Willpower, I Don't Have It

Well, I did it. I swore up and down I wouldn't, and then I went and did it anyway. For the first time since I stopped working at the cable company we once more have a subscription to premium movie channels, sigh.

So, I may or may not have mentioned before, but I love Torchwood. In fact, the only reason I started watching Doctor Who is that I had learned its spinoff would begin airing on BBC America and I thought seeing the parent show would help me to understand what the heck was going on. Everything about Torchwood just sounded awesome and intriguing to me, and my assumption that I would enjoy it was not wrong.

I mean, come on, they had a freaking pterodactyl in the lab for the whole first season! Also, Ianto, my favorite character (Jack is awesome, but Ianto was just so very...Ianto) had the same birthday as me (day and year) and I thought that to be very cool.

You can imagine my dismay when after the last season (a shortened mini-series), it seemed as if the cards had been dealt and there would be no more new seasons. Bummer, man. But then the news came down that BBC had partnered with the network Starz to fund more seasons and production of the series would move (at least partially) to America and it would indeed continue. Huzzah! Except...it would no longer be airing stateside on BBC America but instead on Starz network. Sigh.

I really thought I would be okay not subscribing to Starz. My original plan had been to just purchase a season pass to the show on iTunes and watch the new episodes with a day or two delay that way. Except. I really don't actually like watching television shows on my computer. I don't even watch that many videos--if it's a "funny video" that is getting passed around the web and it is more than a minute and a half long, I am more likely to just pass than to watch it. Web series, usually clocking in at a maximum of ten minutes long, are the far edge of my patience for such things. I know that TV on the computer is the way of the future and whatnot, but as I have said before, we have our humongous television for a reason: I like to watch things on the BIG screen. This fad of watching television shows on smaller and smaller devices (tablets and phones, for instance) just baffles me. Those screens are so tiny, why bother? But whatever. To each his own and whatnot. My personal preference is to watch it on my television rather than the computer. I know there are ways to watch it through the television from the computer but those are not any ways I want to mess with.

Also, it goes without saying that I will want to get the new season of Torchwood on DVD when it comes out. I really didn't want to shell out the money for the season pass and for the DVD set, that just seemed silly. Still, I would have to pay more than the cost of both on an annual basis to subscribe to the channel. For just one show that seemed even sillier. Then I learned that Netflix actually had a deal with Starz allowing subscribers to view the network's original programming via their streaming services a day or two after it airs.  Cool! Perfect solution! Through the magic of our gaming console, we do have Netflix on our television! But wait a minute, Starz, afraid of people not subscribing to their network if they can just watch the shows right away on Netflix, just renegotiated their agreement with the company. As of April first, there is a 90 day turnaround between the show airing and being available on Netflix. Still sooner than DVD, but...three months.

I was resigned to just hold off and wait until the 90 period had lapsed or the show came out on DVD, until all of the campaigning for the series on the internet started up. I just realized I am too excited about the new season. So I did a little searching around with my cable provider to see if there was any sort of good deal I could get, and I found one. For only a dollar more than just getting Starz, I upgraded to the next level of service up, and I get all of the Starz family of channels as well as the Showtime channels, a few other movie channels, and a few other general channels that I am actually interested in. Even better, currently existing customers upgrading to that tier get a three month discount that for me, since it was only a one level jump in service, comes out to getting the new channels for free for three months. Not too shabby I'd say. So I am all set for the new season of Torchwood, and my husband is just shaking his head at me in bemusement, glad I have something to keep me distracted from how many gigs he has coming up.

Still, I would hate to think I subscribed to all of those channels for just one show. That is still pretty silly. Lucky for me Starz just this past weekend started up a new series that I have also had my eye on (but was more willing to wait the 90 days for). I watched the first two episodes of Camelot yesterday and I have to say I am already pretty hooked. I have found the endless variations in Arthurian legend fascinating since my high school days (at least), and I am very curious to see where this goes. Though, wow, they aren't afraid to be showing off some flesh, are they? Oh well, I'm a big girl, I can handle it.

Since I got Showtime in the deal, I thought I might also give The Borgias a try. The first episode is in my DVR waiting to be fired up.

Boo for no willpower, but huzzah for new period dramas!