Response to TV Guide letters

I always read the readers letters in The TV Guide (New Zealand) every week and sometimes I agree with their comments, but most times I don't. There's a couple of letters in the TV Guide which came out today (Jan 12-18) which I'd like to reply to.

The first letter is "Doctor is wrong prescription". This person complained about the Doctor Who marathon on Prime on Christmas Day. I thought it was a great idea. TV isn't usually watched on Christmas Day, but I enjoyed relaxing watching some of these episodes after having a big Christmas dinner. I can't imagine anyone glued to the telly all Christmas Day as this reader implied. One comment they made I disagree with, "who could stand to watch hour after hour of repeats which are still fresh in the memory?" They must have a very good memory - these particular episodes were screened almost three years ago! Then they go on to say "This also applies to Star Trek on Prime on Sundays". What???!!! Don't rubbish the greatest sci-fi of all time! I am very glad that Prime screens Star Trek episodes on Sundays. Until this started up last year no Star Trek was been screened in NZ at all! (Star Trek is treated very well in other countries). When most of these Star Trek episodes were last screened in NZ we didn't have digital TV, so it's good to watch them in digital quality at last.

The other letter is "Favourite soap has gone too far". They were complaining about the trailers of Coronation Street showing too much of the programme. Get over it! I don't see what the big fascination is with Coronation Street anyway? The only countries where it is popular are Britain, Canada (where it is eight-and-a-half months behind), and New Zealand (where it is 13 months behind!) It can't be very popular in Australia as it's only on Pay TV over there (and 18 months behind). I guess all the NZers moving to Australia aren't Coronation Street fans! I think also it's popularity is to do with the country's "TV One" mentality - how if a programme is on TV One then it must be good. I heard a few years back that Prime were looking at purchasing Coronation Street off TVNZ. Even though Prime is available to most of the country I reckon that viewer numbers would have dropped because the show would no longer be on TV One - crazy!!

Meanwhile, the soap that I watch, "Home and Away", is popular in Australia, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Ireland, Estonia, France, Norway, Sweden, Israel, and many Asian countries! (And has won 27 Logie Awards!)