Writer Patrick

When My Own Worst Enemy uses the plot device of a nanovirus to fix a plot complication, it's time to drop the show. I've been watching since it started but the latest episode seemed to take a turn for the worse. They're making the twist of the show the primary plot, which means the show is quickly becoming predictable.

While we the viewers know the situation isn't going to be fixed, to use such a lame idea assures us that the writers don't have any idea of where they're going with the show. While a nanovirus might work within the content of the show, they way in which it was used was too much like a magic wand. It's like Dallas when the whole season was just a dream. The writers wrote themselves into a corner and then threw in some lame idea to get them out.

This is the thing that bugs me about Terminator, primarily the TV series. The main crisis can never be resolved. And whenever the writers want to make things more exciting--or agonizing, whichever the case may be--they can wave their magic wand and make a terminator appear. Of course I have problems with their time travel theory as well; they're trying to change a future which appears to be set. Their present couldn't take place as it has without it.

I could tell the third season of Prison Break was going to be bad before it started just from the way the second season ended. As such I didn't bother with it after the second season. The writers had an interesting idea initially, but once they escaped from prison the story was basically over. There's no way Michael could ever have a normal life because even if he could be forgiven for breaking his brother out of jail, he's still responsible for aiding the escape of multiple felons as well as his own escape.

There's an old saying that's fallen out of favour: "you can't catch the one armed man twice." It refers back to the old (original) Fugitive TV show. It basically means that once the primary crisis of the show is resolved, the show is over. So much of the tension in the "Fugitive" was centred around whether or not the one armed man was caught. Of course once you've seen the finale it's hard to watch the episodes again since nothing that happens matters.

And that's the problem with using a major plot device like finding the original criminal or the Jeckle and Hyde story of My Own Worst Enemy. Dr. Jeckle solved his problem by dying. And it appears that "Henry" will solve his problem the same way. This last episode would have been better had the main character undergone the treatment and still continued to have the dual personality. Until then we know that nothing they do really matters.

According to The Futon Critic there's only five episodes left of the show. Whether or not there will be more is uncertain. From the ratings it doesn't appear that the show is going to last past Christmas yet it also appears that NBC would rather run down the show than to try to cancel and replace the show so close to Christmas.

Since this is Sunday and I'm still watching shows from this past Monday, I can afford to drop it. I might go back and watch the show when everything goes into repeats over the Holidays, but I can't say. If the show is dropped there's little point and if the show isn't there's little point since I won't be interested in watching new episodes anyway.

Since this post is so long I'll follow up with more ideas in a later post. I've still got more to say about shows I'm watching and considering dropping.

Here's pictures of this year's pumpkin.

I call this one "The Pumpkin King." I didn't spend as much time on this one as previous ones, but it was a smaller pumpkin. I also didn't quite feel up to the work and this was the image I thought of before carving. Next year I might just do a haunted house. I've been thinking of that for a while. I've also had the idea to do a profile, one that looks like the ones resulting from a template. I'll have to wait until then to decide.

I've found it difficult to keep up with all the TV shows I'm watching. I'm nearly a week behind on many. It's mostly because I'm finding more to watch this year than in previous years, and partially that I'm hesitant to drop any shows. Usually, many of the shows I watch get cancelled so if I choose to drop the wrong show I'm finding myself with almost nothing to watch.

This year the networks seem more hesitant to drop shows, probably because they don't have much to fill them with. I can't wait for December since so many shows are either pre-empted or dropped from the schedule then. That should give me time to catch up. And I've still go a few things on tape from months ago I've yet to watch. Although, given the low ratings of some of the shows, I don't expect them to be back next year. That should leave me with a comfortable level of viewing. And even if I still find myself with too much to watch, it should be easier to decided what to watch and what to skip.

I've decided that episode 50 of Podcast Ping will be it's Season Finale. Although it's relatively irrelevant for podcasts, it will give me a good place to leave off on it while I concentrate on THE UNSTOPPABLE RIDE. I've already had an idea for a short story based on the main character and I think I'll write a few of them, even though I'm still working on the main story. I also feel I'm getting the voice for the character settled and working out exactly who the character is.

Come the new year I think I'll just stick with THE UNSTOPPABLE RIDE, so the feed will be busy but I won't be doing regular shows for a while. Besides, with all the rebuilds I've done lately, 50 episodes to listen to, and new episodes of THE UNSTOPPABLE RIDE, there's plenty to listen to and re-listen to before it's really missed. I've also had an idea for some changes to the show, but those would come later.

I haven't played too much with digital off-air lately, probably because I'm still trying to manage my viewing as is and there aren't many shows that I'm not already getting. Besides, right now I need to concentrate on the writing.

I've also got to get another Blue Hot Gossip News segment out. I'm extending the name so that it can't be confused and the podcast site name makes more sense. There is a gossipnews.blogspot.com site but it's empty of everything but one old post. It appears the person lost interest or was just trying to grab the name.

And I really should update this more often instead of writing these long posts.

I've been working on trying to understand how to access digital off-air and it is a little more work than most would expect. What makes it so difficult at the moment is that there seems to be few stations actually transmitting in our area.

None of the indoor antenna I had would work, including one advanced model with two fine tuning adjustments. I eventually built a bow-tie type UHF antenna based upon some plans I found on the Internet (although I did redesign it to be about half-size).

So far I've been able to get three PBS stations, which come from the same broadcaster, on 17-1,17-2 and 17-3, and one CW station on 23-1. The signal meter registers a signal for OMNI2 but there was no broadcast transmitted. Every other channel doesn't register on the signal meter.

Tuning for digital is done by compass direction but fortunately, if the signal is strong enough, the antenna doesn't have to be perfect. It can be fine tuned after a signal if found. And like analogue the antenna position has to be changed for each channel. Fortunately, it appears many stations are broadcasting from the same locations.

One of the biggest problems in Canada right now is that it appears most stations aren't broadcasting a signal and those that are aren't at full power. This can make it difficult to get anything at all with an indoor antenna. Many of the stations that I am able to receive on analogue I expect to be able to get from digital, but many I won't be able to.

According to the charts generated at http://www.2150.com/broadcast/ I'm about 32 Km from the CN Tower where the signals are supposed to be broadcasted from. The US stations are approximately 60Km from where I am, but the signals travel over water which allows them to carry further. Still, from what I've gathered, the range for digital broadcasts are about 40Km so I should be fine.

The chart at 2150.com shows stations that are proposed and the power levels they are suppose to be operating at when at full power. A chart at http://remotecentral.com/hdtv shows the channels in the Toronto area as they are broadcasting right now. It's clear that the power is so low on many of Canadian stations that I probably wouldn't be able to receive the stations right now. I'm hoping that when they go to full power that problem will be resolved.

I can also see from 2150 that there are stations planned for Peterborough which will fall about 40km from where I am. I'm hoping to be able to tune those in, but those appear to just be repeaters of what's coming from the CN Tower.

There is one local station which has applied for digital transmission but does not as yet appear to be transmitting. The analogue station comes in as clearly as any off-air analogue station could so I know that won't be a problem. Unfortunately, it's a subsidiary of a Barrie station that's a CBC subsidiary, so it's really only good for local news.

With the analogue cut-off in February for the US, now is the time to determine whether one is set-up to handle the digital. It could mean replacing or installing a roof-top antenna and that's something better done during this time of year. Although the Canadian cut-off is years away, Canadians who use off-air will still be affected since they won't be able to get off-air US stations without digital setups.

Most of my TV is watched through ExpressVu so it's not essential to get the off-air. But I still like having it as a backup. And there are the odd channels like our local channel not available on satellite. I also found an educational PBS channel called Think Brite on 17-3 that no Canadian broadcaster offers. 

But digital off-air offers something more: perfectly clear channels that can add to an existing lineup. It could encourage many to add antennas just for the additional channels. Analogue channels are snowy at best so many prefer to ignore them, but the clear digital channels are just as watchable as cable or satellite channels making them more attractive.

However, Canadians aren't ready for the change and currently can't get the set-top converters in stores. And the Canadian broadcasters don't seem to be putting forth much effort to transmit digitally. So the US changeover could be a greater shock to Canadians than they expect.

I'll keep playing around with it and give further updates later.

Podcast Ping (http://podcastping.blogspot.com) has been going for more than a year now in it's current format. While I posted a few months before August of last year, most of those tended to just be experiments which would eventually lead into it's current format.

I've also posted what will probably be the last Blue Hot Gossip Comedy Show for a while. It takes a lot of work to do and I'm not really seeing any better results than just the Gossip News segments alone. And with The FuMP no longer posting stuff to Podshow, it gets a little harder to find music and I don't see any point in repeating what the FuMP podcasts. I will continue to do The Gossip News on that feed.

I also must get back to posting THE UNSTOPPABLE RIDE sometime. I am progressing with the writing of it, but I still need to take some time to record and post it. I'll probably get episodes out in the fall.