Feature
Hey! I was watching that...
TV Feature
Alex Gregg
6th January 2011
Being a self-confessed TV addict, I can’t help but get a little sad when a programme ends – whether it be for good, or just a season finale. Even more annoying however, is when a programme finishes and we, the holy viewers, are not forewarned. How very dare they!
Case in point: most recently I’ve been confuddled by three programmes that I clung to at the end of 2010 all disappearing from my Sky+ ‘series record’ function in one fell swoop, without so much as a sigh from the respective channel’s voiceover man. Not pleased. There is such a thing as ‘fair warning’. Yes. I am talking to you; ITV2, E4 and Channel 4.
Desperate Housewives
E4/Channel 4
OK, so with Susan getting trampled in a riot and Paul Young finally getting his comeuppance with the help of a trusty handgun, it makes sense that the show would be finished for the season. However, there was no mention of the riot episode being the finale, neither did it say so in my handy TV guide. Nonetheless, the show has indeed stopped.
Unhappy with this, I did a wee bit of digging and asked the almighty Google-atron what had happened. I soon discovered that no, Desperate Housewives Season 7 has not been axed. The season hasn’t even finished. The revelation was that it’s simply taking one of these renowned ‘mid-season breaks’. Ah, when will it return you ask? According to Channel 4: “sometime in 2011”. Pfft.
The Event
Channel 4 (again, tut tut)
Hailed the new Lost, I had to give this one a go. Also, there wasn’t much else on at the time. The first two episodes aside, The Event turned out to be less 'Lost' and more 'Gee, look how quickly I lost interest in this poorly executed bore.' Still, I'd started so I'll finish. Or will I?
As I don’t usually watch this one ‘live’, I was relying on my trusty Sky+ to take care of recording Episode 11 for me. Sadly, no. Another programme has done a vanishing act and taken a break. As with Desperate Housewives, The Event is due to return in the small screen in 2011. When in 2011? Much like the show: it’s a mystery.
The Vampire Diaries,
ITV2
The ITV2 website revealed very little about what happened here - I had to hunt around a bit and in the end turned to the trusty Wikipedia for clarification. At least Channel 4 was honest!
Despite Stefan escaping from the tomb, Rose being bitten by a werewolf and the whole thing seeming like it could be a reasonable cliff-hanger of a finale, it again became apparent that the programme and its devoted viewership (me) have been subject to yet another mid-season break. Gah. The show is due to return in the US on the 27th January, which means we’ll probably get it in 20 billion years time. I’m not bitter about Americans getting TV earlier than us Brits at all. I swear.
And of course, these are just the most recent offenders. The likes of Glee, Fringe, Smallville, Gossip Girl, Supernatural, Flashforward (but really, who cares?) and even Lost (in its final seasons) have all been mauled by the need for a break. Unlike the Americans, we don’t have a trillion national holidays or overblown sporting events to fill the gaps, we just have dull fuzzy TV pain, filled with the likes of soaps and reality shows. It’s sad really.
My question to the TV gods is this: When did it become acceptable for every single show to have a hiatus for no apparent reason? And more to the point why is there absolutely no indication when it will return? Surely the voiceover man can talk over those little Channel 4 ads, or ITV can ditch the trailers for ‘What Kerry Katona Did Next’ and make a little announcement instead?
Do they think we somehow have the televisual prescience to know without explanation when our favourite shows are going off the air? Perhaps they’ve just decided it’s not worth getting involved. Or think we're such a collection of gibbering morons that we'll tune in next week and watch whatever garbage filler or repeats they put on instead:
"Haven't I seen this episode before?"
"Shut up, viewer, and continue shovelling cheesey puffs into your gaping maw".
Whatever the reason, TV hasn’t been the same since those pesky strikes. Okay, so it was over two years ago now, but I can hold a grudge.
Writer Strike, Schmiter Strike, I’m not impressed. We, the viewers, should have a Watcher Strike. And, er, not watch the programmes until a whole season has aired. Or wait for the DVD and rent (not buy) it from Blockbuster. Ha.
We can only hope and pray that British shows don’t jump on this bandwagon. A mid-season break halfway through a 6-episode series? Now that would be frickin’ annoying.
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