Today (12 Feb 2014) marks the 10th anniversary of Cold Case‘s first broadcast in the UK.
According to my calendar that date was a Thursday, which surprises me because I have it in mind the show went out on a Monday or Tuesday. That probably explains why I missed the first episode despite knowing it was on and having planned to watch it. I even managed to miss the first half of the second episode, Gleen, too. I was better organised from then on but it was quite a long time before I finally got to see Look Again.
Back then (2004) starting the broadcast of new US TV shows in January or February was common. It was bad from the point of view of having to wait months from the US première of a new season, but it did mean that we had a continuous run through with none of the breaks you get in America. No gaps for Thanksgiving (we don’t do that), Xmas, New Year, and whatever random reason the networks have for taking a show off-air for weeks at a time in the early months of the year.
Since then the gap has reduced between the US and UK showings, in some cases to as little as a day. The rise of the Internet and the free flow of information (and more) about the latest episodes has forced the UK channels to follow the US timing more closely. The finale of Lost was actually simultaneously shown in the UK at some unholy hour during the night, and repeated for normal people at the normal time later that day. Now we get the gaps.
The UK satellite channel Sky One, part of Rupert Murdoch’s empire (think Fox), broadcast all but the last of Cold Case‘s 7 seasons. The Universal Channel took it over and premièred the final season, and has been showing multiple repeat episodes from across all 156 episodes almost daily ever since.
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