Lately there's been a major crackdown by the movie companies to control the distribution of torrents of their material on the Internet by either shutting down or forcing the portals listing torrents to implement restrictions. These restrictions, while not very popular with those downloading, are necessary to control video piracy.

Right now one of the main ways video pirates get the material is to download it. Although it might have some effect on theatrical sales, it's really the DVD sales that concern the distributors. When one goes to buy a DVD on-line they may often wind up with a cheap pirated version made from a downloaded torrent. This results in a significant loss to the industry and a disappointment to the customer.

But television torrents work a little differently. These will often appear after the program has already aired in a country. So for many the torrent then becomes like a virtual VCR, allowing one to watch a show they may have missed the night before.

However, a problem occurs when a show is downloaded in a country it has not yet aired in. Then people are bypassing stations to get access to shows they may have to wait years to see—if at all. Of course one could argue that they could wait, and many do, but if one waits and the show doesn't appear, they may never get to see that show.

There has long been a belief in North America, at least the US and Canada, that television should be free. It is not the viewers that pay for TV but the advertisers. In exchange for putting up with ads, viewers get free TV.

Although the TV that people get isn't necessarily free. To truly get free TV one would have to receive all their TV via off-air broadcasts. When one pays for cable, satellite or some other system they're paying for their TV.

While paying some fee for easy access is reasonable, exactly how much should one really expect to pay for? Cable specialty channels are suppose to sustain themselves from customer subscriptions, yet they run ads. So in effect, the customer is paying twice; once for the subscription and once in having to watch ads.

Furthermore, these specialty channels are suppose to offer something more than what network or basic channels offer, yet very often that may be only one or two decent shows. In the past many of these shows would have aired on network television or at least been syndicated. But now the viewer is expected to pay for an entire channel just to get one show. Multiply this by forty or fifty channels, each with their own shows, and it's not long before one is paying for over a hundred dollars just to get the shows they want—and watching those shows filled with ads.

In such an environment it's understandable why many would turn to the Internet to get their TV. The television industry is likely try to counter this by doing as the movie industry does and eliminating torrents. But there is a better possibility.

Instead of trying to eliminate the distribution of their shows in the Internet, they should be trying to provide legal means of distribution. And many already are. Unfortunately, the system they use often does not allow for access by those outside the country of origin. This is a major problem with the show may be aired about the same time in more than one country. This is an extremely common problem with American shows being broadcast through American sites which don't allow access to Canada, even though those US stations are legally accessible in Canada.

The typical means of distribution used for television networks is some form of video streaming. These sites often provide lower quality content with sometimes awkward players. They don't allow one to really enjoy the show the same way it would appear on TV. As such, while many do use them and wish to support a legal system, they aren't sufficient to eliminate the torrent problem.

What broadcasters need to do is to provide legal torrents of their material for free. But unlike the illegal television torrents right now, they don't need to provide them commercial free. By providing torrents of their shows with ads included, they can provide the show the way many wish to see it while still making money from the ads.

Granted, there's many who have been spoiled by the ad free illegal shows, downloaders would likely be willing to accept the ads if it meant they could get the show without breaking the law. Depending upon the player, it would be possible to fast forward through the ads, but as long as the ad breaks were kept short—say one minute long—many would just as easily watch the ads than to bother skipping through them.

Of course this wouldn't eliminate the television broadcasts for the simple reason that the television and the Internet reach different markets. If anything it would help the show to reach a larger audience. And as long as there's a legal torrent available, there's less chances of illegal ones being offered. In the future we could even see some shows being provided via Internet only.

Torrenting is a cheap way to distribute material. Broadcasting use to be a cheap way to get material. Merging the two only seems natural. But it's not something that producers can ignore. If they don't provide legal material for torrenting, someone else will.

Patrick J. McNamara's Webstore is at http://patrickjmcnamara.webs.com

With the networks about to announce their new fall shows, this is a good time to look back on what shows had less than successful runs. Although there's many ways a TV show can be considered a failure, I've decided to group them into three categories.

Failure to Air

It can be difficult to name shows that fall into this category since the vast majority of those shows are never heard about. This failure can cover anything from never making it past the first script--or even the initial concept--to a complete pilot being filmed but never being shown. And in a few cases the show may be included as part of the network's fall promotions even though it winds up never airing.

Although in most cases, if a pilot is made it usually gets aired one way or another, often as a TV movie or special.  It's common to see many of these failures work their way onto summer TV. A few even wound up in circulation as movies that appear on TV once and a while. And in some cases, a show that is initially passed on the first time around may be picked up a year or two later as some shows did this past year.

There's a couple of TV specials that talk about failed pilots made a few years ago: The Best TV Shows That Never Were and it's follow-up, The Greatest TV Shows You Never Saw (And Some You Have). Both do a great job of showcasing these failures and can be nostalgic for those who did see many of the failed pilots. It's hard to believe that some of these shows were ever given serious attention.

Failure to Complete a Season

This is the sort of failed TV series that most think of. About the most notable are the two Bronson Pinchot failures, The Trouble With Larry which lasted only about three episodes and Meego which lasted only one. In both years they managed to be the first shows of the season to be cancelled. And as far as I know no other actor has managed to achieve that status, at least for shows in which they were the lead character. Needless to say, although he's appeared on TV, he's never been the star of any TV series since.

While the season length has been growing shorter, for prime-time TV it's usually considered to be at least 20 episodes. So that leaves a large range of shows which would fall into that category. The ones people tend to remember best are the ones that might disappear after about six to thirteen episodes since those get the attention and because they tend to get cancelled while fans are in the middle of the season.

Failure to Get Renewed

Of all the shows that are considered failures, a large number are those that don't make it to second season. These shows don't always get much attention since most have forgotten about them by the time the fall rolls around, and if they do get cancelled after their first season the announcement usually comes just as the season is wrapping up so fans don't feel as cheated.

Because of the writer's strike last year, many shows that wouldn't have been renewed were. However, as in the case of Pushing Daisies, in many cases it only allowed them to complete a season's worth of material. As such this past year isn't really typical.

Whether these shows are successes or failures really depends upon whether they managed to complete the story well enough. For example, Even though the US version of Life on Mars only ran 17 episodes, it did have a satisfactory conclusion and could be thought of more as a mini-series. More typical would be the recent Knight Rider series which ended in a way that could permit a second season but could also be treated as a series finale.

But unlike in the past, the failure of any TV series doesn't mean it will never be seen again. With DVDs now a common release platform for TV shows, even a series only 6 episodes long could get a DVD release.

And the normal length for a TV show does seem to be shrinking so that many shows are getting only 13 episode orders rather than full season orders. This isn't that unusual, since the normal pattern is for networks to order the pilot, then 5 more episodes (making 6), then 5 more episodes (making 13 in total) and finally ordering 7 or more to make a full season.

There are a number of shows that should not be considered failures, even if they did get cancelled in the middle of a second or third season. The original Star Trek did have enough episodes to air in syndication and is now considered a success, even though it was cancelled in or after it's third year. And most shows that make it past their first year tend to survive a few years. So, with the possible exception of this past couple years (since shows that only had about 9 episodes last year were renewed), anything surviving it's first year should be considered a success.

There are many viewers who may disagree with me, but I thought the ending to the US version of Life on Mars was great. Of course to understand why it was so good you had to pay attention while watching the series. There were many things that appeared throughout the series that just didn't make sense, that is until the ending. But after seeing the ending it all ties together with no loose ends.

There are two ways the series could never have ended. One would have been for him to wake from a coma, as he did in the British version, since that would be how everybody expected the series to end. And that ending is also pro-suicide--something that ABC would never have agreed to air. Besides, if the US version just copied the UK version, people would complain about how the UK version was more original.

The other way in which the series could not have ended would have been for him to stay in the past. He was supposedly from 2008 so he had to return there. While he may have wanted to stay in 1973, he couldn't because he wasn't in control of his life. And trying to pass off his comprehension of modern day wouldn't work if he came from 1973. Just compare the sci-fi of the 70s with the technology of today. Nobody could get it all right.

However, the US version manages to explain all the weird stuff that happened to him. Yes, it was a dream but we have been constantly told that throughout the show. (I'm bolding this because it's important.) And it may have been thought up at the last minute, but it's rare for the ending of any story to be thought up until it's reached. This holds particularly true for TV. While we always knew the people on Battlestar Galactica would find Earth, it turned out to be a different planet than the one they were looking for.

I've seen many people post about how they hated the ending, yet they give absolutely no explanation as to how they would end the series and still cover all the loose ends. The robots. The "tripping" and distortions of reality. Even the appearance of a mentor who was supposedly dead. All were images programmed by the computer and affected by computer glitches. And the title of the show, "Life On Mars," is explained by the ending. (Although it's really "Life In Suspended Animation While On A Journey To Mars" but it's still better than the explanation of MARS by the UK show.)

One could even compare the US version to Total Recall, except we never got to see the start of Sam's journey. In Total Recall the story starts before the "dream" and ends just at what would be the waking point. But in Life On Mars the story starts with the dream and ends just after waking. We were basically told it was a dream from the start and all throughout the show, but were mislead as to what the dream was. Interestingly, it would have been much harder to pull off this ending had they used the original US pilot since that established it as a coma.

One of the best TV show ending was the end of "Newhart" which basically made out the entire series as a dream of a character in another series. Yet one of the worst TV show endings was St. Elsewhere which tried to explain the series away as a dream. In the case of Newhart, it worked because it was unexpected and a little rediculous. Newhart was a comedy, so it was making fun of itself. St. Elsewhere simply tried to use it as a way to bring a popular character back to life. It was a drama and there was nothing to establish it as having been a dream. And there were things that happened in the show which could not be explained away as a dream.

Life On Mars had to end with a waking scene because we had been told he was in a dream. I just can't say this enough. He could have woke from a coma but everyone would have predicted that and it wouldn't have made for an original ending. He could have woke in his bed, but that wouldn't have explained the traffic accident. Waking in space, however, was something nobody would have saw coming.

It was science fantasy (sometimes seeming more like sci-fi and at other times more like fantasy). Giving it a sci-fi ending was perfectly appropriate. Giving it an ending nobody saw coming but which fit into the story perfectly well was brilliant.

This television season has been one of the least watchable seasons ever. Yet I find myself watching more this year than most. Now we're into the final stretch and it couldn't be more welcome.

I'm still finding my schedule crowded, although it's a little more manageable. My most crowded night is Tuesdays with at least four shows I want to watch. But I'll take them in order.

Mondays I'm watching, or at least taping, Heroes followed by Chuck. Neither has been very interesting, although I find Chuck a little more interesting. It's about the only hour-long comedy on TV this year. However, there's rumour that both shows will not be renewed and the ratings support that.

Tuesdays I've been dealing with NCIS, The Mentalist, Fringe, Homeland Security and now Reaper. Homeland Security has been dropped by the network in favour of Dancing With The Stars. There's about five episodes unaired and I suspect they could re-appear during the summer. And since I've been able to catch The Mentalist on Sundays on a Canadian channel and Fringe is currently on hiatus, it's not too bad right now.

With Knight Rider gone, the only show I'm watching on Wednesday is Life on Mars. But that has been cancelled and has only a couple more episodes to air. After that I won't have anything that night.

Thursday is the second most crowded night, mainly because Bones and Smallville are on at the same time. I'm also sticking with Supernatural, mainly because there's only seven episodes left. Both Supernatural and Smallville have been renewed, although I've practically lost interest in both shows so I'll have to wait until I see what's on in the fall before I decide to continue with then. I'm only bothering to watch out the season in case I do.

This friday will air the last Battlestar Galactica. After that I won't really have anything to watch that night. And with the exception of The Mentalist, there's nothing on network TV of interest to me all weekend.

So for at least the next six weeks I'll have a fairly active TV schedule, although half those shows are not likely to be back next year. Which is fine, because I'm running out of space on videotapes with movies and specials I've taped but have yet to watch. That I expect I will be doing during the summer.

It's time for television to embrace the mini-series again. I don't mean those two or three part movies which are mistakenly called mini-series, but the mini-series the way it was intended; as 12 or 13 episode shows.

The mini-series doesn't have a definite length, but generally is between six and twelve episodes in length. Originally it was defined as "a series too short to fill a full season." Somewhere along the way they became shorter and shorter until many were calling two episode movies mini-series.

The mini-series is a particularly American invention. In England they just refer to them as a regular series. One of the best examples of this is Life on Mars, which was two eight-episode series. In the US, that wouldn't even be enough for a full season.

Networks started making mini-series because they wanted to produce a show that was too long for a TV movie but too short for a full series. And budget also became a factor. Many shows, like V, were made as mini-series because the network couldn't afford the cost of a full series since each episode cost so much. (Ironically, the last episode of the V mini-series had a very unclimactic ending and made it appear that the producers ran out of money. The subsequent series fixed this to some degree.)

While the mini-series seemed to rule during the 70s and 80s, the abundance of them along with other changes in television made them less attractive to viewers. As such networks didn't want to risk running long runs of mini-series which they might, and sometimes did, cancel. So many mini-series, such as 10th Kingdom, were jammed into a few weeks and others shorted to being nothing more than two or three part movies that ran subsequent weeks or even days.

Now the trend seems to be getting back to the mini-series, but for regular series. Crusoe wasn't intended as a mini-series but since it's only thirteen parts, if it ends the story reasonably then it could be considered one. Although generally a cancelled show is not a mini-series. The ending of the mini-series is pre-planned. (This is the sort of show that normally would just have been cancelled in the past, but since the networks are so short of shows this year they have had to make concessions. And it does help DVD sales, which can be used to make back lost revenue.)

Another trend, apparently influenced by the writer's strike, is to split regular series into two parts. The most obvious use of this is with the last season of Battlestar Galactica. Heroes is also making use of this technique by dividing the stories for each season. While there has always been a split during the Holidays, deliberately planning on the hiatus is relatively new.

Many TV shows started as mini-series. V was one of the first, although Battlestar Galactica was a way for the networks to judge whether the story would have enough viewers to support a regular series.

TV movies have been used in a similar way. The Bionic Man started as a TV movie, which in turn led to a popular series with a moderately successful (three season) spin-off. Coincidentally, the end of The Bionic Man came at the same time as the start of the Roots mini-series. (Possibly helping the ratings for Roots.) Hercules started as a movie, which led to a few more, then onto a successful syndicated series which spawned another popular series, Xena.

Although this doesn't always work. Man from started as four movies. Their success led to a series which wound up getting cancelled in it's first season. So even a mini-series can't always gage the popularity of a show since many will only commit themselves for the short run. But overall, it's still better than running a full season of a show that just doesn't appear to the viewers and winds up stranding those viewers that aren't interested.

Some of the best shows started as mini-series or movies, and some of the shows I've most liked started that way. And there's still a few mini-series that I've liked that have never been more than mini-series. 10th Kingdom was a good length for a mini-series and I've watched it many times since. (I initally taped it then picked up the DVD later.)

Unlike a regular TV series, a mini-series doesn't require as much of a time commitment. And a popular mini-series could then become a regular series or at least follow with a subsequent mini-series. With many turning away from TV to other time-consuming forms of entertainment, the mini-series just might be the way for television to go.

Tomorrow is Christmas and I expect to be disappointed. But that seems typical for Christmas now. I'm planning to go to mass tonight but it's scheduled an hour earlier than it use to be so I'm trying to decide if I should leave an hour earlier than I have been or just half an hour. Leaving too early means waiting around longer than I need to, but leaving too late means standing for at least an hour and I'm not up to that.

I've been thinking of starting my own company, although I don't want to talk too much about the details until it's going. I studied a lot of business in school and I never realized exactly how much about business I knew. There's a few little things, like sales tax, that I have to work out but it's not that difficult. I also will need to get a vender's permit.

Interestingly, it's possible to find free websites that can be used for a business. I'll start with that first then expand as the budget allows. I'm going to start small and I'm going to sell physical products, that is something material and not digital. I'll start with one item then expand as I get going. But that's something I'll get into in the new year.

I've been spending a fair amount of time working out price and I've worked out what I figure is the lowest possible amount I could charge. Of course that's just prelimary and I'm guessing as to what the labour and materials would cost. Adding to the cost is an allotment for a sales fee since I would like to get others into selling the product. Although it's only a small amount. Labour is the biggest cost. Any excess would then be taken by administrative fees. I've also worked in taxes since I would like to sell it with the tax included, although I'll have to see how that works out.

While I could cut the administrative and sales fees if I sell it myself, I'm leaving them there to allow for future expansion. Otherwise I could run into trouble. And since I expect to make so little to start, the extra will help with other expenses. Once the company is in full swing, in maybe five or ten years, the administrative fees could be my main source of income so they need to be established early. But at least half or more of the cost will be labour and I can't cut that or the business is no longer viable. Even the sales fee is as small as I can get it.

Of course prices are subject to change.

This TV season seems a little different. It seems as if most years around this time almost all the shows would be airing repeats. But this season it seems that networks are trying to run a lot of new programs during the winter. This includes extending many of their regular shows past Thanksgiving and even into January with new shows each week.

I had planned on watching many shows up until the holidays then dropping shows while in repeats. But that doesn't seem to be happening this year. So I have to change my plans.

I've decided to drop Eleventh Hour. While it is a decent show and will likely be back next year, I just haven't been able to get into it. I also find myself being put off by many of the topics like diseases. (Disease stories don't tend to have a lot of staying power, mainly because everyone gets sick.) It's also too close to Fringe and I find that show a little more interesting. The characters on Fringe seem to be better developed. But I can't say if I'm even going to keep watching that show.

I worked out that I normally would have at least sixteen hours of viewing each week, so the loss of a few shows is almost a necessity. However, many shows like Chuck and Heroes are going on hiatus next week and a few like Supernatural and Smallville have already gone into repeats. And at least five of the shows I'm watching will be running out by the end of January. These are shows that would have been cancelled by now under a regular schedule, but the networks seem to want to use them as filler for the holiday lull.

There's still a number of things I've recorded that I'd like to watch or watch again, so I could use the time. As such I don't know if I'll get back into many of the shows I've been watching.

If I had to rank the shows I would put Bones and NCIS in my A-list. These are shows that I look forward to each week and often try to watch the same day. Pushing Daisies was there last year but this year the show hasn't been as strong. The strike probably crippled it's momentum. I will watch the remaining episodes though. Of the new shows this year, The Mentalist has some potential.

Most of what I watch would likely fall into my B-list.  This would be shows like Stargate Atlantis, Chuck, Heroes, Supernatural and Crusoe. These are shows I don't find myself getting excited about but usually enjoy watching, (although Atlantis did start as an A-list show). And I don't feel as if I've wasted an hour watching them. It's only the amount of material to watch that keeps me from enjoying them properly this year.

The C-list would be shows that I tend to watch more because there isn't much else on. I don't feel I'm wasting my time watching them, but if they were cancelled I wouldn't miss them either. In some cases, like Smallville or Knight Rider, it's simply because I want to watch all the episodes and it might bother me if I missed any. Although Smallville, which is suppose to be in it's last year, will likely get dropped down to the D-list if it's extended another year.

And in the case of Knight Rider it's more about being a long-time fan than the quality of the show. It's also unclear if the show will be back in the fall, although it does look to play out the year. And despite being a Sam Raimi fan, I would also put Legend of the Seeker on this list, although it's in danger of falling down to the D-list.

Anything on the D-list are shows that I would drop if I haven't already. Only special circumstances, like it being the last season of the show, make me bother to watch. Right now there's a few shows like My Own Worst Enemy, which has only one episode left, and Fringe, which I'm undecided on. It's only the reduction in shows during the holiday hiatus that's likely to keep me watching. Sanctuary also falls on the D-list. It hasn't been as interesting as I would have hoped. But since there's only a few episodes left I will watch it all.

And any show can fall down to the D-list. I once ranked ER on the A-list but no longer watch it, mostly because they changed the cast so much it's a completely different show with a completely different cast. I'm not even interested in this being the last year, although I might watch the final episode (despite not knowing who anyone is). As far as I'm concerned, the show was always about Noah Wiley's character and once he left the show was over. Although I dropped that show the year before.

I'm glad that many shows are going to be in repeats next week since it should give me the time to sort out my viewing. Unfortunately, there's a few new shows coming in January that I would like to check out which threatens to crowd my schedule further.

There's a new Muppet Christmas special coming out this year and I'm looking forward to seeing it. This seems to be the current trend for the Muppets; to release a TV movie every year or two. But many have never seen the first Muppet Christmas special and it's been a long time for those who have.

"John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together" came out back in 1979. I can't recall if it was repeated (I'm assuming it was) but it was never released in any purchasable form, including VHS. The record and now CD, however, are widely and easily available. But the TV special is practically unattainable, at least in it's complete form.

While the complete special cannot currently be found anywhere, most of the it can be found on YouTube in scattered segments. While I don't endorse the illegal posting or downloading of copyrighted material, without any way to legally see special aside from locating someone with an old copy on tape, this may currently be the only way of seeing any of the special. I do encourage buying the CD, which one should be able to find cheap.

I haven't been able to find a site listing the entire outline of the show, but a couple do list the highlights. I'm not sure of the exact order of the show either. But here's what I've been able to put together based upon what I could gather and what I saw in the clips:

John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together

Denver and the Muppets sing "The Twelve Days of Christmas." From the credit at the end of the clip it's obviously the intro. (Length varies on versions.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJV5l6d1Gq4 (Version 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4j1paMC5SM (Version 2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1szT-GOvug (Version 3)

Denver reads his poem Alfie, then Kermit the Frog and Denver reminisce about past Christmases with their friends and families, and sing "The Christmas Wish."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6neT-hK18k (Alfie, then Kermit)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSAK4vrgQMQ (another version)

Denver sings "The Pleasure of Your Company."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5bFnB_ZAn0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue7Jd4qC2ko (bridge - apparently "Pleasure of Your Company" to "Have yourself a merry little Christmas." Not worth watching since it doesn't contain anything complete but shows the transition between segments.)

Denver and Rowlf the Dog sing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWOvHqW3Nsg

Miss Piggy, as a doll named Fifi, sings "I Will Wait for You" to Denver, who plays a wooden soldier trying to stay in step with a line of marching soldiers. (I'm not sure if this is in the right place)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icSfqo__rlAMiss Piggy confronts Denver in her dressing room about their presumably mutual attraction. While there is a clip for a Muppet Show segment with the two, I could not find anything of this particular clip. It appears to be the only highlight missing, but I can't say it's the only missing segment. It would seem to go either before or after the marching soldiers segment.

Denver sings "Peace of Christmas Day"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkwnuD5BoMU (Peace of Christmas Day)

Denver recites the story of Jesus' birth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvyQovzSnFI (Christmas Story)

The program concludes with Denver and the Muppets singing "Stille Nacht," and children in the audience join in for the English version, "Silent Night." Clip also includes a short version of "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" while the end credits roll.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EMsTZKpEn0

I can't guarantee if any of the clips will remain up or for how long. These all seem to have been posted by different people. So watch them while you can.

Edit:I've worked out the runing time to be about 32 minutes, which means that this covers about 65% of the special. I don't know how long the Piggy and Denver bit is, but that could make up about three minutes. That leaves about 15 minutes unaccounted for, although trimming could account for at least a few minutes of missing material. It's probably short bits leading into or out of commercial breaks and some interaction with Denver and/or the Muppets before segments that are missing. Still, most of the special is covered, especially the important parts, and I don't think one would feel they missed much.

There was another special made with John Denver and the Muppets called "A Rocky Mountain Holiday" made in 1983. That one is available on DVD, but at over $200 new and $70 used on Amazon it's only for collectors. (So unless there's a re-release it's likely to become as rare.) It appears to focus more on Denver's songs. About half of it can be found as YouTube clips (which can be found with a simple search), so check those out first before spending the cash.

As a follow-up to my previous post I found out that Valentine and My Own Worst Enemy are being cancelled as well. I've already dropped My Own Worst Enemy, although there is some chance I might go back and catch the last few episodes during the holidays since I don't expect to be too busy with TV then. Futon Critic lists a few more episodes so I don't know if they'll air what they've got or just drop it once the holiday shows hit.

I also don't mind the cancellation of Valentine, although it was just starting to get interesting. Maybe if they had developed that plotline from the start they could have saved the series. But I'll have enough to watch so I really won't miss it.

In some ways I would have wished they cancelled a little more since I would like to halve the amount of TV shows I'm watching, although winter does have a lot of repeats. I'm probably going to be a lot pickier next year about the shows I watch.

It appears that Pushing Daisies has been or will be cancelled. This is partially surprising since it was the biggest new show of last year. But it seems to have fallen victim of the writer's strike and this year's episodes just haven't been quite as good as last year's were.

I see from The Futon Critic that there's six episodes left. Hopefully ABC will air the rest of the series, but knowing the way networks do things we'll be lucky if we get even one more. At least things are better now than a couple decades ago and it's fairly certain that the remaining episodes will appear on a DVD release of this season--if the DVD does get released. (Which I fully expect it will.)

But I'm not much into TV shows on DVD. I do have Firefly, which I was given as a gift, but for the most part I tend to stick with movies for my DVD purchases. Although most of the movies I acquire are taped off TV.

But getting back to TV shows. Pushing Daisies is a bit of a surprise although I knew the ratings were bad and I understand it's an expensive show to make. The shame of it is that it was, at least last year, one of the shows I looked forward to watching. Many other shows seem to be time fillers, but I do have a couple I like to watch just after taping.

My top show would be NCIS, followed by Bones. Although I have no interest in CSI, Law and Order (which I did watch for a bit) or practically any other police procedural, both NCIS and Bones manage to fit humour in with the drama. Both shows have clearly defined characters with personalities one can relate with and even wouldn't mind being around. Other shows are just too deadpan and it's easy to mistake one character for another.

The rest are shows which I tend to enjoy enough when I bother to sit down and watch them, but don't necessarily find myself anticipating. I'll talk about each in no particular order (with maybe some exception as to how they appear on the schedule).

Chuck: This show is one I would have expected to get cancelled, especially since it's first episode has been the worst of the entire series. But it managed to find it's footing quickly enough and managed to make enough of a turnaround to come back this year. And it's turned into a fairly interesting show. Although I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't come back next year.

Heroes: Last year really killed the show. The writers managed to correct their mistake but the strike left them no time. While this year is watchable, I'm finding the show more of a chore to watch and wouldn't mind it's cancellation. Depending upon how my schedule is, I might even drop it before the end of the year, although I think it might going to be going into a hiatus for a few months.

The Mentalist: I like this guy, and not just because his name is Patrick. I use to watch Kreskin on TV as a child so I'm reasonably familiar with his tactics. Although it's another police show, it's not like other police shows. And with about half the TV schedule being some sort of crimefighting show, it's hard to avoid them completely. What I like about the show is the way he practically defies the police and the way they do things. And he doesn't have any mental abnormalities, although he does have a reason for one.

Knight Rider: I'm a long term Knight Rider fan so for me this is a must watch no matter how bad it gets. But I wouldn't cry if it was cancelled, especially since there's certain to be another attempt made. I'm glad they finally got a series back on network TV, although Knight Rider fans know the show has never really gone away. Before this the only Knight Rider to make it past pilot since the original was Team Knight Rider, and this series is the closes of any to the original. I just wish they would cut the nudity since they can't show anything anyway and the prime audience for the show are pre-teen boys.

Caruso: This is probably the best show that nobody's watching. Contrary to what many might think, it's not a period drama but more of an adventure story. As in the original story, Caruso tries to make the best of his situation and makes it appear that being stranded wouldn't be so bad. The series focuses heavily on pirates as the primary menace, which as I recall actually are in the original story although it's been a long time since I read it. So anyone who liked Pirates of the Caribbean might enjoy Caruso.

The only real criticism I have is that Friday is a little too well spoken (in the novel he was taught English by Caruso) and shows a marital arts level of weapon handling. Unfortunately, I don't see this one lasting. NBC is suppose to be moving the show from Friday to Saturday (an even deader spot than Friday's), although this is a show made for Sunday nights.

Smallville: For the past number of years I was sure it was the last year. And even though this year is for certain the last year, I think they have stretched the series too long at the risk of ruining a possible Legion of Super Heroes series. I can't say I feel as if I'm wasting my time watching the show but I'm glad that this season is the last. Hopefully.

Supernatural: This one looks as if it really did start out as another Route 66 but someone was smart enough to add the horror element. Like Smallville I enjoy watching it but I wouldn't miss it if they cancelled it.

Fringe and The Eleventh Hour: Both shows look like the same show, although Fringe is more of a science fiction show while Eleventh Hour tries to stick more with facts. I feel my interest is split between the two. One a week is good but two a week seems like too much. For now I'm sticking with both.

Life on Mars: This was a show made for people of my generation, or at least it feels that way. It's a reflection back on all the police shows that were so popular during the 70s. I may or may not have seen the original British series, depending upon the legality of downloading, so it has or might be interesting to compare the two. While the original series has been widely acclaimed, it's running time of about a full hour and total of only sixteen episodes is likely the main reason it was remade for the US market.

Valentine: Just as the show was starting to get interesting they decided to repeat it. That could wind up killing the show, although it's hard to say if it had the ratings to survive. With it's touch of magic it's slightly reminiscent of the original Fantasy Island, at least as far as the romance stories go, which is probably what interests me in it. Originally it was suppose to be a remake of Cupid but it turned out to be a much different show since there is no doubt about Cupid in this show being a Greek god. Although I do feel I could just as easily drop it since I haven't seen a new episode for a while.

Stargate Atlantis: I often don't think of this show as a regular since it doesn't premiere on a network but it is one I look forward to each week. I watched all of Stargate SG-1 from the start and plan to watch all of Stargate Universe. Unfortunately, unlike SG-1, this Stargate never quite found it's footing in the same way as the original. Hopefully Universe will go back to what made SG-1 good.

Sanctuary: For a fan of Stargate, Amanda Tapping makes the show watchable but it's not on the same level. I could see this lasting one season then disappearing. Although I do want to support the show because I like the idea of a series first being developed on the Internet. Unfortunately, this one comes across just too dark which might work for a hard-core sci-fi fan but not so much for the sci-fantasy crowd of Stargate.

Legend of the Seeker: I like Sam Raimi's stuff so I find some appear with this show. It's a little too early to say which way I'm going with it. Unfortunately, it's one of those shows where once they complete the quest it's over, so if it gets cancelled mid-way then the rest of the episodes become irrelevant. I just wish it wasn't buried on Saturday nights.

I'm sure there's other shows I'm forgetting but this post has gone on too long as it is. I've listed sixteen shows here which makes for about sixteen hours of viewing each week, although I tend to tape shows and watch later. Still that takes up a lot of time and I can't say how many I'll stick with next year. That depends upon which ones get aired, which ones get cancelled, and how many episodes get repeated.

At least I'm caught up--mostly.

I know, variations of that Shakespearian line are an overused cliche and I don't care for it myself. But in this case it was appropriate.

Usually when I start watching TV shows in the fall, about half of what I'm watching gets cancelled. Many shows don't last more than a few episodes. As a result I tend to overload myself a little in the fall with new shows on the expectation that many of them won't last.

This year seems a little different. Not only did many of the shows not get cancelled right away, but there has been a trend lately of starting shows later in the season. This has set up a scenario where I'm finding it hard to keep up with all the shows I'm watching and I haven't seen enough of many shows to tire of them.

This year networks seem more reluctant to cancel shows since it means having to come up with replacements shortly before Christmas. Instead they seem to have planned to run about twelve to thirteen episodes before Christmas then switch to a new winter schedule after New Years.

This makes it easier for networks to drop shows without the hassle of consumer feedback. It also allows them to keep their options open; networks can air a new show in place of the old while deciding whether to bring back the old show next year. In fact this also allows them to run half a season of both then keep whichever works for the following year. And even if the show is dropped, it can be months after the show has stopped airing and the fan base has moved on to something else.

Traditionally, December and January are times of repeats and preemptions. From what I can tell, this doesn't seem quite as true this year since so many shows started late. As a result, many shows that would be wrapping up in November for the year are going into December with new episodes.

So I now find myself in a situation where I don't feel I can keep up with everything I'm watching, yet I don't want to drop a show that might continue and keep a show that will get dropped. Instead of being one show down it would put me two shows down. Granted, I could catch up but that would mean downloading the shows and Canadians currently don't have access to Hulu. And I still prefer to catch my TV from TV than downloading it.

Fortunately, it looks as if I won't be having the problem much longer. With Christmas fast approaching many shows are starting to get into preemptions or wrap up for the season. One of my shows, Life On Mars, appears that it might be finished until the end of January. Another show I've been watching, Caruso, will be preempted this week. I expect much the same to happen over the next few weeks with the other shows.

But that only delays the problem until next year. Hopefully I won't have the same problem next year. But I find I'm getting tired of TV in general, even though I do enjoy watching my shows when I finally force myself to sit down and watch them.

I was going to talk more about specific shows, but this post is already getting long enough. I might do that next time.

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.