New on TV today: Monday 25 June

Written by Shows Editor from the blog New Shows and Seasons on 25 Jun 2018
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Station 19

Station 19

Channel: M-Net (DStv 101)
TX Time: 19h00
Genre: Drama, Action

The latest series from Shondaland - the executive producers of Grey's Anatomy, The Fixer and How to Get Away with Murder - follows a group of heroic firefighters at Seattle Fire Station 19 - from captain to newest recruit - as they risk their lives and hearts both in the line of duty and off the clock.

These brave men and women are like family, literally and figuratively, and together they put their own lives in jeopardy as first responders to save the lives of others.

In the series premiere, when the team responds to an apartment fire, Captain Pruitt takes a hit, the future of the station's leadership is in jeopardy and firefighter Andy Herrera is forced to step up.

Burn Notice 3

Channel: eExtra (OpenView HD 105 / DStv 195)
TX Time: 21h30
Genre: Drama, Action

After coming face to face with the group of people that burned him, Michael must figure out his next move. All while staying ahead of anyone else that may have him in their crosshairs.

In the meantime, he continues to use his unique skills and training to help people in desperate need of assistance.

In the season premiere, after escaping "Management", Michael is caught by the police and put in jail. An old friend named Harlan bails him out but asks for a favour in return.

Shows in this post: Burn Notice

Channels in this post: M-Net, eExtra

Tags: Drama,Action

8 Comments

Tashi
25 Jun 2018 11:11

Tashi edited on
6/25/2018 11:11 AM

I've never watched more than three episodes of Grey's Anatomy - and never will. When it first started I said that I don't like it because I think it's overly-sentimental and that the actors are too bigshot in how they play the doctors and I still feel the same.

Will be interesting to see if Station 19 has the same style or different.

Timone
25 Jun 2018 13:18

Timone edited on
6/25/2018 1:20 PM

Tashi and team, do you by any chance know if DStv has discontinued that express broadcast service they had where they'd air certain shows simultaneously with the US? I've noticed that there are shows we used to receive via Express where we are now far behind from the US, e.g. Billions, The Affair, The Handmaid's Tale, Homeland and others.............

Tashi
25 Jun 2018 15:58

Tashi edited on
6/25/2018 4:00 PM

Hi Timone - very true - the whole set-ups definitely changed. I asked about it earlier this year and someone at M-Net told me the reason they don't do it anymore is because it means that the schedule's at the mercy of the American broadcasts and viewers would complain when shows suddenly disappeared because of the overseas hiatus which would impact here.

It seems it became a problem to manage because of the inconsistency and viewers reactions to it so now they're airing shows when the full season is available without interruptions.

It's a Catch-22 because it's resulted in lots of shows being soooo far behind now and it sucks. I suspect the dropping of M-Net Edge also had something to do it because they had more space to air current series but now space is limited so shows are falling behind.

Timone
25 Jun 2018 17:00

Timone edited on
6/25/2018 5:08 PM

Oh my word! So does this mean we'll only get Game of Thrones after the full season has shown?! With all these spoilers on the net! I'm battling with spoilers as it is with other shows (The Americans, Handmaid's Tale etc) as they just randomly pop up on my phone, be it a YouTube notification or some blog headline which I couldnt avoid seeing. This sucks big time!

Tashi
25 Jun 2018 17:08

Tashi edited on
6/25/2018 5:11 PM

I know, it's a big problem in this digital age. So is the whole thing of shows airing on Premium channels first and then repeating on other channels afterwards - the whole DStv model is a spoiler-fest.

I reckon they'll keep such a high profile, fandom-based show like Game of Thrones as Express because fans would mutiny if they didn't. I'll ask and let you know.

Timone
25 Jun 2018 17:16

Timone edited on
6/25/2018 5:18 PM

Many thanks Tashi. This express broadcast on MNet Edge really gave them the edge. The motivation to stay on Premium package just keeps getting less and less with all these changes. We can just stream/download these shows now and rather pay the data costs for that vs the high Premium subscription fees. And what kind of viewers complain about hiatus breaks and the like when it is beyond the control of Multichoice? If it were not for the spoilers that are all over the internet, I wouldnt mind waiting that much

Tashi
26 Jun 2018 16:44

Tashi edited on
6/26/2018 4:54 PM

Ja Timone, they're doomed-if-they-do and doomed-if-they-don't because of the internet.

They should really restructure and reconceptualise their model so that Premium means something else. I reckon they should make Premium a package that offers international shows NOW, as they're happening.

Instead of airing them in linear TV on specific channels at specific times, they should rather adapt the Catch-Up service so that Premium subscribers get access to the shows as soon as the episodes come out in America or whichever country they're from.

This way it wouldn't matter if shows go on hiatus because they could just upload the latest episodes as they become available. I imagine they must be paying top dollar to get the first runs of the various series and then they sit on them - if they "aired" them on Catch-Up immediately they'd be getting their money's worth.

It would also be the ideal opportunity to do something about the millions of channels they have which keep changing names and content. For instance, they could make M-Net and 1Magic one channel "M-Net Magic" which could focus on South African shows - it could run as linear TV because there isn't the same internet problem with them as with internationals.

If they put all their South African productions together on one channel it would be an abundant line-up of local programming.

It would also be perfectly suited to do something about the ridiculous issues going on with Mzansi Magic and 1Magic whereby a show starts on 1Magic and airs on Mzansi Magic a few days later. It totally defeats the point of Premium - all it means is that people get spoiled online more easily.

I haven't worked out how many South African shows should be on the Premium local channel versus the Compact because I don't think there's enough local content to fill two local channels without the 1Magic/Mzansi Magic problem... need to give this more thought.