tv

new and noteworthy tv: 7/9-7/15

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It wasn’t that long ago when I would be spending all my time this time of year watching Tour de France and Wimbledon. These days I limit myself to only catch the tennis majors starting at the semis (Thursday at 5am, ESPN) and although I still tune in for a little Tour preview I’m no longer scanning through three weeks of cycling. While I still enjoy the sporting the golden age of television makes me winnow back some of the things, though surprisingly I will still have time to watch summer favorite King of the Road.

  • King of the Road (Vice) Season Premiere, Tuesday, 9pm – Skateboard scavenger hunt, who are the new teams and new challenges?
  • The Outpost (CW) Series Premiere, Tuesday, 9pm – In this new fantasy offering a woman who is the last of her race looks for vengeance and deals with fanatics, mercenaries, and of course a supernatural power.
  • Harlots (Hulu) Season Premiere, Wednesday – I’ve never gotten started on Hulu and therefore Hulu shows.
  • Bonus Family (Net) Season Premiere, Sunday – Swedish dramedy reportedly has a nice touch dealing with a new couple their exes and their children.

The procrastinator lists items that may not be on your regular season pass, though notation does not imply recommendation. Times noted are typically PST.

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stepping up cable: digital preferred

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So a couple things happened recently that made me revisit my cable. First my latest discount level contract expired and my cost for my Digital Starter package of 140+ channels went up. Second my channel lineup made yet another adjustment where they decided that Viceland, a channel where I only watch King of the Road – a skateboarding scavenger hunt show, is now worthy of being on a higher level. This is the second of the two ‘junky’ reality shows getting nixed, the first was Ink Master – the tattoo competition. Now when I lost Ink Master I debated upgrading my cable but it’s already so expensive it just didn’t seem worth it for one junky show. But two junky shows started to get my ire up.

So I did what any person in my social circles would do, threaten to cut the cord. Now as this blog makes pretty clear I’m not one of those people who doesn’t watch television but there are so many options out there that one might not need to have ‘cable’. But before I cut the cord I’ll need to research what I’m replacing it with. I already have Netflix and Amazon Prime. But if I added Hulu does that cover enough of the shows I’m currently watching? And do I need to supplement with other channels? And are they current? Can I shift to just not having shows in real time? Can I watch them online on the channel’s sites? And what are these new services I keep hearing about? In the end am I just sacrificing other shows? Or am I now going to spend so much money on other technologies that are going to be a pain to make up for it? Phew this was exhausting and I hadn’t even started.

So I did what any normal person in my social circles would do, punted the decision for another year. I signed up for another year’s contract at a discounted rate and went ahead and went for the upgrade. I’m probably spending $10/mo more than I was previously but really how big of a deal is that in the grand scheme of things? Plus now I finally also get Sundance and IFC among some other stuff. Still no HBO and all but I am still working my way through The Wire on Prime so no need to go crazy for now.

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new and noteworthy tv: 6/5-6/11

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Not a ton new and noteworthy but there are some fun summer shows that I enjoy returning, while I’m still attending to Fargo and kicking through some streaming shows.

  • Ink Master (Spike) Season Premiere, Tuesday, 10pm – I’m still unresolved about my no longer getting Spike.
  • King of the Road (Vice) Season Premiere, Wednesday, 9pm – I thought the first season of this was a weird fun combination of skateboarding and stupid scavenger hunt hijinks.
  • Queen of the South (USA) Season Premiere, Thursday, 10pm – I enjoyed the first season of this drug dealing show with a good protagonist and lots of things going bad.
  • Orange is the New Black (Net) Season Premiere, Friday – Picking up where we left off with big trouble in Litchfield prison.
  • Wynonna Earp (Syfy) Season Premiere, Friday 10pm – This was a fun campy fighting the dead sort of show.
  • Orphan Black (BBCA) Season Premiere, Saturday, 10pm – The final season of what has been a great, though sometimes uneven show, excited to return to Sarah, her sisters and their friends and family.
  • Tony Awards (CBS) Sunday, 8pm – And the award goes to…
  • Claws (TNT) Series Premiere, Sunday, 9pm – Things are complicated in this Florida nail salon dramedy.
  • Steve Harvey’s Funderdome (ABC) Sunday, 9pm – Audience votes on one of two entrepreneurs.
  • French Open (NBC) Saturday/Sunday, 6am – Ready for some finals!

The procrastinator lists items that may not be on your regular season pass, though notation does not imply recommendation. Times noted are typically PST.

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