dwindling favorites

[korben_dallas]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I just took a look at my list of Favorites, and they have been decimated.

I like SciFi shows, but honestly the programming on SyFY has tanked in the last few years. The few shows in this genre I do watch come mostly from the other networks and BBC & USA. No Star Trek and no Stargate series is on.

Terra Nova is ok but it doesn't really compare to Lost (old I know).

Chuck is gone. I know it was getting a little long in the tooth, but what can replace it?

[Fuzzy]

A show doesn't have to be in space to be SciFi... The wife and I both enjoy Eureka and Warehouse 13. The space opera is just out of flavor right now. There was a period about 5-10 years ago where it was very high. Stargate + spin-offs, BSG + spin-offs, Star Trek, etc... It is now in a low spot. Doesn't mean there's less to watch. The current flavor is fantasy-horror. And it's not all twilight-level stuff. True Blood & The Walking Dead are both excellent. I hear Game of Thrones is great, but honestly haven't started watching it yet (though they are all recorded awaiting the off-season).

Personally, I'm thrilled that Archer is on again. THAT is good television right there.

[tmiranda]

I watched the first two episodes of Alcatraz and that has potential.

[SteveD]

Don't forget Fringe.

[korben_dallas]

Eureka is one of my fav shows, unfortunately it is ending this year. I tried to get into Warehouse 13 but it seemed a little too silly.

Will look into Alcatraz & Walking Dead.

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by korben_dallas

Eureka is one of my fav shows, unfortunately it is ending this year. I tried to get into Warehouse 13 but it seemed a little too silly. 8< snip >8

Eureka is one your "favs" and you thought Warehouse 13 was silly? Don't get me wrong, I love both of them, but they both get VERY silly at times.

[SWKerr]

I don't seem to have this problem. I don't seem to have enough time to watch all the good TV I have already recorded. I am still on Season 5 of "24" and have like five seasons of Mad Men I have never got to. It has not helped that my kids have started watching Netflix to catch up on old Star Gate and Battlestar Galactica episodes etc.

Here is a question for the group. I tend to store up episodes and watch them a season at a time, plus the first episode of the next season. (Can't stand waiting for the answer to a cliff hanger)

Right now I have a hole season of "The Event" and only saw the pilot. It seemed promising but since it is now canceled it there enough there to warrant my time. I watch "Flash Forward" and I would say it was still worth it even though I hate there was no real conclusion.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by SWKerr

I don't seem to have this problem. I don't seem to have enough time to watch all the good TV I have already recorded. I am still on Season 5 of "24" and have like five seasons of Mad Men I have never got to. It has not helped that my kids have started watching Netflix to catch up on old Star Gate and Battlestar Galactica episodes etc.

Here is a question for the group. I tend to store up episodes and watch them a season at a time, plus the first episode of the next season. (Can't stand waiting for the answer to a cliff hanger)

Right now I have a hole season of "The Event" and only saw the pilot. It seemed promising but since it is now canceled it there enough there to warrant my time. I watch "Flash Forward" and I would say it was still worth it even though I hate there was no real conclusion.

I still re-watch episodes of firefly on occasion... take that for what it's worth.

The Event, though, I didn't really like. Even with all the 'unknowns', I just was never really interested enough to stick around to find out what the next twist would be.

[wayner]

This may be quite unusual for Sage devotees but I actually only have two "shows" set as Favorites - Modern Family and 30 Rock. I also record several Kids' shows, all rugby games, PGA gold, Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors games. Even at that I delete most of it unwatched.

I am quite enjoying the BBC series Sherlock - it is very well done.

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by wayner

This may be quite unusual for Sage devotees but I actually only have two "shows" set as Favorites - Modern Family and 30 Rock. I also record several Kids' shows, all rugby games, PGA gold, Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors games. Even at that I delete most of it unwatched.

I am quite enjoying the BBC series Sherlock - it is very well done.

Not to derail the topic, but, in that case, why even use Sage? Seems like live TV is all you need. Sage seems like extreme overkill.

To get back on topic, we currently have nearly 100 items listed in our favorites lists, but many of those are movies we're waiting to come on TV, since we don't have Netflix or any other sources for movie content.

Our house currently has favorites for Eureka, Warehouse 13, Psych, The Mentalist, House, Boardwalk Empire, Spartacus (R.I.P. Andy), Big Bang Theory, Leverage, Castle, Two and a Half Men, Sanctuary, Fringe, Game of Thrones, Haven, Hawaii Five-O, Justified, Doctor Who, Mythbusters, and HIMYM.

We also have a bunch of shows we have yet to watch even a single episode of: Grimm, Once Upon a Time, Mike & Molly, Being Human, American Horror Story, Terra Nova, Alphas, Falling Skies, The Event, In Plain Sight, Dexter.

This is what happens when you have more storage and tuners than you know what to do with. We are severely behind (many seasons) in many of the shows listed above. But, words never to be uttered in our house include, "There's nothing on TV!" I stopped recording new shows because of how much is already recorded and how frequently they get cancelled.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

Not to derail the topic, but, in that case, why even use Sage? Seems like live TV is all you need. Sage seems like extreme overkill.

Sage isn't overkill at all. Neither my wife nor I watch a lot of traditional TV shows but that is not the only use for Sage.

I never, ever watch live TV. Never. I don't understand why anyone who has a Sage system Sage would watch live TV.

IMHO the most efficient use for SageTV is sports. A hockey game is 60 minutes long but a hockey broadcast is about 150 minutes. With Sage I can watch a game in 60 minutes. And I don't get to watch the games until the kids are in bed - that is 9:30 or 10 most nights. Therefore with live TV I would miss the game. And baseball and football have even more dead time. The only challenge is that you can't wait too long to watch the games as you may find out who won.

Non-sports shows have about 44 minutes of content per hour. Using Sage (and comskipping) let's you watch a 60 minute show in 44 minutes or an increase in efficiency of about 25%. With sports (other than soccer or rugby) you increase the efficiency by 50% or greater.

My kids (age 9 and 3) don't understand the concept of LiveTV. They can watch from dozens of episodes of any show that they like whenever they like. And they can do it from anyone of the six locations in our house that have Sage extenders. I only have to record a few shows currently because we already have everything that they like on Sage either through Sage TV recordings, DVD rips or Netflix/Playon.

So you don't have to watch dozens of TV shows to put Sage to good use.

[Skybolt]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

I still re-watch episodes of firefly on occasion... take that for what it's worth. ...

Just about the best show ever! All 14 episodes (DVD) ... Not tierd of Startgate (Any Series) reruns either. Just not ready to give up the Space era, Eureka has always been on the list - we will miss that one as well ...

But I have to agree with Korbin Dallas, it's getting to be slim pickings.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

I watched the first two episodes of Alcatraz and that has potential.

Alcatraz is interesting. I hope they get to a satisfactory conclusion in Fringe before it goes away. Seems it's ratings aren't all that good. Too bad, it was really good when it started.

[drewg]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Alcatraz is interesting. I hope they get to a satisfactory conclusion in Fringe before it goes away. Seems it's ratings aren't all that good. Too bad, it was really good when it started.

I thought Alcatraz was a really dumb premise, and I almost didn't watch it. But I'm glad I did. It reminds me of my 2 favorite JJ Abrams shows: Alias (hidden rooms full of high tech stuff, not sure if the federal agent is a "good guy"), and Lost (the whole time warp thing).

I agree about Fringe being better early on. I kind of lost interest this season, I've got 8 or so eps waiting to watch.

Drew

[Skybolt]

Originally Posted by drewg

... I agree about Fringe being better early on. I kind of lost interest this season, I've got 8 or so eps waiting to watch.

Drew

Your not missing much, they really took this season in a weird direction ...

So very disapointing. It was a great show. I am only watching to see how it ends.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by drewg

I agree about Fringe being better early on. I kind of lost interest this season, I've got 8 or so eps waiting to watch.

Drew

Originally Posted by Skybolt

Your not missing much, they really took this season in a weird direction ...

So very disapointing. It was a great show. I am only watching to see how it ends.

Yeah, my wife would agree. I'm not sure what the writers are trying to do. They are taking this "alternate timeline" thing too far. Things need to get on track for them to keep from getting canceled.

[darcilicious]

Love the new Sherlock series, wish there were more than three eps per series/season though

Love just about everything on USAnetwork (though not very sci-fi at all)

Fringe jumped the shark this season. This show had some of the best potential ever but the storyline has not moved forward one iota this year. Similarly, Grimm hasn't matured beyond monster of the week premise but Haven was kind of that way the first season until towards the end and the second season (Haven) was much better. I'm hoping Grimm gets there soon.

I really really like Once Upon a Time because I love the way the writers have reshaped the fairy tales (and they've actually done a good job with the not telling the stories in a totally linear approach) but it's more soap (opera) than scifi

Touch (Kiefer Sutherland) aired its pilot last week and might hold some promise; Awake might be interesting (2/11 for the pilot).

And totally off the Sci Fi track, Justified has some EXCELLENT writing.

[Skybolt]

Originally Posted by darcilicious

... Touch (Kiefer Sutherland) aired its pilot last week and might hold some promise...

The jury is still out on this one. For me I can't this one happening - can't get 24 out of my head.

Originally Posted by darcilicious

... And totally off the Sci Fi track, Justified has some EXCELLENT writing.

Could not agree more. This is an excellant show.


if you haven't seen this yet, find the downloads. it's worth the effort.

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by drewg

I agree about Fringe being better early on. I kind of lost interest this season, I've got 8 or so eps waiting to watch.

Drew

Last season with the focus on Olivia/Fauxlivia was great. This season definitely started slow, but I think the last couple episodes have been pretty decent.
Still one of the better Sci-Fi themed things on, especially given the slim pickings.

There needs to be a serious house cleaning of the department that decides which series to keep and cancel over at Fox. There have got to be some of the biggest boneheads in the world in there!!!

Here's a web list of the "20 Greatest Shows Cancelled by Fox before their time". Not all Sci Fi, but virtually all of them discussed here are in the list. A lot of others I had forgotten all about. John Doe, Undeclared, Millenium, The Adventures of Briscoe County Jr, Keen Eddie, and Arrested Development (an apropos sign to hang over that Fox Department's door!). One not on the list that was one of my favorites was "Space: Above and Beyond".

Here's another list of stuff cancelled by Fox with even more I'd forgotten about! Dark Angel! Come on, Jessica Alba in skin tight clothes riding a motorcycle!!! YUM!!

You could make a whole network out of the cancelled shows on Fox and probably kick their butts in the ratings!

[drewg]

Originally Posted by waynedunham

There needs to be a serious house cleaning of the department that decides which series to keep and cancel over at Fox. There have got to be some of the biggest boneheads in the world in there!!!

+1

It seems like they cancel anything good after 1-2 seasons and leave mostly the dreck for long running shows. Firefly, Dollhouse, and Terminator:SCC & The Good Guys, were all better than Fringe, Bones, and pretty much anything else long-running from their current lineup except House.

Drew