled. I hope that CSI: NY, V, and Brothers and Sisters will return...
This week is the series finale of Smallville, and that is very sad for me. Even though the show can sometimes be really stupid, most of the time I love it, and I will really miss it. I love all sorts of Superman shows and movies, and I never missed an episode of this show.
Which of your favorite shows have gone or are staying? Let me know!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
The TV MegaSite's Blog Post #88
Happy New Year to all TV fans!
It doesn't really feel like a new year yet, since we have so many reruns!
If you are on Facebook, come by and chat about TV at our Fans of The TV MegaSite Group.
Things have been so hectic! It's always something. We still have tons of stuff going up on our site every single day, thanks to our wonderful volunteers. You can find out what's new on our site every day on our What's New page.
I get so much news now from the TV networks that I don't have time for it at all, but I am doing my best to keep up. I get a lot that has to be edited, and I forward it to Danielle to put up our Primetime Forum. I put a lot of it (smaller versions of it, anyway) on our Primetime News Page. You can see info about all the upcoming TV shows, DVD's and more!
We have add tons of new primetime show pages for current shows like Castle and American Idol! Eric has been building those, and I am helping when I can.
We also have new recaps of episodes of The O.C., Charmed transcripts and more! Lots of interviews with TV stars, too!
If you like daytime TV, we have tons of daily updates (detailed summaries), as well as short recaps, and transcripts-- each update has screencaps as well! Lots of stuff to have fun with, as well, with games, polls, articles, spoilers, news, and more.
I have to apologize because our Days of Our Lives and Y&R transcripts have not been a day ahead lately. Eric in Canada usually does those for us, but his machine died, and he is having a hard time getting everything replaced properly. The technology we use for the transcripts is kind of out of date. It uses a TV tuner that grabs the closed captioning from the TV. Apparently the new tv tuners don't do that (they just let you watch TV on your computer). The old ones, made by ATI, which is now owned by AMD, won't work on newer versions of Windows. What a pain in the you-know-what! So he is working on trying to fix that. We hope it won't be much longer!
A lot of our transcripts have been late, and those have been my fault because I have had a lot of things interfering with them. Sucks when real life gets in the way! First I was sick, and then my own computer with ATI was crashing a lot. I think it's fixed now, though, and I am mostly caught up on the transcripts. Cross your fingers!
We always need more volunteers, so please email me if you have a few hours a week and would like to help out! Thanks!
TV has had lots of reruns on the "major networks" since November. I hope you have managed to catch some good cables shows that were not reruns. I sure enjoyed the holiday episodes of "Warehouse 13" and "Eureka", as well as the return of "Burn Notice" and "Men of a Certain Age" and "Leverage". All great shows. Thank you, cable nets, for realizing that there are TV fans who want to watch good TV fiction 12 months a year!! Of course, there are always the daytime soaps; they almost never take a break, so I guess I should thank the TV networks for that, too.
This next week, most of the shows are returning, so that will be great. Me, I'm still catching up on stuff on my DVR. You should really get a DVR if you don't already have one. You will wonder how you lived without it. Not only is it much easier to record stuff to watch, but it is so great for pausing TV and for rewinding and fast-forwarding live TV. I have two of them, so I always have stuff to watch! Too much, in fact...
I get lots of DVD's sent to me, to review for our site, so I always have lots of DVD's to watch, too. It's an amazing age we live in when TV shows are so abundant and convenient to watch. Stop complaining that you are bored and there is "nothing on", tsk tsk! :) Right now I am watching a great show from 1996, "Dark Skies". I saw it back then, but amazingly, I had forgotten most of it. I remembered that it was Scifi and that I loved it, but nothing else. Getting old...
Have a great time! Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, too, this weekend!!
Suzanne
It doesn't really feel like a new year yet, since we have so many reruns!
If you are on Facebook, come by and chat about TV at our Fans of The TV MegaSite Group.
Things have been so hectic! It's always something. We still have tons of stuff going up on our site every single day, thanks to our wonderful volunteers. You can find out what's new on our site every day on our What's New page.
I get so much news now from the TV networks that I don't have time for it at all, but I am doing my best to keep up. I get a lot that has to be edited, and I forward it to Danielle to put up our Primetime Forum. I put a lot of it (smaller versions of it, anyway) on our Primetime News Page. You can see info about all the upcoming TV shows, DVD's and more!
We have add tons of new primetime show pages for current shows like Castle and American Idol! Eric has been building those, and I am helping when I can.
We also have new recaps of episodes of The O.C., Charmed transcripts and more! Lots of interviews with TV stars, too!
If you like daytime TV, we have tons of daily updates (detailed summaries), as well as short recaps, and transcripts-- each update has screencaps as well! Lots of stuff to have fun with, as well, with games, polls, articles, spoilers, news, and more.
I have to apologize because our Days of Our Lives and Y&R transcripts have not been a day ahead lately. Eric in Canada usually does those for us, but his machine died, and he is having a hard time getting everything replaced properly. The technology we use for the transcripts is kind of out of date. It uses a TV tuner that grabs the closed captioning from the TV. Apparently the new tv tuners don't do that (they just let you watch TV on your computer). The old ones, made by ATI, which is now owned by AMD, won't work on newer versions of Windows. What a pain in the you-know-what! So he is working on trying to fix that. We hope it won't be much longer!
A lot of our transcripts have been late, and those have been my fault because I have had a lot of things interfering with them. Sucks when real life gets in the way! First I was sick, and then my own computer with ATI was crashing a lot. I think it's fixed now, though, and I am mostly caught up on the transcripts. Cross your fingers!
We always need more volunteers, so please email me if you have a few hours a week and would like to help out! Thanks!
TV has had lots of reruns on the "major networks" since November. I hope you have managed to catch some good cables shows that were not reruns. I sure enjoyed the holiday episodes of "Warehouse 13" and "Eureka", as well as the return of "Burn Notice" and "Men of a Certain Age" and "Leverage". All great shows. Thank you, cable nets, for realizing that there are TV fans who want to watch good TV fiction 12 months a year!! Of course, there are always the daytime soaps; they almost never take a break, so I guess I should thank the TV networks for that, too.
This next week, most of the shows are returning, so that will be great. Me, I'm still catching up on stuff on my DVR. You should really get a DVR if you don't already have one. You will wonder how you lived without it. Not only is it much easier to record stuff to watch, but it is so great for pausing TV and for rewinding and fast-forwarding live TV. I have two of them, so I always have stuff to watch! Too much, in fact...
I get lots of DVD's sent to me, to review for our site, so I always have lots of DVD's to watch, too. It's an amazing age we live in when TV shows are so abundant and convenient to watch. Stop complaining that you are bored and there is "nothing on", tsk tsk! :) Right now I am watching a great show from 1996, "Dark Skies". I saw it back then, but amazingly, I had forgotten most of it. I remembered that it was Scifi and that I loved it, but nothing else. Getting old...
Have a great time! Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, too, this weekend!!
Suzanne
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