Uncrowding Thursday TV

A couple of years ago, I lamented the fact that every show I wanted to watch had been scheduled against each other on Monday nights. Why did the networks keep making me choose between "Chuck" and "Big Bang Theory" and "Heroes" and "The Sarah Conner Chronicles"? was Monday somehow designated as geeky TV show night? Since then, I've watched all the shows I regularly tune in for migrate over to Thursdays, where a similar programming logjam has resulted. At the 8PM hour, CBS's "Big Bang Theory" and NBC's "Community" have been going head to head for years. At 9PM, "Person of Interest" airs on CBS, "Go On" is on NBC, and Lifetime has some variant of "Project Runway" or another. Finally at 10PM, CBS has "Elementary," which my significant other has gotten me into. However, there are also new episodes of "Archer" on FX and the impending arrival of NBC's "Hannibal," the "Silence of the Lambs" prequel series. Yet somehow, in spite of all the overlapping, I'm still more or less caught up with everything on Thursdays.

All the NBC programming, "Big Bang Theory," "Elementary," and "Project Runway" put new episodes online the next day. I usually end up watching "Big Bang" and "Community" on Fridays, and everything else sometime over the weekend. I prefer using the respective networks' sites instead of going through Hulu, because Hulu's interface and ads are still terrible. This easy accessibility is the only reason I'm still watching "Elementary," which has slowly grown on me over the past few months. Otherwise, I'd have chosen to stick with "Go On," which has a much higher chance of cancellation. Ditto "Community," which is almost certainly in its final season considering the dismal state of its ratings. I honestly do like "The Big Bang Theory" about as much, but "Big Bang" is a monster hit that's going to run in syndication for years. i don't have to worry about losing track of it the way I do with "Community," which is far more of a cult show. It's only been recently that CBS has consistently put full episodes of "Big Bang" online, so I no longer have to choose between them.

The cable shows are harder to come by if you don't have cable, of course, but I marathoned all of "Archer" in a big catch-up session with a friend who had the iTunes Season Pass for it. Otherwise, I would have waited for this latest season to show up on Netflix with the older episodes. However, I find that I'm getting more comfortable with using Amazon and iTunes for some cable shows, including "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad," which both have highly anticipated new seasons right around the corner. I’ll be paying for Season Passes again for both series so I can keep up week by week as they air. And paying $45 for the two cable shows I actually want to watch sure beats paying for five months of a cable subscription. There are a couple of other programs I've been considering adding to that list, like Jane Campion's "Top of the Lake" miniseries, and the next season of "American Horror Story," but I think I can wait for those to hit disc or the subscription services, which means the price comes down considerably.

Finally, the only show I'm still watching live as it airs, on a mostly regular basis, is "Person of Interest," because rights issues prevent CBS from providing streaming versions in a timely manner (or so they claim). It's often a hassle, so I've missed several installments this year. For instance, I'm not sure where Carter's new love interest came from, or when Clarke Peters from "The Wire" became the show's latest big bad. I wouldn't bother for most other programs, but I still like "Person of Interest" enough that I tune in when I can. And it helps that it's not one of those series with a heavy mythology that requires seeing every single installment. Besides, it'll be nice to have a couple of new-to-me episodes to discover when I inevitably watch the reruns in a couple of years.

And so my Thursday night lineup no longer feels so crowded, and I can make it last all week. I could even start watching "Glee" again if I wanted to, without angsting over the scheduling conflicts. The internet has rendered the broadcast schedule mostly moot for me. The only reason that I remember that most of these shows air on Thursdays is because I have to wait until then before I have new episodes waiting for me when I get home. This week is going to be a little light since March Madness pre-empted all the CBS procedurals. Maybe I'll go catch up on some on those midseason premieres I missed.

Happy watching.
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