Dealing with new television viewing

Hi neighbors. Spring is officially here. Strange how the week before was so much nicer. Oh well, it is official. I hope everyone got a peek at the eclipse yesterday. I write this on Thursday so I'm hoping it was visible here in Nevada. The big, full moon helped make it possible.

I am ready for spring. At least I am ready for warm weather. Now I can trade in my arthritis for allergies.

I watch a lot of (too much of) television but only have a few shows I watch consistently. News broadcasts are too disturbing and shows repeating news broadcasts over and over are too tedious.

But the shows I favor are addictive! Maybe you watch some of these shows as well.

"The Walking Dead" are supposed to have a spin off series starting this summer. This one, and I don't know the name, will show at least one group of survivors in California. "The Walking Dead" is a show that is about the zombie apocalypse. If I lived in California, I'd head for those huge redwood trees and build a house in them. My son asked me how I would climb the tree in the first place. Good question. But with zombies nipping at my heels I'm sure I could manage.

For fans, there are only two more episodes of this season's "Walking Dead." Where has the time gone? The last episode is next week and will be 90 minutes long.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the new version. I haven't heard if "Z Nation" will return. They may be having trouble dealing with people surviving multiple atomic bombs. I think they will go with the new hybrid human who set off the missiles and took off in a truck.

"Penny Dreadful" will return May 3, and several thousand people across America, including me, are counting down the days. To keep people from losing interest the production company sends out little teasers about what will happen in season two. I for one am getting weary with the wait. If another new show starts up between now and then, they may lose one viewer. I hope the Syfy channel is listening.

They usually can reproduce any popular science fiction or horror show in a hurry on a low budget. That's how "Z Nation" came about. Let's hope. It's just too far between seasons.

We're all spoiled now with the seasons being split. Most television series will split what would have been spring and fall seasons into midwinter and midsummer seasons. I think "Monk" was the first television show to do this.

If they would just stop doing all of them at the same time, viewers would be more content. For instance, if one popular show started its new split season in May, another would start six weeks later. Most split season television shows only run for six weeks; then instead of reruns weekly, they do a marathon of the first part of the season just before releasing the second half of the series.

Times, they are a changing, I guess.

A lot of television shows now insist you use your home computer to have a "dual screen experience." I'm sorry, I don't want to watch two versions and comments, production clips, etc., while I'm trying to concentrate on the story line. I hope this doesn't become the new normal.

Young people today are used to multi-tasking and multi-viewing. I am not. I don't like it. I don't want it.

To me it's just like people talking in a theater. But the only alternative would be to wait till the season is over and buy the series on a DVD. That's IF they continue to show some of the show on your computer while you're watching the majority of it on your television.

Who is to say what is ahead of us television watchers. No wonder the old shows from the '50s, '60s and '70s are so popular again! I enjoy watching television; but I suppose I can survive on "I Love Lucy" reruns and new episodes of "Wheel of Fortune."

Until the next time friends, remember to let television producers know what you don't like. Drop them an email, a Twitter tweet a Facebook note, send them a letter! They need to multi-view more than I do.