Week In Review: December 8th

Another quick week.  What's been going on here?  Well we've had snow, ice, Christmas parties, work meetings and some testing for the new SageTV HD Extender (review should be out by the end of the day tomorrow).  All of this has kept me pretty busy, but I've been keeping the "Television Shows - Episodes Remaining List" up-to-date as the Writers strike has begun to affect television watchers everywhere and I'm keeping the Amazing Race Map and the NCAA College Football Bowl Matchup Map up-to-date as well.  Seems like the Nintendo Wii Game machine is a hot Christmas item again this year and it must be pretty hard to find because I'm getting a ton of hits from people looking for the gamestop back-door method of finding a Wii.

Don't forget to check back tomorrow to read the SageTV HD Extender review.  I've been running it through the paces this week and will tell you all about it Sunday, one day before it goes on sale.

• All These Channels and No New TV To Watch! Writers Strike Aftermath

  I've been keeping a running tab at how many television episodes remain for this season taking into account the writers strike.  It's beginning to look pretty rough.  Here's a rundown of the casualties and where a few favorite televisions shows stand .....

• Jericho Season Two Premier Date Announced!  Those fanatical, Jericho Television Show fans (yes I'm one of them too) now have a date for their calendars to get excited about.  CBS announced their premier date for Jericho: Season 2 for Tuesday, Feb. 12 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT).....

• Holiday Card Mail Merge with Gmail

  The past several years we've struggled over how to best manage our Christmas card list for making mailing labels.  I used to export our address list from Microsoft Outlook and then filter out the non-card contacts using a Christmas label, but now our contact list is all on Gmail .  Here's…

• DVR Alert: Sci Fi Channel's Tin Man  Cross the glossier, darker vision of a Sci-Fi channel story with Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz story and what you get is a three-part miniseries called the Tin Man.   The Tin Man premiers Sunday night on the Sci Fi Channel, at 9PM Eastern and Pacific time and 8PM Central. I'm typically a…

• SageTV HD Extender Details & Photos - STX-HD100

• After months of hearing their SageTV customers clamor for more juicy details and pictures of the coming-soon SageTV HD Extender, SageTV posted a bunch of photos and details of the STX-HD100 extender on the forums early this morning.  The new extender will be priced $199.95 ( includes a SageTV…

• SageTV 6.3.2 HTPC Software Beta Released The latest Beta version of SageTV was released this past week as SageTV V6.3.2   ...

All These Channels and No New TV To Watch! Writers Strike Aftermath

I've been keeping a running tab at how many television episodes remain for this season taking into account the writers strike.  It's beginning to look pretty rough.  Here's a rundown of the casualties and where a few favorite televisions shows stand as of this morning:

 

 

 

 

Season canceled entirely: 24 - This was set to premier in January 2008, but they want to air all 24 episodes with no break.  Since not all 24 have been filmed, looks like we'll have no 24 in the Winter Season.

Zero Episodes Remain:  Heroes, Desperate Housewives, Big Bang Theory, Bionic Woman, The Family Guy, The Office, Reaper, Rules of Engagement, Two and a Half Men.

1 Episode Remains: Chuck, Criminal Minds, Girlfriends, Life, Pushing Daisies, Shark.

2 Episodes Remain: Back to You, Dirty Sexy Money, Grey's Anatomy, K-Ville, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Moonlight, My Name is Earl, Private Practice.

3 Episodes Remain: Bones, Brothers and Sisters, CSI, Dirt, House, Journeyman, Numbers.

 

For a complete listing of the shows remaining with details of air dates as well as information on other shows premiering in 2008 check out my feature on How Many TV Shows Remain - Writers Strike.  I'm updating it almost daily so it's as accurate as any resource on the web.

Coming Soon:  A complete listing of the 2008 Television Schedule (what's left of it anyway).  There are some bright spots for 2008 including Jericho, Battlestar Gallactica and the Sara Conner Chronicles.  I'll have a feature out on the complete season (with weekly updates) out very soon.

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Jericho Season Two Premier Date Announced!

Those fanatical, Jericho Television Show fans (yes I'm one of them too) now have a date for their calendars to get excited about.  CBS announced their premier date for Jericho: Season 2 for Tuesday, Feb. 12 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT).  Given the very sparse number of quality shows (read non-reality tv) that will be airing in early 2008, Jericho should have a chance to shine to a whole new set of viewers.

If your wondering why I call the fans fanatical here's a refresher.  You may remember that when it became known that Jericho was going to be canceled last Spring, Fans of Jericho sent in piles of peanuts to the network to send them a message.

Anyone who saw the season finale would recognize the peanuts reference to a wartime gesture of defiance.  It probably wasn't just the nuts, but CBS finally broke down and renewed the show for Season 2 if only for seven episodes.

If you're one of those who hasn't seen Jericho season 1 yet I suggest you get caught up and watch Season 1 via one of the following methods:

Here's a few ways to get caught up on the first season of Jericho:

OPTION 1:  Apple iTunes Click the button to the right to view Jericho on iTunes:

OPTION 2: Amazon Unbox:  Click the link to the right to view Jericho on Amazon Unbox: Jericho Season 1

OPTION 3: Amazon DVD Purchase: Click the link to the right to purchase the DVD:Jericho Season 1

OPTION 4: Rent Jericho Season 1 at Netflix add it to your queue now for delivery Tuesday, Oct 2nd.

OPTION 5: Watch the shows streamed on NBC.com - NBC has all episodes available to watch online for free.

 

Whatever you do, please check out the show.  I was skeptical when it first aired and didn't watch it, but later caught up when they aired the reruns this past Summer.  Not only was I hooked, my wife and daughter all thoroughly enjoyed the show.

 

With the writers strike going through 2007, you might be wondering how many episodes remain of your favorite shows for this season.  Check out my feature on How Many TV Shows Remain - Writers Strike.  I'm updating it almost daily so it's as accurate as any resource on the web.

 

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Holiday Card Mail Merge with Gmail

The past several years we've struggled over how to best manage our Christmas card list for making mailing labels.  I used to export our address list from Microsoft Outlook and then filter out the non-card contacts using a Christmas label, but now our contact list is all on Gmail.  Here's the super simple and easy way to make your Holiday Card Mail Merge using Gmail (obviously many other e-mail and address book programs will work for this as well, but gmail is simple, free and works well for the contact export.

 

Manage your list of contacts (those that will be getting Christmas cards) using the "other" field in your Gmail contact record.  then, put "xmas" or some other label to denote those who you want to send cards to - I maintain this list throughout the year, but during the Christmas season, I make sure I add this label for anyone who sends me a card.   

Once you're ready to make the labels you export the list to an Excel file, do an auto-filter on the "other" field and your list is ready. 

Then do a simple mail merge into Microsoft Word or your favorite word processor and print your labels.