Wednesday 20 April 2011

State of the Blog: Easter break

Wednesday 20 April 2011

I'm off on another jaunt from today until Easter Monday (which includes seeing Derren Brown live -- woohoo!), so blog updates will be less frequent. This week's reviews of Rubicon, Fringe and Camelot will be delayed, but I'll do my best to ensure Doctor Who gets reviewed for Sunday (but no promises.) My review of Justified's season 2 premiere will go up tomorrow. You know the drill by now: there won't be a total blackout, but don't expect "normal service" until next Tuesday.

As for the future; I've decided to review Doctor Who, Torchwood, Game Of Thrones, Breaking Bad, True Blood, Camelot, The Killing and Psychoville every week this spring/summer. The Borgias didn't appear popular enough to justify investing time writing reviews, although I'll keep watching it. Mildred Pierce will probably only get a premiere review at OWF, if that, owing to low enthusiasm and weak reviews from the US. Falling Skies is more likely to find a place on my weekly schedule, if it's good.

So that's 8 or 9 shows being covered over the next few months, with the possibility of a few more being added to the mix. As always, comments, links, and page-hits will help me determine the long-term prospects of some reviews. Right now, I'm unconvinced the audience who voted for Camelot are fully engaged with the show, so it's on the wobble here already. The Killing has also elicited far less feedback than I expected, but we'll see how it goes... for now.

Remember: if you appreciate a review here, please leave the occasional comment. It's the only way I know if something's truly popular and worth persevering with.

My problem accessing Blogger at work appears to have cleared (maybe it wasn't an incompatibility with IE6 after all), but the situation with Disqus has worsened. I wasn't able to leave comments, but now I can't even read comments! It looks like my workplace have blocked access to Disqus itself. Great. Consequently, I'm in the dark about what comments are being left on DMD until I get home. Please continue to leave them, but just know won't be reading/replying until later -- sorry!

On a related note, for anyone wanting to create a Disqus profile and upload an avatar, here is the process to follow:

If you're NOT already registered with Disqus, click "subscribe by e-mail" or "subscribe by RSS" under the 'Add New Comment' box. A pop-up window will appear, where you must then enter your email or RSS option in it. It's THAT easy! Once done, visit www.disqus.com, enter your details to access your profile, and upload an avatar. Et voila!
Sounds like hard work? Okay, fine, let's disagree. But it's worth it because many sites/blogs use Disqus now. Once you're signed up, you may be surprised by how many places you visit online that now has your avatar preloaded into the comments area. And if you're a regular commenter here, why not seal the deal by signing up properly?

Finally, by popular demand, I've created a TV pilot/premiere calendar. The calendar is readily accessible on the main page's sidebar, just underneath the "In Review" widget (formerly "On The Box".) I hope you'll bookmark it and, if you can, help maintain it by e-mailing me about amendments. Its design may change, as I try to find the best, easiest way to make the information clear.

Let me know your thoughts, if you have any!