respublica

It's coming up Roses...or not

Watching the Tournament of Roses Parade has always been part of our New Year's Day practice. Dale has been blessed to have been on one of the floats 3 different times so we have an affection for this parade and especially the Lutheran Hour Float.

In recent years watching it has gotten harder and harder. The major networks which broadcast it, ABC, NBC...are constantly leaving for commercials and often give short shrift to the Lutheran Hour float. That leaves the Hallmark Drama channel on cable which we do not get on our cable package. We don't speak Spanish so Univision is out. And RFD we have never heard of and do not have.

The best years recently were when HGTV covered the parade. They did it commercial free and had good commentary on all the floats. At the moment I'm trying to find a streaming channel but am not optimistic.

Last Man Standing

For the past year we have gotten into the habit of watching the Last Man Standing TV show which features Tim Allen. For some reason this program was not on our radar before the Covid shutdown, but we have found this to be one of the funnier series on television. The series is on CMT and tonight for instance, there are 8 if them in a row beginning at 3 in the afternoon. We normally watch the ones at 6 and 6:30.

We find the programs laugh out loud funny which is something we don't come across very often. Tim Allen was best known as Tim the Tool Man Taylor back in the old days, but his character on Last Man Standing is just as good as are those who play his family members.

Certainly this is much better than all the cable news and current sitcoms are just weird.

Ponderding the Discovery

We've all been bombarded with the ads for Discovery Plus. This new streaming arm of the Discovery network is working really hard to get us all on board. Their programs include some, but not all, taken from networks like HGTV, Food Network, Animal Planet, OWN, Lifetime, and ID. I don't know what the ID network is. I like the idea of seeing the Pioneer Woman, Chip and Joanna Gaines. I have no desire to see more of the touted Property Brothers, two guys who seemed to be on every hour of the day. It seems Discovery has taken some popular programs from these networks so we can't watch them without it.

Discovery won't have every program from these networks, but they are monkeying around with others keeping us from watching even re-runs. For example, on our Roku, we could watch old episodes of House Hunters. Now they are very sparse. And, I was watching a program on our main TV without Roku one night and decided to finish it upstairs in the bedroom on our Roku TV. We've always been able to watch "live" shows there, but suddenly a message came that we needed to have Discovery to do this.

If anyone has Discover I'd be interested in knowing just how worth it is. It seems like viewers have been robbed in some fashion, but there are shows I'd like to watch.

FYI to Fox Sports viewers

Beginning March 31, FOX sports regional networks will become Bally Sports. This will include our local FOX sports midwest. The channel numbers will remain the same and supposedly the programming we've currently had will be the same. What will be different with the nw company name?

The only thing I can find is one explanation: "they will unveil new graphics, music and more."

So basically FOX sports Midwest along with other regional FOX sports channels was bought out by Bally Sports. Time will tell if anything changes with the Cardinals.

The most talented HGTV stars

Like many Americans I've been watching a lot of HGTV during this pandemic era. Actually, I have always been a regular viewer of this network beginning back at its beginning. This article has a bit of information on what many viewers think of the current network stars and programming, ending with who we think are the most talented.

Any guesses? I guessed right even though these two guys are my least favorite mainly because they dominate the programming and I'm tired of them. Yes, it's the Property Brothers.

What's good recently is an influx of new HGTV programs with new people.

No Roku HGTV

When I went up to bed last night I turned on the TV to watch HGTV which I normally do. That TV is hooked into Roku and for some reason HGTV would not come on. The title ;page showed up and then it disappeared. This morning I went to our basement TV and tried it there and the same thing happened. I'm wondering if HGTV has cut the cord with this device and am pretty sorry about the loss.

However, I was able to get this channel by going through the Spectrum app, but it still makes no sense. I'm going to try a couple of other channels to see if the same thing has happened.

Missing the Rose parade

It just isn't New Year's Day without the Rose Parade. It's been canceled due to the Covid which itself needs to be canceled.

In any event the Rose Parade people are still going to air a two hour special during the time the parade would ordinarily run. It's called The Rose Parade's New Year's Celebration and will have lots of celebrities and begins at 10 Central time on the Hallmark Channel. I don't know if it will also be on any other channel like other years, but we will look in on it since Dale has twice ridden on the Lutheran Hour float, the last time was 2017 and we took all the kids and grandkids along.

A perfect ending to 2020

We did not stay up to say good-bye to 2020 or ring in 2021. However, we did see midnight arrive thanks to a neighbor one house down shooting off fireworks in his driveway. But that was no big deal. What we are happy to have missed was the Times Square Ball drop and entertainment preceding it. What we saw on the morning news about Cindy Lauper's performance at that event was bizarre. And we are not alone it seems. Many comment on the news site that her gig was the perfect ending to the weirdest of weird years. Said one: "Cindy Lauper's performance has now officially become the worst thing to happen in 2020."

A tribute documentary to The Hill neighborhood

Tonight at 7 Channel 9 in St. Louis will televise a documentary on The Hill. Most of us have been on The Hill at one time or other to eat at one of the many good restaurants. This film spends less time on the eating part and more on how this area developed, its history, and how it is seeing a  renaissance today.

We've been over there many times through the years and it always appears to be a strong, stable place. Homes are not big mansions, but are meticulously cared for, and I always believed I could happily live thee.  I'm looking forward to watching this tonight if I can keep Dale off the remote for a football game or some such.

Better TV watching

I have to say, I am enjoying having a Roku set up on two of our TV's. One in the bedroom and the other in Dale's basement book area. I was reminded of just how much I like the Roku this morning while reading a story on Ina Garten recipe. Ina at one time had a long running show on the Food Network, one of many interesting chefs and average cooks. Now this Network is mainly competitions with people crazily scrabbling together a meal and then being judged against others.

But with Roku, I can get all the old favorites on the past shows. I love being able to see actual chefs cooking and explaining as they go along, often with great humor. These are shows we watched back in the 90's and early 2000's and they are still viable today.

The same holds true for HGTV, such a relief from the incessant renovation shows on these days. Way too much Property Brothers and Love it or List It.