The Story Behind Changing My Name on Twitter and Plans for the Future

Here's the quick and dirty version ... I had not written anything on this blog over a week. My Twitter handle used to be @ThatTVBlogger. Having not blogged for a bit that was a lie.

So I changed it to something truthful, @JoeWatchesTV, which I've been doing with the usual regularity (there are 84 series on my series DVR list after all).

Longer version ...

I can't be one of those bloggers who writes up recaps of shows and posts them right after the show airs on the east coast. First of all I don't get that many screeners, so I'd have to watch the shows as they air which puts me at a disadvantage, especially as I am on the left coast and three hours behind in primetime.

Besides, I don't watch ANYTHING live. Even the Oscars ... I start watching about 90 minutes after the show starts so I can skip through commercials. I like that. I'm not willing to deny myself the benefits of our new media landscape.

I just finished watching the third season of Being Human, the BBC version. It aired months ago, but I was busy with US primetime shows which were in full bloom. It sat on my DVR until the last week when I ate them all up like it was a vampire-ghost-werewolf buffet. I gorged myself. I like watching series that way. I wish my DVR hard drive was bigger, I would do more of that.

The conflict I see is as follows: TV fans run to the internet after (or sometimes during) their shows for immediate answers, instant gratification. I can't or in some cases refuse to provide that which relegates me to a second or third tier of blog just based on my personal preferences.

So, I've decided to change things up some. In the near future I will be opening an additional blog back at Blogger where I started in the first place. I'm limiting my scope to UK shows in the US, with emphasis not just on BBC America but on the other less recognizable outlets for shows from the UK like IFC and Sundance and most of all PBS, not just the shows on Masterpiece but those shows that local public broadcasting stations acquire on their own. I'll also let you know where to find this content on the web and through Netflix.

I've already reserved a domain at Blogger, I'll let you know about it as I get closer to doing that.

In the meantime I'll be writing here with a little more regularity than I have lately and eventually this blog, which has gotten very unwieldy lost its Google Adsense account for reasons I don't quite understand, will close.

But I'll let you know before all that happens.

Have a great day!

Comments

[MediumRob]

1.

Weirdly, you appear to have decided to do a mirror image blog to mine for exactly the same reasons. So good luck then, Mirror Me!

[Joe B.]

2.

I thought about that as I was writing this.

Of course the blogs will be different in that you're clever and I'm a vulgar lounge comedian.

And I'll probably find reason almost daily to post some picture of Rupert Penry-Jones. He's on a train. He's holding a tampon. He's ringing the closing bell at the stock exchange.

Tampons are a thing in England, right? Wasn't that whole Prince Charles thing with Camilla just the tip of the iceberg?

See? Vulgar lounge comedian.

Whatever I'm doing, it's being done so I can dump this behemoth of a digital enterprise that requires much more upkeep than many would imagine, but then Rob you know about that.

I never thought of you as only covering US television, though. All those Sitting Tennants and French BBC imports and Joanna Page stuff.

[MediumRob]

3.

Check out how much I review that's actually British though. What I do do is very irregular and only crops up every few months, usually when my workload is light.

And all the other things like Sitting Tennant et al are low maintenance stuff that I can do regularly without having to put much effort in, yet maintain the appearance of a very active blog.