COVID-19

Dr Phil with SUNY Oswego alum Al Roker on the Today show, 2006.

With coronavirus the elephant in the room, all aspects of life are affected.  Shows with studio audiences like Dr Phil either have to close or tape without one (although reruns of his show are on OWN, other series that don't have to be current such as The Price is Right or soaps could go into their vaults).  Getting guests over would be a bit of a risk too on top of problems they may already have.  Like many people, I'm watching the news helplessly trying to cope with something unheard of before in living memory.  Meanwhile, Dish and Apollo/Cox have declared a truce ending their dispute as maybe other proviers and owners until after Easter as having people even tele-conferencing can be hard right now.  I'm ready to ask a psychic when any break will arrive.
Long-running shows in syndication could air reruns from recent past seasons if they go through this series' and can't make new episodes right now, but freshman shows will have the same episodes to go through sooner than usual.  We all hope all this will ease up someday.

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.

Remember to Rescan

Cable and satellite need not apply.

Remember to Rescan: If you receive digital TV over-the-air with an antenna, you should periodically rescan to update the channels you receive. While some boxes do this automatically, you may need to select 'scan' or 'auto-tune' from the TV or converter box control menu to start the scanning process.

TV in far-flung regions

Not strong enough for the countryside.

There are areas where the closest TV market can be more than fifty miles away, while some like Syracuse and Utica here in CNY, or Baltimore and Washington are within that much distance of each other. Where I used to live in the Mid-Hudson Valley, I was almost eighty miles from Albany and New York City. While much of the area was part of the tri-state viewing area, there was less of a voice for everyone north of Yonkers and south of Catskill. RNN in Kingston provided local news for the region, although they moved operations down the river. WMHT has a translator W42AE in Poughkeepsie which has DCC classes in place of other instructional programming during the day and week. You'd have to have cable or a strong antenna to get anything. Satellite was only starting to have broadcast channels more easily. Only major stories would get any attention.
Other remote areas are dotted throughout the country. Stations can't exist in every city if there aren't enough people to serve.

Replacements for Spectrum

Willimantic, CT office.

The honeymoon's over!  Albany is showing Spectrum the door.  After being slated for not living up to their promise, New York State is looking to get them out.  Another company will have to take over the rights as a whole or portions of the state affected by this move.  There are a number of providers that could reach the northeast:

Comcast (although they've been in the same boat, yet own networks like NBC and USA)
Altice Optimum (much of downstate has this which absorbed Cablevision)
Haefle Cable (for around Cortland and Ithaca as they have rural communities like Virgil)
Atlantic Broadband (the US division of Canadian cable company Cogeco)
Consolidated Fairpoint (more of a Midwestern company)