The Here And Now

 What We Do In The Shadows - on FX

Lucifer (just ended season 1) - on Netflix

 http://www.businessinsider.com/emerald-city-tv-review-nbcs-dark-wizard-of-oz-series-2017-1

We watched both Blindspot and Limitless. Liked them for different reasons. Still have to watch Minority Report.

Any other new shows to add to the roster?

We're watching Dicte on Netflix and they only have season 1. Now normally, there are...ways....of getting season 2 but finding subtitled versions that are hard coded and can be played on the TV is tricky.* I've been told it is playing in Canada on Netflix but of course since that cannot be streamed to the TIVO/TV...well we must carry on. We still have this week's iZombie to watch and to check out Sens8.

*actually we have found eps 1-7 so far.

 WHTV’S “LONGMIRE” GETS  PICKED UP BY NETFLIX FOR FOURTH SEASON A fourth season of  Warner Horizon Television’s “Longmire” has been ordered by Netflix, the world’s  leading Internet TV network. Ten new episodes of the hour-long drama series will  premiere exclusively in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand in  2015.  The contemporary crime thriller, set in Big Sky Country, is based on  the Walt Longmire mystery novels by best-selling author Craig Johnson. The  series stars Australian actor Robert Taylor as Walt Longmire, the charismatic,  dedicated and unflappable sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming. 

I've read that fans are trying to post to DW/LJ every day for the month of Sept. I am not certain that is doable for me, for various reasons, but I salute you!

1. Home repairs start Friday (the POD storage unit is being delivered). I am, frustrated with how little I can do to help/participate - have already hurt myself several times these past weeks, once so bad I was in bed for 2 days. There will be much disruption of both schedules and locations. Imagine a "Napoleon planning for an Russian invasion" level of logistical planning. But hopefully with a better outcome. For Napoleon that is.
2. We just started watching Lillihammer on Netflix and are enjoying it.
3. We also started re-watching The Middleman
4. We are carefully hoarding the last few Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries from Season 2.
5. My energy/pain free moments to watch any of the above is limited. But they are sitting there with their siren like calls.

If you want to reduce your cable bill, you first have to decide where you like to watch TV: at the TV or on your computer.

If you like your TV, then you have the option of cutting cable or going back to basic cable. I will blog only about the method that I know and have used.

This method requires a wireless router in your home, a computer and decent DSL or broadband(3-4MBS for DSL). For most streaming methods, your computer will need to be on to watch video on the TV. And if you are not comfortable with doing an occasional reboot and restart if something hangs or freezes, then stick to cable.

Step 1: Buy a ROKU (around $50-100 depending on the model you pick)

Step 2: Buy Playon (a software program that runs on your computer).  Playon offers a free trial. You can then go month to month and once you are really certain it works for you, buy a lifetime subscription for $60. If you want to use their PlayLater feature to function as a DVR and record shows to your computer to watch later they charge a flat fee of $40/year. We have our own DVR so we went for the lifetime subscription

Step 3: decide if Netflix and/or Amazon Prime are worthwhile add-ons. Netflix is good for TV shows (they carry episodes up through the previous year). The only reason we have Amazon Prime is for the expedited shipping - on occasion we can find a few movies we want to watch. Netflix is around $10 a month. Amazon Prime will end up being roughly the same.

Step 4: Make a list of your favorite shows and see who carries them. Through Playon you can watch anything that Hulu offers for free. Hulu offers most of their shows within 24hrs of airing. Third party add-ons to Playon allow you to watch most any other TV show (yes even HBO and Showtime) for free - we use them sparingly as we still have our HBO and Showtime - mainly when our DVR fails to record a show and the damn On Demand service the cable company offers freezes or stops working (so much for not having to reboot on cable platforms). Local TV stations/news may also available via some Playon addons - you'll need to look through the Playon Scripts listings. Both Playon and Roku offer forums where you can ask questions.

What does it cost in the end? A one time fee for the Roku ($50-100). A one time fee of $60 for Playon (lifetime) or a $3/month fee if you buy the DVR capability). Netflix and/or Amazon Prime for an additional $10 each (personally I'd not get Amazon Prime unless you have a need for the expedited shipping). For the first year, buying the most expensive ROKU and getting the monthly Playon, the cost is $12 month. If you add Netflix or Amazon Prime, an additional $10 each. Theoretically you could get access to most US (and UK) TV shows for around $22-32/month. After the first year....the cost can drop to as low as $10-13 a month.

And now you know why the cable companies fought so hard against Aereo and why the US Supreme Court case which Aereo lost today harms the consumer and technology innovation. Content providers and cable companies want to shut down Internet competition until they can figure out a way to overcharge us for their crappy (you know it will be crappy) Internet streaming service - that we will have to buy piecemeal at a premium from each network separately. Or, if they have their way, force us to pay for each episode, with no ability to store it and watch it later. Don't forget those "special" fees for watching on your smart-phone.

"Legal or not, Aereo was about to deliver something consumers wanted, something the collective will of the indigenous television industry still seems incapable of providing on a ubiquitous level. Broadcast TV. Everywhere." from a newsletter for cable network executives.

This vid was shown at the 1980s Uk Blake's 7 conventions Space City (I blogged about the Space City conventions here).

The vid, in all its VHS wavy-vision glory, can be seen here.

There was the Beauty and the Beast Video Campaign. Not as successful, but it shows you how much has changed in 23 years.

BTW, if anyone has a moment to spare to add more info about the Veronica Mars Kickstarter project to Fanlore, the Veronica Mars page is here And the blank , ready to edit Kickstarter page is here

TPTB on the British TV show Blake's 7 have had an adversarial relationship with slash fandom.  One actor kept confusing his TV character with himself (reportedly saying: It's that fiction where my co-star is always raping me.") Needless to say it was one of the many reasons (but not the sole reason) that Blake's 7 fandom imploded in the late 1980s.

Enter a new set of  "creators". These are ones who bought the TV show rights in the early 2000s.  They've been pushing for a reboot and are in negotiations for a new series to be shown on XBox Live (recast with new actors, of course).

Sadly, their attitudes are still stuck back in the 70s stone ages: "I think slash is distasteful. The actors that are represented do not appreciate it. And some produce this stuff on the web. I think it is bad taste. It has no reflection or bearing on what the show is and it is not a tribute to Terry Nation's legacy. I think it is an abomination. I think what is an abomination is the pornography. I have no problem with fan fiction, but I do have a problem with pornography." Asked what he planned to do, he said: "They will find out how I am going to clamp down on it. The moment you start doing something of an extremely dubious nature of the pornographic variety or for a commercial benefit without acquiring the rights, I and my partners will take a dim view of that."

Of course this was 10 years ago...perhaps they might have mellowed a smidge.  But really, does anyone care? We didn't when the show was airing, I doubt we'll listen 20+ years later. Certainly not when TIIC call large swaths of potential fans purveyors of an abomination.