JeffGoebel.com -Personal Blog

Madam Secretary of Quahog

Daily, GIVEIT100.com, Pauseandblog

Madam Secretary of Quahog

It’s new TV week.

I sat down this evening to watch and review the new network TV show about Mrs. Clinton called Madam Secretary.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3501074/

It’s probably not really about Hilary although the main star looks a lot like a younger version of Mrs. Clinton,  complete with a similar, but not identical hair style. I think we are at least going to be shown what the job of the secretary of state is all about, which may indirectly impress people that the former first lady is a smart strong woman, who may be a good candidate for 2016 president.  I know little else about the show itself, but it’s hard not to make the connection.

Over the years, the networks have tried a number of government themed shows, including a short lived series with Geena Davis as the President. I expect this show to be similar in style to The West Wing, which was a fictional, but educational about us politics. I loved the West Wing.

Sadly, the show I apparently recorded and started to watch, was Family Guy.  The network had changed their pilot premier schedule for unknown reasons. A tiny banner scroll ran across the bottom of the screen alerting me that the show I actually wanted was on at some other time. An alert I could do nothing about but be frustrated. A PVR fail. I searched the schedule for another showing, as well as the ON DEMAND catalogue, but there was no other copy of the show. I had missed it.

Ouch. That has to hurt the ratings of a brand new show. Episode one would have taken a hit if anyone else had done the same. I wasn’t even to watch an online version on my tablet or Chromecast because the Global TV version plays from the web using a FLASH player, which is no longer supported on portable devices. I was forced to download the show from the torrents overnight.

As my brain often does, I ponder about what goes on behind the scenes to make such a change. Usually premier dates of new shows are set months in advance, and the schedule is delicately defined. Time slots are fought over and manipulated to fit the show style and demographic.

I wonder if it this last minute switch was political. I imagined a scenarios where the republican party secretly tries to sabotage a show that puts a democratic character is a good light. Having a hit show on the fall lineup in 2014 could actually help Hillary Clinton run for office in 2016, that is if she ever admits to wanting to.

I never found out why it was moved.  I’ll watch it later.

To be continued.

The TV I watch 2016

The TV I watch 2016

We're a few months into the 2016 seson, and a few shows have already been cancelled. It's time to list the shows I still watch weekly.   In no particular order The Daily Show with Trevor noah Full Frontal with Samantha Bee @Midnight (occasional) TMZ (occasional)...

Police must be pissed at TV murder shows

Police must be pissed at TV murder shows

One of my favourite genres of Television for the past few years, is the murder show. The hour long dramas that come on at 9 or 10pm and start with a discovery of the body scene. I've blogged before about those scenes, and I still wonder if they are written and sold...

Blipverts for 2016. Fast Forward Marketing

Blipverts for 2016. Fast Forward Marketing

In the 1987 TV series Max Headroom, which apparently took place 20 minutes into the future, a lot of technology was displayed. One of the neat idea that stucjk with me over the years was the "Blipverts".  These were a new format TV commercial on Network 23 that...

SNL Live Hillary speech

SNL Live Hillary speech

It's Monday, and that's a bit later than usual for me to watch this past weekend'd Saturday Night Live. It's been a pretty consistent Sunday morning ritual, but toady I was a day late.  The first thing I noticed when they said Big Dick and it really looked like he...

Jeff Goebel