Keeping Track of TV

Back when I was a kid, you knew what to expect on TV. You quickly figured out what channel had a good show on what day, and at what time. Things got a bit dicey around Christmas, when half the shows skipped a week so the other shows could have a Christmas show twice as long as normal, but otherwise, the day, time and channel for all the shows you liked remained the same from the start of school until school let out. Then, us kids didn't care if the summer was full of re-runs, because we were probably outside, playing kick the can or chasing fireflies.

Of course, back then we only got the 3 national channels, and maybe – if the wind was right – a snowy rendition of the closest public broadcast station. Remembering your TV schedule was simple.

Well, leave it to the suits in charge of the tv stations to make it impossible!
These days, a 'season' might be as little as 9 weeks long. And if you're really, really lucky, they might make 2 of these 'seasons' in any one year. Even then, that’s 18 weeks, out of 52. That leaves 34 weeks for them to show re-runs. But apparently, that isn't enough for them. I've discovered that if I miss an 'all new' episode at 8 or 9 PM, it will be shown again at 11 or midnight. Not only that, it will be shown a couple times (at least) the next day, and the next day ... a couple dozen times before the next 'all new' episode is shown the next week. After seeing the same show 3 or 4 times, I grab the remote in sheer desperation to see what's on the cooking channel. I hate cooking.

I've made notes about when and on what channel my favorite shows appear. But many times, I've turned to that channel at that time, and my show isn't on. Hope I can catch it tomorrow, I guess.