Taking a quick break on the TV reviews to mention something that happened to me last week---also TV related.
A local TV station is showing MeTV on one of their digital channels. For those who aren't aware of this, when the switch was made from analog to digital TV, stations were given a set amount of bandwidth to use as they wished. They could either send out a full fledged HD signal or an OK HD signal and and use the rest to create subchannels. Guess what most of them did. You can find the digital channels either buried somewhere on your program guide or by just flipping around if you still use an antenna. We're the latter--we cut the cable cord over a year ago. Stations use this for shopping channels, second language channels, or things like MeTV.
MeTV shows only classic TV. It's like the original TV Land before they started employing TV has-beens on new sitcoms. I watch Petticoat Junction, The Big Valley (Mindy's a fan), and Twilight Zone. They also show the Adam West Batman series. It's hard to find this show since the rights to it are murky--Fox produced it, but Warner owns the character rights. As a result, it will likely never be available on DVD. So, I've been collecting the episodes from MeTV.
A few weeks ago, the local affiliate started showing an infomercial during one of Batman episodes. If you ever watched the show, you would know this is problematic, as the show has a unique two-part format. Each week, two episodes that constitute one story with a cliffhanger in the middle were shown. At least that's what they did until the third season, but that's another story.
So, on MeTV, you ended up each week with only half a story. I decided to contact them via their website--both the network and the affiliate, since it was unclear who was responsible. I've done this in the past, and it's always hit or miss if you will get a response. I was shocked to get a reply the very next day, saying they had forgotten about the two-part format, and that they would move the infomercial to another time. They also thanked me for pointing it out.
Cut to today--I was checking the Tivo schedule, and sure enough, the infomercial had been moved to the previous hour, leaving both Batman episodes in the schedule.
I had actually impacted the electronic program guide!! I'M THE GOD!! KNEEL BEFORE ME!!!
Sorry--got carried away there. Anyhoo, back to Hogan's Heroes next time.