Unless you’ve been living in a hole, or have no interest in TV programs, you’d know that due to the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike over in the US, your beloved TV shows like Heroes, House etc… will be pretty much coming to a premature end soon. For most of the general populace here in Malaysia who watch their telly series the normal way (yes that is actually watching an actual Telly and not the PC monitor), this won’t really affect them much since we get our television series at least one season late. However, for those of us who so nicely get our Telly series online, we’d better be prepared for a dry spell.
As some of you may already know quite a bit of the Telly series over in the US have closed down production due to the strike as there are no scripts to film. My fave show Heroes was cut from 26 episodes to a mere 11 episodes for season which really suck as it seems the recent developments would have been much nicer should the whole series stretch to 26 episodes. However as much as I’d like to complain about greedy writers and such, I won’t for the very reason that I understand what some of those writers are going through. Hell I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t seeing that I’m a ‘struggling’ writer as well. So WGA good luck in getting those concessions you need, you have my support here. At least this ought to free up my time to do something more productive like blogging, reading and actually starting on my nascent novel.
However, if you just can’t stand to see your torrent client inactive, there’s still tons of other stuff for you to download. You shouldn’t just narrow your focus to just Telly series only. Search back and you’ll find tons of interesting shows that you can watch. The chief among them I’d like you all to at least consider are some documentaries ala informative shows. Before you roll your eyes and prepare sleep, just read on. I’m not talking about those documentaries about the animal kingdom and what nots (though I do find those entertaining as well) but stuff that border closer to reality shows but keep that teensy bit of a documentary streak in them.
A good example would be the show/documentary Mythbusters. Mythbusters is a series that follow two former special effects experts Adam and Jamie as they go around trying to prove or disprove general myths and legends like if a wooden cannon really existed or if you fill helium in a air raft, would it float. Most of the time I find this show entertaining because of the amount of fun the two guys go through in order to prove or disprove the myth, most usually ending in some sort of big explosion. Mythbuster is in its 82nd episode so you have a whole bunch of older ones to go through (downloading might be slow due to the age of some of the episodes). And in case you still need me to spoon feed you guys on other shows to get here is a list of them. (I’ve found some videos on Youtube that ought to give you a preview of some of the shows)
Mythbusters Preview:
Top Gear:
Some of you might already have this in your list of “to get” videos but if you don’t I highly recommend Top Gear. If you’re a petrol heads (read car crazy nutter) Top Gear is a must watch. One its hilarious, two they really know how to film cars, three Jeremy Clarkson is an idiot (but still hilarious) and four well its just plain hilarious need I say more.
Human Weapon:
This show is kind of new and showcases the various martial arts in the world. If you’re an action junky, Human Weapon is most likely going to float your boat. It has two guys with martial arts background traversing into various countries to discover and learn their martial arts and at the end of the show fight with an expert in that martial art. The shows interesting as it looks at the history of some of this martial arts as well as showcasing the technical aspects of the various moves. I wouldn’t say that you can learn them by watching them on the telly but it at least allows you to understand how they work. Hey even Malaysia is in the silat episode though I almost laughed when they gave a brief rundown on silat in our history (no insult to the martial arts but well you’d have to watch the show to understand).
Rise of the Video Game: This documentary is relatively new and to date only two episodes but its does take look at how every geeks favourite passtime rose from war to the money making power house that it is today. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any preview videos so you’ll have to take my word for it.
That’s just a few of the shows I’d recommend you watching if there are not television series to watch and Mythbusters alone might be enough to last you throughout the WGA strike. And if you’ve already watch them well, it just goes to show how much free time you have on your hands. If that’s the case, read a book get some fresh air, EXERCISE. I mean sitting in front of the screen watching telly shows isn’t exactly the healthiest thing to do. It’s one reason my gut is so big these days.
In Nigel's Brain 