It was rumoured that a number of broadcasters were bidding for the programme originally, including Sky and Channel 4, but ITV won with the aim of it becoming their ‘Homeland’. Unfortunately that didn’t happen...
...and being originally place in primetime on Saturday night ITV the expectations were always going to be almost impossible for The Americans to be considered a success.
With Homeland in mind a prime-time slot on Sunday would have made more sense; the same goes for 'Pushing Daisies' where it didn't fit a Saturday night slot at all.
It was rumoured that a number of broadcasters were bidding for the programme originally, including Sky and Channel 4, but ITV won with the aim of it becoming their ‘Homeland’. Unfortunately that didn’t happen..
Well what did they expect with that STUPID timeslot being primetime Sat night?! That's just plain incompetence! Ch4 got the timeslot right with Homeland, if anyone at ITV had a brain they could have followed suit.
I'm up to episode 9 S3 "do mail robots dream of electric sheep", wow what a very, very dark episode that was - but continues in its brilliance, exemplary acting and writing.
I'm up to episode 9 S3 "do mail robots dream of electric sheep", wow what a very, very dark episode that was - but continues in its brilliance, exemplary acting and writing.
Hope it dies a death on Encore just to teach them a lesson.
What lesson is there to teach? The show performed poorly on a main terrestrial channel so they've already been taught a lesson and perhaps are now just a glutton for punishment if it doesn't succeed. Failure again will either lead to no airing of the series in the UK or availability limited to services like Netflix/Amazon.
What lesson is there to teach? The show performed poorly on a main terrestrial channel so they've already been taught a lesson and perhaps are now just a glutton for punishment if it doesn't succeed. Failure again will either lead to no airing of the series in the UK or availability limited to services like Netflix/Amazon.
It'll teach them to schedule properly and to not disrespect the viewers who watched it on ITV by shutting it behind a paywall.
Why should I care if it ends up elsewhere other than Encore? Dumb name for a channel if they're going to show first-run stuff on there anyway.
Shouldn't you care that you're able to watch the series at all if you're a fan?
If ITV didn't pick it up, yes behind a pay wall, it would have been behind some other pay wall.
Makes no diff to me. Sky might as well have it.
It's the going from free-to-air to subscription that really pisses people off - Smacks of cynicism. The thought of paying to watch ITV is simply unacceptable. If I'm to have to pay to watch it I'll buy the DVD/BD and sell it once I've done with them and it'll probably work out cheaper.
It's like when music artists had a small but loyal following back in the days before downloads. They knew they were guaranteed a set number of sales regardless so would just release the same content across umpteen coloured vinyl records, picture discs, poster bags etc. ITV's approach to The Americans is in that same tradition - Milk the hardcore fanbase to compensate for the wider audience disinterest.
It'll teach them to schedule properly and to not disrespect the viewers who watched it on ITV by shutting it behind a paywall.
Why should I care if it ends up elsewhere other than Encore? Dumb name for a channel if they're going to show first-run stuff on there anyway.
It got an amazing slot, launched after BGT IIRC.
ITV did nothing wrong to The Americans, it just didn't work. I don't have Sky, but I'm thankful somebody has picked it up, because at least I'll now be able to get a DVD release at some point. (Or maybe if we're lucky it'll get a FTA repeat on ITV3 or something.)
Comments
With Homeland in mind a prime-time slot on Sunday would have made more sense; the same goes for 'Pushing Daisies' where it didn't fit a Saturday night slot at all.
Well what did they expect with that STUPID timeslot being primetime Sat night?! That's just plain incompetence! Ch4 got the timeslot right with Homeland, if anyone at ITV had a brain they could have followed suit.
This was my favourite episode from season 3.
I really liked this show , first thing in years thats been any good on ITV and now I can't watch it .
.
There are ways to watch if you really want to
ITV Encore, included in Sky subscription.
It's also on NowTV via the Entertainment pass, £6.99 a month or cheaper based on an offer.
What lesson is there to teach? The show performed poorly on a main terrestrial channel so they've already been taught a lesson and perhaps are now just a glutton for punishment if it doesn't succeed. Failure again will either lead to no airing of the series in the UK or availability limited to services like Netflix/Amazon.
It'll teach them to schedule properly and to not disrespect the viewers who watched it on ITV by shutting it behind a paywall.
Why should I care if it ends up elsewhere other than Encore? Dumb name for a channel if they're going to show first-run stuff on there anyway.
Shouldn't you care that you're able to watch the series at all if you're a fan?
If ITV didn't pick it up, yes behind a pay wall, it would have been behind some other pay wall.
Makes no diff to me. Sky might as well have it.
It's the going from free-to-air to subscription that really pisses people off - Smacks of cynicism. The thought of paying to watch ITV is simply unacceptable. If I'm to have to pay to watch it I'll buy the DVD/BD and sell it once I've done with them and it'll probably work out cheaper.
It's like when music artists had a small but loyal following back in the days before downloads. They knew they were guaranteed a set number of sales regardless so would just release the same content across umpteen coloured vinyl records, picture discs, poster bags etc. ITV's approach to The Americans is in that same tradition - Milk the hardcore fanbase to compensate for the wider audience disinterest.
It got an amazing slot, launched after BGT IIRC.
ITV did nothing wrong to The Americans, it just didn't work. I don't have Sky, but I'm thankful somebody has picked it up, because at least I'll now be able to get a DVD release at some point. (Or maybe if we're lucky it'll get a FTA repeat on ITV3 or something.)
Saturday night was a terrible slot.
I don't think ITV had any better slots they could have given it...
!@!!. Only episode 1 is available on catch up. Par for the course for ITV Encore which has an ad hoc approach to catch up on Now. >:(
Am I right in thinking that NowTV doesn't support subtitles?
That's right. It's a stripped down service.