Mighty cranky at Channel 7′s idiocy
I remember growing up that my Dad used to get so cranky when a sci-fi program that he loved (Star Trek or Babylon 5, or something like that), which was shown late at night, used to get regularly bumped, or changed to a different time slot with no warning from the networks. I haven’t ever really experienced this frustration. Until now.
Thursday night is Scrubs night. Channel 7 have been showing season 8 (only a couple of months behind the US!) on Thursday evenings for the past few weeks. I usually record it so I don’t have to stay up til 11:30. So last Friday morning, I sit down with my bowl of cereal to watch the previous night’s episode… and a few short seconds into the episode, I realise it’s a repeat! No worries… maybe the second episode is the new one. Nope. Both repeats. So I jump onto Channel 7′s website to check out the tv guide for next week and see what’s doing – this Thursday’s two episodes are both repeats as well!!
What the hell? So we’re about 5 or 6 episodes (out of 22 or 23) into season 8, and they just stop playing it, with no warning, and we have absolutely no idea on when the rest will be played.
That’s grrrr #1.
#2 resides with the ever-changing 24. I won’t even go into how frustrating it was when the season started back in Feburary – the time slot changed (according to Ch 7′s website and according to the EPG) multiple times each week for the first couple of weeks! But what was frustrating was last night.
24 has been on at 10:30pm Sunday night consistently for weeks now. But last night, Ch 7 clearly decided that was getting boring, and they put some random British murder mystery doco thing on for half an hour before 24! No reason at all; no special broadcast; it wasn’t some premiere thing… it was just crap on for half an hour that pushed back 24 half an hour.
Thankfully, I had learnt from earlier in the year, and I actually record about a 3 hour block on Sunday night to make sure I capture all the shows I want, and to compensate for Channel 7′s idiocy.
I’m well and truly over channel 7. They seemingly do not care about their viewers at all.
My challenge now comes with how do I make my frustration effective – I can’t really stop watching, cos that would defeat the purpose. And I’m pretty confident that writing a letter would be just as effective as throwing said letter in the recycling bin.
I remember reading on a forum earlier in the year (when chasing the earlier 24 frustrations) that a good idea was to get in touch with the advertisers during that time slot and let them know of your frustrations and that what Channel 7 is doing is likely costing them viewers and loyalty, and thus, advertising for them.
Might be worth a try.
edit: maybe my blog post worked. Scrubs is back… now on Monday nights at 8pm. Although the advertised episode at the moment is one that played 2 weeks ago, but it’s still progress.
March 9th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
you are my mother
March 9th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
That’s mean.
March 9th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
they don’t move such for fun, they move stuff because they are constantly polling, and testing. Ratings make their business so they move stuff around to ensure the maximum amount of people are watching their shows. if 24 work well the first 2 weeks but then the third week not as many people watch it then they move it.
I dont think we should get angry or annoyed, its not like we pay to watch tv
March 9th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
not mean, just funny.
and i think it’s annoying. not that i watch anything anymore, but when i did, it was definitely annoying when things moved with no warning. fair enough with the ratings and blah, but they could still stick to the program they set for the week ahead.
March 9th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
How could I not comment on this!! Oh James, send this to Channel 7. I DID ring them this morning (I bet my girls aren’t surprised at that!!) to ask why they did it and was told it was a programming decision. I asked again, “but why?” and the girl on the phone said she wasn’t going to argue with me – it was a programming decision. I said I didn’t want an argument and just wanted to know why they would put on an unadvertised random show and bump a series episode. Her response: ‘It was a programming decision’!!!! What the…?!?
March 11th, 2009 at 12:02 am
Hey James, apparently scrubs was advertised tonight saying that a new episode would show on Monday 8pm on channel 7. But I understand your frustration! lol They all do it all the time….
March 4th, 2011 at 3:31 am
Michael Rouse Drug Bust Watervliet
generic ambien
Don’t let yourself be exhausted anymore.
http://www.sattvasia.com – generic ambien online
For those struggling with insomnia the difficulty of falling asleep is enormous, and even if they are able to fall asleep, many of these individuals find themselves waking multiple times during the night.
buy cheap ambien
The condition of insomnia is no laughing matter for someone constantly struggling with it.