To ask what the hell is the deal with this TV channel?

[FFSToEverythingSince2020]

I’ve been really ill for over a month now and consumed more crap TV than I ever have in my entire life. My sleep is horrific between the pain and illness, so I’ve been seeing a lot of 4am TV.

We have Freeview, and there are several “+1” channels, like ITV+1, and I understand the general theory, that they’re the same as the regular channel, just an hour later.

HOWEVER, Blaze+1 (does anyone even watch Blaze, unless they’re ill or enjoying substances??) says “Back at 3am” every day. Then at 3am, they show exactly one episode of Ancient Aliens, then immediately say “Back at 3am,” again. I even checked the next day, and same thing - offline for 23 hours, and one episode of Ancient Aliens at 3am. What’s really weird is that apparently the regular Blaze channel goes off air at 2am for an hour; it would make more sense if it was at 3am, and then Blaze+1 takes over. I tried Googling, but it claims (even on their own website) Blaze+1 is just one of these normal time-shifted channels.

AIBU unreasonable to ask if anyone knows what the deal is? And maybe has good suggestions for 4am viewing? I enjoy cozy mystery, like Midsomer Murders, Poirot, Campion, etc. as well as random quasi-reality shows like River Monsters and other slightly “mystical” or cryptozoological programs that are complete shite. I don’t enjoy dating shows (Married at First Sight), scripted reality (Real Housewives or similar), or anything where someone gets humiliated or pranked. I’ve also been watching 24 Hours in the A&E, as it’s oddly helping me process some hospital trauma from long-term illness.

(Thanks if you’ve read, as I know I ramble.)

There’s probably some iteration of Law and Order on at 4am btw. There’s always a Law and Order on.

You Tube

Oh, thank you! I remember seeing an episode of Endeavor and enjoyed it, so I’ll check that out. I still remember when the original Inspector Morse was on as my granddad just loved him.

Supernatural. You need some Supernatural in your life.

I like watching Judge John Deed on the U Channel. The Good Fight is good too.

I've also been watching old episodes of Charlie's Angels on the Legends channel. They had such great hair!😂

Also if you have Spotify you can listen to loads of audiobooks on there. As well as podcasts and some courses. Sorry to hear you are so unwell.x

The scary thing is if you zone out on the AMSR for the elderly that most of the slots are targeted at, you can half wake thinking 'oh, I think I'd quite like one of those...'.

That's the point to change over to the SciFi channel pretty sharpish for some bargain basement monster horror alien ghost rip off.

The weirdest channel for me is Together TV. It's all nice programmes like Victorian Farm, Garden Rescue and the like. Then come 10pm it's all soft porn films from the 1970s. Talk about split personality.

This is one of tonight's offerings:-

I'm Not Feeling Myself Tonight
00:00 | Together TV
83
Hapless Jon Pigeon works in a sex research institute. To seduce a colleague, he invents an aphrodisiac-emitter machine turning any man or woman into a horny fiend.
Contains nudity.
Accessibility options may not be available on all devices.

😳

I love the way you all think!

@PickledOnionOverdose Good shout on YouTube! I always forget but it’s a great place to go down a rabbit hole and learn about all kinds of things.

@SPLOOSHY Oh wow! I haven’t watched Supernatural since its second season. But I have to say, Jensen Ackles is not too painful on the eyes. 😂

@Appalonia I actually do have Spotify and am a bit embarrassed that I didn’t notice it had audiobooks. I’ll definitely be using this tonight! The hardest part is desperately wanting to be in bed with my DH, but not being able to due to the pain.

@NeverDropYourMooncup Bite your tongue 😂 I woke up at about 330am this morning and thought, “Hmm, maybe they’ve got a point with that Pill-O-Pad.”

Blaze TV has full listings though... (I had a quick google)

@InterestedDad37 Yes, I know it does; I’ve been watching Blaze whilst sick. We’re talking about the “Blaze+1” channel. And trust me, I actually went to the channel to have a look, and it’s definitely off-air, at least on my freeview.

@tobee Oh wow! I’ve just seen that channel in listings but never watched it. But you’re absolutely right that it’s a very weird split personality!

@noctilucentcloud Just wanted to let you now I am now the proud owner of a library card! I can rent online immediately they said, while my physical card is in the mail. Very impressed with library; they replied to me by 0826 this morning!

Endeavour is excellent. Also Foyle’s War.

Ah OK, thanks. Hope you're better soon 👍

This is very interesting. And it sounds very similar , and maybe ties in, to what a State Media organization I follow do.

They have loads of small news sites around the world. Run by sympathizer's ( read tankies) Also a photo agency, a couple of news agencies, and of course the paid PR companies.

So when there is a story they want to push, they can gain credibility by having it all over the web, published on what to the casual reader, are independent platforms.

The main state publications also use these obscure news sites as "quote farms" for their stories. Sometimes even the lead for their main publications. " Canadian media XYZ report country C have developed a new robot", that sort of thing. It's always the same state press release. But it adds credibility for the casual browser.

What you say about accredited journalists is very interesting. I can certainly see how that would tie in.

And no, this is not tin foil hat stuff :-)

Is it like those "Ghost flights" they had to fly during Covid with no passengers, just so they could keep their take off and landing slots?

When we first got Sky we'd sometimes watch QVC with a copy of the Argos catalogue to hand and bet who'd be closest to how much cheaper the same tat item was in Argos.

Yay brilliant news! Audiobooks kept me sane when I was long-term unwell.

I also second Endeavour to watch.

I would guess the digital bandwidth required is used by another channel, from 0400-0300 the next day, in much the same way that CBBC and CBeebies share bandwidth with BBC3 and BBC4, the holding caption uses no data. See if you can find a channel that's off air 0300-0400.

FWIW I've seen there's another movie channel on Freeview now: Channel 98. A bit of a mish mash, but the odd ok one in amongst the offering.

Netflix has Poirot and Miss Marple. I hope you get better soon. The latest Agatha Christie on Netflix is great. X