TMINE

Question of the week: at what point does something stop being a spoiler?

11 November 2009 Rob Buckley 15 Comments

This week’s question was prompted by this ‘ere article over at Televisionary. In a sense, as well as being an interesting topic, it’s also one I’m interested in for this ‘ere blog, since I have a fairly reasonable policy, I think, but I’d like to know what you think of both the policy and your own views.

When does something stop being a spoiler?

My policy (spelt out longer in the comments at Televisionary) is that until a ‘safe time’ has elapsed, I’m not going to stick anything on the front page that could spoil, or mention it in the comments. I’m certainly not going to Tweet anything about it. My definition of ‘a safe time’ is a bit nebulous though. I’m still cloaking stuff about the Engrenages finale, which aired over a week in the UK and a year and a half ago in France. I’d probably feel safe to do it once a programme has aired in both the US and the UK.

I don’t know if there’s a correct answer, but I know I personally get hacked off when the results of the previous night’s The Apprentice get published in the papers the next day on the front page. I think at least 24 hours is generally a reasonable time to give before assuming everyone knows, just in case someone’s had the temerity to go out of an evening. I certainly think Tweeting without hashtags to at least give people the chance of filtering out things they don’t like should be illegal, and I’ve unfollowed a couple of people at least for spoiling certain programmes through live Tweeting or Tweeting directly after a programme has finished.

But what are your instincts? When does something stop being a spoiler? When is the onus on the reader/listener to go hide under a rock rather than the speaker/writer to be sensitive? Should blogs have different policies regarding spoilers than regular people who just want to talk about things they liked on television after they’ve seen them? In fact, should anyone have to have any sensitivity on the subject?

As always, leave a comment with your answer or a link to your answer on your own blog.

The 10 most popular search terms this month

11 November 2009 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Ah, my blog is so useful:

  1. satan
  2. David tennant
  3. californication
  4. joanna page naked
  5. eastbound and down
  6. lie to me
  7. casanova
  8. rupert penry jones
  9. richard armitage
  10. the haunted airman review

As you can see compared with last month, while Satan and David Tennant are holding their own, Karen Gillan, Ali Larter and Erin Karpluk’s popularity have been on the wane. Out of sight, out of mind, as they say.

That would certainly explain two new things: Joanna Page in a state of nakedness seems to have become a buzz topic, presumably as a result of this month’s FHM, while Robert Pattinson fans appear to want to catch up on his back catalogue of rubbish BBC4 dramas thanks to the impending Twilight.

I wonder what people will be looking for next month…

What have you been watching this week (w/e November 6)

6 November 2009 Rob Buckley 9 Comments

I really should take notes, because I keep forgetting things. It didn’t help that our block of flats lost all TV reception for the weekend, which really knackered my attempts to watch the Francis Bacon evening on BBC4:

  • Mad Men – Finally caught up. All brilliant of course
  • Community – Another doozey. Will you ever look at Batman the same?
  • 30 Rock – interesting, but not very funny
  • Dexter – a really fine episode. I’m surprised it took the police and Dexter so long to work out Trinity’s MO, but great all round
  • Stargate Universe – still liking it. Nice touch to have them kill the helpful alien, and for the Stargate to take them to such a rubbish planet
  • The Thick of It – still not enjoying it as much as previous series, but at least Malcolm’s a bit swearier this episode
  • The Border – this is what I mean. Completely forget I’ve been watching this. Definite pick-up in quality this week since we had an actual firefight and Grey finally showed that he’s not a complete nancy. Bit of a pat resolution though
  • Being Erica – haven’t watched this week’s
  • Cougar Town – really starting to enjoy. The characters are now starting to show some depth
  • Modern Family – the cool dad is really starting to get annoying now, but every other character is great
  • The Sarah Jane Adventures – caught up with the wedding from last week, and it nearly bought tears to my little eyes. Obvious nods to Sapphire and Steel story six, too, which always warrants praise
  • CSI: Nothing desperately exciting going on here, but the characters are starting to come together again
  • Heroes – already reviewed but I forgot to mention the Quantum Leap shout out.
  • Supernatural – great joke about the clap, quite an enjoyable story, but nothing desperately radical. Will be watching last night’s episode in a bit

What have you been watching though?

As always, no spoilers unless you’re going to use the <spoiler> </spoiler> tags, please. If you’ve reviewed something on your blog, you can put a link to it here rather than repeat yourself (although too many links and you might get killed by the spam filter).

What have you been watching this week (w/e October 30)

30 October 2009 Rob Buckley 7 Comments

A bit of an odd collection of viewing treats this week:

  • Mad Men – Haven’t watched this week’s yet.
  • Community – Duff first half, but it pulled it together for the second half. Loved Avid’s TV self-awareness that made him hide away this episode, because he’d been getting too much screen time in the previous episodes.
  • 30 Rock – had its moments. Not as good as Community though.
  • Dexter – so many twists! Great ending.
  • Stargate Universe – still liking it. Still. Not loving it. But liking it. There were some beautiful bits of CGI in this week’s ep, Robert Carlyle was acting for all his worth, and the music was great – very Vangelis/Blade Runner.
  • The Thick of It – more political, less funny that previous episodes. And is Malcolm toning down on his swearing now it’s Rebecca Front in charge?
  • Ghosts in the Machine – Very good little documentary on BBC4 about ghost stories on TV. I’ve seen pretty much everything featured on it, surprisingly, and I thought they gave the Ghost Stories for Christmas too little time – I’d have loved to have seen more focus given to Andrew Davies’s adaptation of The Signalman as well the later stories that weren’t based on MR James stories. But good to see The Omega Factor getting a head nod. Still, for anyone who hadn’t see The Stone Tape et al, bit of a spoiler-fest since they gave all the endings away.
  • Dollhouse – Yes, I know I’ve given up on it, but I was told by Jonathan that last week’s was excellent, so I thought I’d watch it. It was certainly a whole lot better than previous week’s – except for any bit with Eliza Dushku in it – and it’s nice to see Vincent Ventrega still getting work. But I’m not loving it either.

Otherwise, the backlog’s growing.

What have you been watching though?

As always, no spoilers unless you’re going to use the <spoiler> </spoiler> tags, please. If you’ve reviewed something on your blog, you can put a link to it here rather than repeat yourself (although too many links and you might get killed by the spam filter).