Sunday, May 5, 2013

The TV MegaSite's Blog Post #93

I'm going to try really hard to keep this updated now! I know, famous last words...

Our site still doing great. It keeps me very busy, and many of our volunteers as well. I hope you can check it out. It's huge and has tons of content.

We always need more volunteers, though. Right now we are in desperate need for some transcribers for some recorded phone interviews, and for All My Children and One Life to Live transcripts (both of which are now on Hulu and iTunes Mondays through Thursdays). We also need someone to write AMC updates (detailed summaries). We are writing them but are struggling to keep up.  So much work! Check out our Volunteer Jobs.

I have been searching fruitlessly for software that will save the closed-captioning from either Hulu or iTunes mp4's, to no avail.  It is really tough doing them manually every day. Our other transcripts are extracted from the TV's closed-captioning using special software and hardware. The CC technology online is different so it won't work for that. If anyone finds software that can do this, let me know. I will pay you if you find it and it works.

I might be able to pay a small sum if anyone can help me with the transcribing of interviews and/or the soaps!

Danielle will be leaving our Primetime Forum so we need more people to post news and spoilers on there. We still need someone to run our ABC soaps forum (for AMC, OLTL and GH). This doesn't take much time.

Even if you can only contribute a few hours per week, it would be great for us to have your help!

We have a new writer, Sundi, who is writing a weekly column about primetime. Patti has been writing AMC Fan fiction and will be back to writing her AMC reviews. We have other fan fiction and all sorts of other stuff as well as our daily soap opera recaps, updates and transcripts.  Gisele and I both work full time on the site. She puts up almost all of the daytime as well as proofreads and writes things when needed.  We're grateful for whatever help we can find!

Every week, I put up all the news and info I have about primetime shows, especially the press releases from the networks about the upcoming TV shows.  You can go to our main news page and click on the week's date that you want to see.

We get a lot of interviews lately; and I have more to put up! Which reminds me, I also still need help from anyone who knows how to use Microsoft FrontPage, or Expression Web, or wants to learn those programs. We have so much content and never enough time to put it all up right away.

These are good problems to have, in a way. Too many TV stars to talk to, too many DVD's to watch and review, and too much content!! But still, we need a lot more help.

I'm very excited about the two soaps being back. So far I think OLTL is better. I think their stories are good, their dialogue is good, and it's done very well, very tight. The "newbies" are mostly characters we already know (recasts).  AMC's dialogue has not been very good. It's stilted and unrealistic, IMHO. I'm not sure how I feel yet about the newbies, especially Celia. The others seem okay. I'm very happy to see some of my favorites back, especially Cady McClain (Dixie), Vincent Irizarry (David), Eden Reigel (Bianca), Thorsten Kaye (Zach), Trevor St. John (Victor), Tuc Watkins (David), and others... I really miss Michael E. Knight (Tadd), though.

I know that not everyone likes "bad words", but I can't really understand that mentality. I'm 51, but it has never offended me. Both of my parents swore profusely (although they didn't let us do it). I started swearing in my teens. I know not to use it around people that I don't know, or kids. But anyway, it's just words. They have no power unless it give it to them. I think it's a good idea to have them in all TV shows because it makes it more realistic. Many people do swear in real life.  If the shows were set in some deeply religious place, I might agree that it's not realistic. But they're not. I have to wonder what other TV do these people who are offended watch because most cable channels, DVD's and movies use 4 letter words all the time. A few curse words here and there on the soaps are no big deal. If it brings in more viewers, or younger viewers, even better. 

I've really been enjoying having Doctor Who back, too. I'm sure it will be gone again before I know it. I love that show. It's just always so much fun.

I've been reading the book version of TNT's "Monday Mornings". It's a good book. Some parts the TV show does better, some parts the book does better. I hope they renew it.

I got a ROKU this week and that's been pretty cool. In case you don't know, it's a little box that lets you stream some internet content to your TV. It has Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus, Netflix, and lots of other channels, games etc.  The box I got was about $50 on Amazon. They have other versions that do HD etc. but I don't have an HD TV so I didn't bother.  You do have to pay for those channels, but they have free trials. Hulu Plus and Netflix are each only $8 I believe. I already have an Amazon Prime membership, so that will stay free, at least.  It's been fun checking it all out. I hope someday they will add a youtube channel.

Last Week's Family Guy was not very funny... I hope this week's is better!

I usually watch all my DVR shows right away, but I've been falling behind the past few weeks, trying to catch up on my DVD's as well as watching AMC and OLTL. I have kept up with just a few of my favorites so far, like Doctor Who, Supernatural, The Mentalist, Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men and Psych.  My husband only likes a few shows that we watch live, like The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Mad Men.

I have really enjoyed "The Americans" on FX. Glad it's coming back for a 2nd season! So far it seems like most of my favorite shows will be back next season... I was very happy to hear that Beauty & The Beast was renewed. You can see a good list of which shows have been canceled or renewed. They haven't announced all of them yet. The only ones I'm worried about are Body of Proof, CSI: NY, Nikita, and Go On.

I'm bummed that they canceled Smash, though. I liked that show... but not surprised after they moved it to Saturdays.

We have a fun little TV group on Facebook - hope you can join us!

I really hate zombies, so I hope that craze is over soon. I don't watch Walking Dead or any zombie movies. They are gross and creepy. I did watch the original "Night of the Living Dead", which was very good. But it was in black and white and it was like old school scary, not gross or bloody. Most of the terror was implied.  I don't like modern day zombies with the flesh hanging off, drooling etc.  It seems like every TV shows I watch, practically, has to have their "zombie episode".  Last week it was Doctor Who. They've done it on Being Human, Castle, NCIS and so many others. UGH.

See ya next time!

Suzanne Lanoue
The TV MegaSite, Inc.
http://tvmegasite.net

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