Unrealitytv.co.uk

Here's an English one from me for a change and this is an extensive blog-based site devoted to UK television. And pretty well done too, with plenty of articles, features, episode descriptions and feedback. The home page, as suggested by the name of the site, is devoted to reality TV (now there's an oxymoron if there ever was one) so you can see how well the English do with copying ideas from the USA. And if you're an expat, switch to the "primetime" section to see what most people back home are obliged to tune into at peak hours, and how much it's changed, or not. I have a suspicion, given that the entire right side of my screen was blank, that there may be a bunch of ads there that Ad Block took out for me. With it running, though, the site is almost entirely ad-free and the ones that Google manage to sneak past the filter can be removed manually anyway. Otherwise the layout is conservative, with the traditional blog entries running down the left hand side of the page, and the site loads fast even on a slower PC. I actually spent some time on this one, reading rather than reviewing, as there's plenty of content. It reminds me somewhat of the TV magazines back in ancient days, when there were only two or three channels, and no satellites or cable. In those glorious days, the National Anthem was played when the channels shut down (yes, they once did shut down, every night) and real humans introduced the programs. No, honestly, I know it's hard to believe but trust me on that. The TV magazines, of which there were in any case only two, could spend much more time talking about shows and actors and actually had some textual content worth reading. Even the programming schedules themselves had plenty of space for brief descriptions of the programs, giving you a chance to decide whether or when you wanted to switch channels. Of course that's impossible today, with hundreds of channels running 24/7, largely recycling old material anyway. If your a soap fan, there are plenty of them here, but do be careful if you read the plot descriptions for some programs because they may be full of spoilers. And if music and celebrity gossip is more your scene, there are links to partner site, celebrityshout.com. Just don't spend too much time reading, or you'll miss the program.