Gears Firestick

NBC 4's studio at 30 Rockefeller Plaza

The other week, I went to the hairdressers and the TV was able to get flagship NBC 4 WNBC from downstate.  It seemed perplexing to get something from 200 miles away that easily.  Turned out it was Gears Firestick, which carries stations from around the country and globe, and includes all of what you'd find on cable and satellite.  It's a streaming service competing with Roku, Sling, amazon, Netflix and Hulu.  You'd have to have a good internet account with enough data and bandwidth.  Would make sense with the endless carriage disputes for which no law can stop as it'd compete with bigger issues in Washington.  Also, if something isn't available locally, you can find a channel that carries it.  I told the hairdresser how I got the NYC stations when I lived up the river two decades ago.  I also told her Italian pubcaster RAI may be on there too as she just went on holiday there.  She has the service at home too, but if I ever change course at home, I'd consider subscribing as well.  However, I heard somewhere, it could be a pirate service; todays version of the "cheater cable box" from thirty years ago (I'm old now!).

Jerry O'Connell

Jerry O'Connell at this years Comic-Con.

Jerry O'Connell is the latest celeb to launch their own talk show.  His is a spinoff of Wendy Williams, but I can only get listings for major city Fox O&Os/flagships.  He filled in when she was in the clinic, making it a backdoor pilot.  Since CW 6 WSTQ has the parent show in my area, you'd think that they would carry it as well, even in the middle of the night.  CBS owned Pop may have it too.  O'Connell used to fill in on Live.  Other syndicated and network talk shows in the past were late to air in Syracuse if they ever did.  So much for "check your local listings".

July 2021: He will join The Talk instead, replacing Sharon Osbourne.

Create

Pati Jinich at an awards ceremony last year.

For the past several months, I found myself watching PBS offshoot Create, but mostly the cookery shows.  I've caught up on Patis Mexican Table, Americas Test Kitchen, spinoff Cooks Country, Bake Off, Jamie Oliver, Martha Stewart, My Greek Table, Lidias Italy, Nick Stellino and Steven Raichlins Project Smoke and Project Fire.  However, things come up short in my area.  From 10 PM to 6 AM, it simulcasts ARTS which is classical music videos, and new episodes are either only on the main channel or online until last seasons episodes are shown.  While the lovely Pati Jinich is the queen of Mexican cooking, most of it is a challenge for me.  Create has more of an emphasis on the diverse and educational than the commercial and popular on cable, network and first-run syndication.
Not all PBS tiers carry Create, including DC flagship WETA, which produces several of these series, although nearby MPT (which makes a few others) does.