Topic: Pete's Pilots

[addicted2dvd]

the majority of my TV watching is now on DVD... like I said somewhere previously... once I get a show started on DVD I seldomly watch any episodes on TV any longer.

[snowcat]

It used to air here on 3 channels... it now only airs on one about 3 times a day :p

I would like to get this series though... then I can watch it in order

[Achim]

Who watches TV anyway? 

I even disconnected my satellite receiver because I didn't use at all anymore.

Are there new rules in germany now, can you not pay the GEZ fee (what we pay in Germany for free TV... ) somehow when not using the TV for broadcasts?

[DJ Doena]

Who watches TV anyway? 

I even disconnected my satellite receiver because I didn't use at all anymore.

Are there new rules in germany now, can you not pay the GEZ fee (what we pay in Germany for free TV... ) somehow when not using the TV for broadcasts?

No. As long as you have a telly with a built-in receiver you are obliged to pay the GEZ fee. But I don't either. My moral compass says that I don't have to pay for something that I don't use and television is not something that I consider worthy of solidarity with my fellow citizens.

[Kathy]

I'm with Karsten. I will never pay for TV - that is what the commercials are for and putting up with them is payment enough. If fees become mandatory, I will give it up completely...I have lots of DVDs and books!

[Jimmy]

I will never pay for TV - that is what the commercials are for and putting up with them is payment enough.

Kathy you pay already for the television. PBS is found by the the federal governement no?
Personnally, I've no problem with the fact to pay the way we do here in the Province of Quebec. We pay trough our taxes for 2 public networks, SRC (the federal one that had also an english sister) and Radio Quebec (the provincial one). The 2 networks had publicity but they show a much better programmation because of the public funding. Of course I would never pay for most of our stupid channel...

[addicted2dvd]

The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries
Follow the clues to mystery, adventure and thrills as Season One of The Hardy Boys Nancy Drew Mysteries comes to DVD for the first time ever! Teen sensations Shaun Cassidy, Parker Stevenson and Pamela Sue Martin star as brave super-sleuths in 14 spooky episodes loaded with spellbinding action and smash-hit pop songs, including Shaun Cassidy's #1hit "Da Doo Ron Ron." Inspired by the hugely popular books and with an amazing lineup of guest stars including Jamie Lee Curtis, Mark Harmon, Bob Crane, Rick Nelson and more, it's no surprise that The Hardy Boys Nancy Drew Mysteries is an open-and-shut case for fun!

The Mystery of the Haunted House
Joe and Frank Hardy follow their father on a "fishing trip" and end up helping him solve the case of a former soldier who is being chased by killers.

My Thoughts:
This is a series that I grew up watching back in the late '70s. A series I have always had fond memories of... and I was thrilled when it was announced they would be coming on DVD. In this series they would take turns... one week having a Hardy Boys mystery... and the next having a Nancy Drew mystery. Even though I was more partial to Nancy Drew (damn she was cute!)... I enjoyed The Hardy Boys as well. I believe it was in season 2 that they had a few episodes where they had both The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew in the same episode... usually a 2 part episode that started on The Hardy Boys one week and ended on Nancy Drew the following. Those were always fun episodes.

In this pilot episode, they just jump right into the mystery. No real introduction to the characters... just them getting involved in the mystery right away. I am sure they figured everyone would know the characters from the many books that came before the series. I must say... while a club is not my idea of a fun place to go... the one in this episode looked to be fun... having it set up like a haunted house and the employees dressed as monsters and such. The mystery itself is fairly predictable... but you must remember this show is geared towards the kids/teens more then the adults.

My Rating:

[Najemikon]

I'm with Karsten. I will never pay for TV - that is what the commercials are for and putting up with them is payment enough. If fees become mandatory, I will give it up completely...I have lots of DVDs and books!

We've had several discussions about this recently! I think it's a case of getting what you pay for. Our Licence Fee is enforced and traditionally you'd hear stories of detector vans that seek out the people watching TV without a licence, which I think is mainly bull, but the fact remains, they do enforce it. But as I've said before, I don't mind. The BBC give us a huge spectrum of ad-free, frequently worthy programming (from Doctor Who, Casualty , etc, to regular documentaries, as well as national and regional radio stations).

Kathy says that is what commercials are for, but I've heard that on some US channels a two hour film can be nearer four because of frequent ad breaks. We don't get that level on the commercial channels.

[Kathy]

I remember when cable first was introduced, the reason they were charging a monthly fee was because their programming would be commercial free. My aunt and I laughed about it because...who in their right mind would PAY for TV?!?

Now the cable (which in Buffalo includes almost nothing more than regular broadcast stations - sorry home shopping networks do not count!) is almost $40 a month. And, there are as many commercials on cable as there is on free TV (by that I mean what I don't pay out of pocket - I don't control what the government spends on TV). Higher tier cable programming can run over $100 a month!

I will never pay for cable or satellite TV - nope, I won't do it. I have much better ways to spend $100 a month. I like my sporting events and special things, like the Olympics, but I usually go to the event or watch it with others...they have the big TV...and the big cable bills!  

[Rogmeister]

I still get cable TV though I consider getting rid of it from time to time and did once for something like a month or two...but I eventually caved and got it back.  Now I'm paying something like $62 a month for it.  And I see commercials from cable companies that want you to go for a triple play...cable TV, high-speed internet and digital phone service.  Their "low" prices usually start at about $99 a month but who knows how high they get soon after the intro period ends?

[Achim]

Just to be clear, the public channels in Germany, which are paid for through the fee, are also commercial break free (they have ads, but at designated times and not within a program; unless that's changed).

Also, as Karsten said, the fee is actually for owning the receiving device, so even if you really just watch DVD you still pay that fee. There even is a fee for owning a radio in a car (again, the public channels have way less [no...?] adverts).

Also, in my above post I said "free channels", when I actually meant public channels. The free channels are those with advertisement. Again, the trick is, you pay for the device, so even if you only watch free TV and not the public channels, you'd still have to pay.

[Najemikon]

That's how ours works. If you own a device that can receive TV, then you're charged. In fact, they just charge each household and it's upto you to prove you can't receive TV. I've heard of people using monitors to watch videos so they can say they don't have a tuner. I'm not sure how it stands with the Internet though.

But radio is truly free. Charging because you have a radio device? Blimey.

[addicted2dvd]

Since watching the pilot episode of Grey's Anatomy I just couldn't help myself.... I have now watched the entire first season! (Granted that is only 9 episodes)

Since there is only the rest of the day today and tomorrow before my weekend movie marathon... I just may continue watching this show as I still haven't had enough. 

Every since the above I been watching some episodes of Grey's Anatomy each day. And once I am done my movie marathon (after the movie I am watching now) I think I will continue on this series.... through-out the 3rd season. I am doing this because I plan on ordering season 4 (which I never seen a single episode) in a few days when I get paid. That is if the price strays down where it is now. Then I will be able to bring back my Grey's Anatomy marathon thread! 

[addicted2dvd]

Harsh Realm
A month before leaving the army, Lieutenant Tom Hobbes is rousted from bed in the middle of the night and takenitoia secret location for one last mission: test a simulated virtual reality game used to teach situation war strategy. After being briefed on the top-secret project, code-named Harsh Realm, Hobbes is given his objective: eliminate Major Omar Santiago, who has taken the game hostage. But upon entering Harsh Realm, Hobbes discovers he is trapped there - and theideadly game will never end unless he completes his mission.

Pilot
Trapped in Harsh Realm, Hobbes meets others who were also sent to kill Santiago--and encounters the virtual counterpart of his fiancée, Sophie, now married to one of his best friends.

My Thoughts:
This is another show I blind bought quite some time ago. And for some reason I only ever watched the first disc! I don't know why... I really enjoy the show. I found it to be very interesting. But for some reason after the first disc I just put it up and forgot about it. I like how in the pilot episode Chris Carter had X-Files Alumni Gillian Anderson doing the narrator of the video tape Hobbes watched. And then there was Millennium star Lance Henriksen as a commanding officer. Both uncredited cameos.  One of these days I really need to watch this entire set!

My Rating:

[addicted2dvd]

A Haunting
In sixteen chilling tales of the supernatural, on 3 DVDs, New Dominion Picture's A Haunting, takes you inside real-life horror stories. The series originally aired on the Discovery Channel, and each eerie one-hour episode features eyewitness accounts and cinematic re-enactments of some of most spine-tingling, ghostly hauntings ever recorded, filmed in actual locations where these apparitions took place. They are all but guaranteed to spook even the most skeptical observer, but you can judge for yourself: are they imagined, or are they real?

Episode by episode, you'll be shocked and surprised by the spell-binding tales. Take the case of the dance club haunted by ghosts from a by-gone era, the child inhabited by evil that only an exorcism will cure, or house-haunting specters, scaring the wits out of their unsuspecting victims. A Haunting explores these and many other unexplainable, eerie, and macabre tales of the paranormal.

By the end of each amazing story, you will experience a lingering sense that life and death are much stranger than you could have possibly imagined!

Hell House
A family buys a 19th-century farmhouse in Connecticut, but become targeted by strange occurrences. The family consults world-renowned paranormal investigators, including Ed and Lorraine Warren to find out what is truly in their house.

My Thoughts:
Another show I enjoy. I own the entire series (4 seasons). It is a documentary series of supposedly "true" hauntings. I like they way they do this show. Not only is the documentaries interesting (and a little eerie) the reenactments are also done well.

My Rating: