Almost too many decent shows to watch now.

[Asterix]

First off, I'm pleased there has been a huge improvement in the quality and breadth of shows now on TV - the production values are now as good as anything Hollywood releases and the ability to develop stories and characters over many episodes mean the stories are richer and deeper.

However, my missus downloads all of the shows that have good ratings and it means that she always wants to watch the latest this and that while we haven't even finished the previous lot first.

I'm easily confused so that could be one aspect - I also don't like to spend too much time sat in front of the telly but I also don't want to miss the good stuff.

What's to be done?

[GetCarter]

We record every episode, then watch it one after another over a few days, losing the ads if there are any.

Continuity matters.

[snuffy]

I feel you may be in a minority with that view - a minority of one.

[Randy Winkman]

I agree but fear we might be thinking of entirely different programmes. I could watch BBC4 all night. History of Wallpaper anyone?

[Slyjoe]

Ive only watched Top-Gear this week. I fell asleep. I dont feel I've missed anything.
Just tried to watch the last tango in halifax with the wife - what a load of tedious bks.

[northwest monkey]

GetCarter said:

We record every episode, then watch it one after another over a few days, losing the ads if there are any.

Continuity matters.

Same here. A lot of the really good TV at the moment really needs to be watched more like a film than a 1 hour show every week (Game of Thrones, American Horror, True Detective etc). They lose a lot of their impact when watched a week apart.

I'd estimate 90% of the TV we watch in our house is time shifted. Bad news for advertisers probably but no doubt they'll come up with something new!

[droopsnoot]

I'm finding the same, as I don't have a decent bb connection to watch again via iPlayer (and to be honest I'd rather watch on the proper screen even if I had better) and not only is there a lot on, but it all seems to be on at the same time. Maybe not to everyone's tastes, but we've got new Silent Witness, The 100, Scorpion, Suits, Death in Paradise, a new thing this week behind the scenes in Parliament, the 'cooks abroad' thing looks good as well, and all at that 9pm/10pm slot, and that's before stuff like the random stuff on BBC4 and Film4. Those "+1" channels come in handy at this time of year.

[P-Jay]

There's some great TV about at the moment IMO, the quality is as high as any time I remember - interestingly (to me anyway) was Kiefer Kiefer Sutherland on TG last night saying how that the few major studios left in Hollywood are only really interested in making huge budget $100m+ blockbusters at the moment - which means superhero and Sci-Fi stuff in the main and how quality drama is now a TV thing, blame the 'Box Set' phenomenon if you like.

Looking forward to House of Cards coming back, Better call Saul, and some of the trailers for the new HBO series coming to Virgin Atlantic look good. Even the mainstream channels are terrible, Our Guy in India, Mr. Selfridge and Broadchurch are good.

For me Netflix, Sky+ (the download function especially) and the rest of the online mediums have really changed things for us - "there's nothing on" isn't really a 'thing' anymore - we hardly watch anything 'live'.

[marcosgt]

Let's do a quick recap of what I've watched this last week.

The Musketeers - Throwaway rubbish really, but a bit of fun. I could happily not watch it.
Top Gear - Was good this week, but I do kind of feel like I'm watching repeats all the time.
CSI - See Top Gear.
Spiral - This series is VERY good - Glad it's on.
Broadchurch - Not quite grabbing me, but I'll stick with it.
Synth Britannia - A good documentary on electronic music in the UK, but I think it's been on before.

I think that's been it, but I'm looking forward to the Walking Dead being back next week, although maybe that's a bit 'Top Gear/CSI' too (retreading well worn steps...)?

This week it'll mostly be the Skiing World Championships though

I don't do boxsets, really, although I did pick up "The World At War" from Amazon after Christmas, so I need to start watching that.

M

Edited by marcosgt on Monday 2nd February 17:34