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Stupid Local TV Broadcasters

I missed 45 minutes of Destination: Lost Wednesday night because of a major storm that ripped through the Twin Cities. (It was no Category 3 or higher storm, but it did a little damage).

The local ABC affiliate, Channel 5 KSTP, used the hurricane system and people’s fears of those storms to sensationalize the storm reporting for as long as they could, including 45 minutes of Destination: Lost and the first 20 minutes of the season premiere of Lost.

I have it on my TiVo – it’s just them repeating themselves for an hour – high winds, look at the radar, blah blah blah.

But that gets me to my point: ABC is unwilling to re-broadcast the premiere this weekend, due to cast contracts and the residual payouts. At least they’re admitting it’s about the money, so they can screw over their viewers.

Being technologically aware, I just went out and downloaded it from an HDTV rip and burned it to DVD. 42 minutes long now and no commercials – just because my local affiliate wouldn’t broadcast it.

And the television industry considers this an illegal act. An over the air television show, currently stored on my TiVo, and I can’t go download a copy and watch it on my TV. I purchased Lost Season One on DVD a week and a half ago. I’ll spend money where it’s deserved, for a quality and innovative program like Lost.

But yet, god forbid you miss one show in a series, you are not supposed to download them. What if it’s a show like Lost, Alias or 24 where you miss one episode and it can seriously set you back in understanding the plot?

The TV industry needs to get with the times then and offer a technological solution if they want to make this illegal. They should be ashamed of themselves for being the Luddites they are. Sony Betamax vs. Universal was settled over 20 years ago and yet here is history repeating itself.

Broadcast Flag not dead yet – we have 48 hours!

The EFF is reporting that Congress may sneak in the Broadcast Flag into other legislation in the next 48 hours. This is not trivial – HD content is available over the airwaves unmodified already today and the Broadcast Flag will stop that single-handedly – once it goes forward there will be no going back to using your media and your hardware the way you want to.

Fill out the Action Alert now and / or contact your Senators.

Just say no to the Broadcast Flag.

Alias Season 4 Finale

I’m finally caught up on my TiVo from all of my traveling, and I watched the Alias season finale last night.

With 5 minutes to go, I turned to Kelly and said last night that Alias had a strong ending to the season that started off horribly. I’ve talked about this enough already, and then they had to drop the cliff hanger to end the season.

Even with all the reboots, I thought this season had tightened up, with more attention to the characters in a smaller environment, better plot management, and tying up the Rambaldi plot line well. Even the plot throwbacks to the first two seasons, with the Helix Protocol and especially the Mueller device from Season 1 and tying that to the finale was well done for those that have stuck with the show all four years, and for those new to the show, it wasn’t overwhelming.

But taking Michael Vartan’s character, Vaughn, the one constant good guy through out all four years, who didn’t have an agenda, who was the steady rock in Sidney’s life, even when he was married in Season 3, and turning him into someone with an evil past – this is almost too much. Implying that he was a bad guy (a different branch of SD maybe?), and there was a reason he was made Sydney’s handler, and then the car crash to leave you hanging, what are we supposed to think? I’ve already suspended my disbelief that Vaughn made a transition from being a desk jockey, a handler, to field operations, and now the show is going to imply he’s a double agent, or at least an agent with a checkered past?

If it’s not one thing, it’s another with this show. With such a strong ending to the show this season and really getting the focus back, I’ll continue to watch. (Yeah, I’m a sucker).

Dr. Who

I came across this article on Dr. Who, which is a primer and brief history for those who never watched the show.

Dr. Who was was one of my first introductions to science fiction. Introduced to me by a friend in grade school in the 6th or 7th grade, I remember many a Saturday night watching it on our local PBS station. Channel 10 would broadcast the entire episode, usually 90 minutes, every Saturday night, and would start over from the first Doctor on when they reached the end of the current shows.

One of the biggest disappointments I remember was in 8th grade, and the 25th anniversary convention was being held in Milwaukee. We had tickets, and my buddy got bronchitis and was unable to go. A year or two later, our local PBS affiliate stopped showing it (if I remember correctly, it was one of the more expensive licensees for a PBS station) and I could catch in on cable on Channel 2, the PBS station out of Madison.

The 4th Doctor was by far the best. I was also a fan of the 6th Doctor, I thought he never got his fair shake, and the storylines with him on Gallifrey were well done.

I’ve Netflix’ed a few of the shows in the last couple of years (The 5 Doctors), and was taken aback at how campy it was, but it was still amusing. I still have a goal of buying The Key to Time episode arc, with the 4th Doctor and Romana, probably my favorite by far.

Lost Season Finale.

I watched the Lost finale last night, including last weeks and this week’s 2 hour finale.

The finale was well done, I especially liked the multiple flashbacks for each character. Hurley continues to crack me up, and the show did a very good job tying the characters and stories together.

This website looks to continue the finale, and starts more questions than there are answers.

TV Stuff

I was disappointed to read in USA Today yesterday that ABC has pulled Eyes for Mays sweeps. I was really enjoying it, it had great humor, a good plot, and good pacing.

24 this season has been excellent. Instead of switching antagonists halfway through, they’ve done a good job with the plot and the focus on the current villian. The latest plot twist with China has been well done. Best of all, what they’ve done with Jack this season has really given me pause as you can see the stress of the job, the effect and toll it takes on his personal life, and how it effects him. I was surprised to read today that NBC is making a strong bid to steal 24 away from Fox next year.

I’m very impressed with Lost, which gives Desperate Housewives a run for it’s money as best new TV show this season. (Worst? American Dad). The plot has been very well done (how long can you have a show about plane crash survivors on an island?), and the way every charater is inter-connected is fascinating. With Lost, you have more questions than answers… (Though I do have some concerns with some of the rumors about casting changes for next season. They’ve focused on 14 of the 48 survivors this season, which gives them the ability to bring in other actors, but it will be interesting to see how the chemistry and the plots will work).

And damn Fox for yanking Arrested Development. Just like Alias, which we’ll get to in a second, the network needs to commit to the show, stick it in a time slot where it can be successful, and drive it. They also need to pick this show up for next season. The comedy in this show is one of a kind.

I’m glad Alias has found it’s viewers being after Lost. I’m all for what FOX & ABC did with 24 and Alias respectively this year, in starting the seasons late, so they can show a new episode every week. With episodic shows like these, that have major plots that continue, breaking them up (like Lost or Desperate Housewives) sucks when you’re waiting a month at a time for new episodes. I was pretty skeptical with Alias at the beginning of the season as they rebooted…again, but Alias has really found it’s voice in the latter two thirds of the season. They’ve kept the Rambaldi stuff topical, Sidney’s sister hasn’t been a bad addition to the cast (not great, but done well), and they haven’t overplayed the Vaughn / his dad angle too much, while keeping Sloane and Jack in the mix as well. Kudos to JJ Abrams and ABC for a good job. It’s sucked me back in as I was about to give up on it.

And Desperate Housewives? I dig it, it’s a good solid soap opera, and I appreciate it for what it is.

Here’s to all the upcoming season finales!

24 – Day 4 – 10:00 – 11:00 PM

This week’s episode, in Season 4 (Day 4, 10:00 – 11:00 p.m.) might just be the best episode of 24 ever.

It’s definitely tied in my mind right now with the season finale from Day 1. I’m not going to spoil anything, but it’s an interesting twist to what has come before.

Well done.

I love the Simpsons

Last night’s episode of the Simpsons was hilarious. After Bart single handedly ruins the tourism industry for Springfield, the city adopts gay marriage to fix the tourism problem. Homer quickly becomes a minister to profit from performing the marriage ceremonies.

At one point, the show flashes a URL on the screen, and sure enough, Fox & the Simpsons actually created a website: Springfield is for Gay Lovers of Marriage.

That, the subject matter of the show, combined with ripping on Fox for reality TV, had me rolling last night.

Even after all these years, the Simpsons keeps the laughs coming.

MythTV & Filesharing

The New York Times has a decent article up about MythTV, the Broadcast Flag, and Filesharing up. While it’s fairly high level, and some parts are wrong (Bittorrent letting you download a 1 hour show in minutes for example: I’ve downloaded plenty of TV shows and it’s not that fast, trust me) it’s not a bad article.

Even mentions the EFF and how they’re going to fight the Broadcast Flag, which may or may not put a stop to some of the filesharing. I agree with parts – I own Alias, 24, Sports Night, and every season of the Simpsons available on DVD. Purchased them and everything. I don’t mind buying TV I love (though it drives my wife crazy why I buy TV shows on DVD for shows I’ve already seen). But the government regulating even more the TV that comes over the air on what I can record, and how long it stays recorded for I start to have issues. It’s one thing if we’re talking about pay TV, say the Sopranos. But when I miss a week or two of 24, what is the issue if I download it?

If I miss an episode of 24, and I can’t download it, there is a good chance I am done watching for the season. Especially with serial shows like Lost, 24, Alias, and Desperate Housewives. Is it worth it to Big Media to not allow me to download and lose me as a customer for the entire season? I don’t think they always see the forest for the trees.

I’ll be buying a pcHDTV card for my MythTV box prior to July 1st when the Broadcast Flag goes in to effect. Maybe even two since hard drives are cheap now.

24 vs. Alias

I recently blogged about Alias’ current reboot, and as I try and get caught up on my TiVo, I finally watched the two hour premier of 24.

Talk about how to reboot a show in two totally different ways. I’ve already complained about Alias and my inability to suspend my imagination about the reboot. 24 handled it the opposite – in less than 5 minutes they explained the changes in Jack’s life, made it believable, and then the action just grabbed you and didn’t let go for two hours. Sure, Jack becoming a temporary field agent stretches the imagination a bit, but no where near how Sydney’s working for Sloan again does.

I was very impressed with 24’s season premiere, and couldn’t stop watching. Where with Alias, I watched it, but I was just waiting for the next thing to happen.

The 3rd season of 24 might have been the weakest in some regards, but it was also better with how they kept the plot moving, 3 major plot shifts instead of 2 at the twelve hour mark, (which helps people watching for continuity’s sake). The 4th kicked off with a bang, and hasn’t let go yet.

I’ll continue to watch both shows, but for very different reasons.