The OnDemand question

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As most of you know, HBO has been making episodes of their original series available through the OnDemand feature the Monday prior to the Sunday they air; they did it for the Wire, they're doing it for Rome and Extras and to my understanding this will be the case for the Sopranos final episodes. So the question is, who of us will be watching OnDemand? My understanding is that anyone with digital cable and HBO has OnDemand included (as in, it's free with the service/no extra fees). I imagine anyone here would jump at the chance to see the episodes as early as possible, but it makes for a tricky situation in terms of episode discussion. Mods, have you thought about this? Will there be a seperate thread for the OnDemand viewers or will they be forced to keep it in the spoiler section? Anyway, something that just came to mind.

In others news, Member's Only is being played this week on HBO, so I can only assume that in twelve weeks after Kaisha airs the new season will start airing :-)

Re: The OnDemand question

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The shows are not available On-Demand until after they have aired (the Monday after the Sunday show) so there should be no issue. I used this feature all through the last run of episodes to re-watch them several more times (though I did run into a problem with my cable company not updating the selections a time or two.)
"Leave the gun...take the cannoli." - Clemenza

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Re: The OnDemand question

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Sorry, Detective Hunt, but you're wrong. That has been the case in the past, but starting summer of last year, they started making shows available before the air dates. Here's an article about it: http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-thewi ... 5813.story
And if you go to HBO's website (http://www.hbo.com/hboondemand/index.html), you'll see that Extras is available OnDemand right now (it's television premiere is Sunday). This is what I'm talking about - they put up The Wire and Extras early, and my understanding is that will also be the case for the Sopranos (but of course, there's no guarantees).

Re: The OnDemand question

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Well Rome premiers tonight and it is not yet available On Demand so it is not at all clear that all shows will be doing what they have done with The Wire and some others. Frankly, it's an odd programming choice (seems to me.) If in fact they do allow early views of Sopranos episodes, we'll consider the best options to make available discussion forums and I suppose members will simply have to avoid them if they do not wished to read spoilers. I'm glad you brought this up because it is certainly a change that could confuse a lot of people and perhaps ruin their viewing pleasure from spoilers.
"Leave the gun...take the cannoli." - Clemenza

Think Tony Died? Consider this...

Visit my Blog at Hear the Hurd

Re: The OnDemand question

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Definitely a good question, and thanks, DH, for directing my attention to it.

I have zero experience with OnDemand because I am on DirecTV. From what Jouster reports, there is at least a chance they will do the advance release thing with the Sopranos, though, since they didn't do it with Rome, it's apparently not a given.

My hunch is that they will NOT put it OnDemand before the regular air date simply because the Sopranos is their flagship series, its creator HATES advance story leaks, HBO bends over backwards to please and accommodate his sensibilities, and having a small percentage of viewers watching and publishing story details in advance of mass viewing is essentially like having complete spoilers circulating for every episode.

In addition, with so much media and mainstream viewer focus on who will or won't be whacked by series end, it seems counterproductive to reveal that information piecemeal instead of trying to maximize viewer ratings. (HBO seems quite interested in ratings despite it being a non-ad supported network. I guess it's just the boast factor.)

We should all keep an eye on it, and, if it turns out they do in fact offer it OnDemand before the regular mass airings, we'll need to adopt a strategy to quarrantine advance discussions. Hopefully it won't come to that.

Re: The OnDemand question

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FlyOnMelfisWall wrote:We should all keep an eye on it, and, if it turns out they do in fact offer it OnDemand before the regular mass airings, we'll need to adopt a strategy to quarrantine advance discussions. Hopefully it won't come to that.
FYI, it happened with Ep.610 "Cold Stones" back in the spring. It was an On Demand error if memory serves. As far as our board members, Giuseppe Soprano, Splishak and I all knew the exact plot before Sunday morning. I’m sure plenty of others did as well and we all keep to board protocol. Yet, it’s a different ballgame if this situation is true. A troll's paradise if you will.

I'm betting against HBO doing this but if that's the case I see only 2 ways to go about it. Ohh, and a third more redneck approach.

1. Spoiler sensitive people need to be well notified to stay off the boards on Sundays. I hate to say it but it would be the only true failsafe, without the board turning elitist towards the majority of well-meaning newbies.

2. The Mods might want to create a weekly sticky thread in the spoiler section for the majority of members who respect their fellow board members but crave discussion. This is all a catch 22, as there is some lonely person grinning at the idea of us considering this possible situation.

3. For Sundays only! If it comes to pass then consider this. Somehow granting some associate members the power to remove or at least cloak a tread that is obviously placed in malice. For Example: “OMG…LMFAO… Tony killed AJ…HAHAHAH.. WHY? LOL?”

Edit: My reason for 3 was that noone has the time to police the board until airtime. Strength in numbers was my train of thought here.

As always: just some random ideas.

Re: The OnDemand question

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Honestly, I won't have the self-control NOT to watch it on HBO OnDemand if, in fact, an episode is made available prior to its first Sunday night airdate on HBO. (I feel like I've waited too long already, as I'm sure many other members do.) That said, I agree with Fly that HBO isn't likely to make an episode of The Sopranos available for on-demand viewing prior to its first scheduled airdate, due to the show's unique status on the network and in American culture (and DC's reluctance to let plot details leak). Since this series is closer to "event" television than any other show on HBO's schedule, I hope they DON'T do it.

Although I live on the west coast, I watch The Sopranos Sundays at 6 o'clock PT on the HBO East feed so that I can jump on this board immediately after, and not be three hours behind the other members; and I have have a sense of communalism that we members of TCL.net (most of us, at any rate) are watching it together. Then, 3 hours later, I watch it again, this time in HD, and I'm able to appreciate the ep that much more due to everyone's insights, even if I didn't actually post a message in that interval.

But, should it be the case that the eps ARE available for On-Demand viewing prior to their scheduled airdates, I pledge to the other members that I will not post an episode-related message in any forum other than one which FOMW may establish for this purpose, and I hope that other members who can't resist seeing it "OnDemand" will do the same, out of respect for the members of this terrific forum. But it's probably a moot point; I can't imagine HBO wanting the last episode to be seen "in advance" of its scheduled air date (which, by my thinking, should be on June 10, since HBO usually does not air a new episode on Memorial Day weekend).
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