Believe it or not, summer hiatus is winding down.  The number of weeks remaining until our favorite shows begin again can be counted on one hand, mostly.  Not bad.  As long as summer hiatus seems to be when it is first stretched out in front of us, I have learned some coping strategies over the years that help me break it all up into smaller, more manageable segments.  For me, we’re in the final segment.


First off, as I wrote in my article My Love/Hate Relationship with Hiatus – or Hellatus, there are only about six weeks or so from the ending of the season in mid-May until casting tidbits begin to occur and filming begins for the new season.  That’s pretty short.  I fill it by rewatching the finales of shows I love, reading and watching interviews given afterwards as well as watching those shows I ‘banked’ on my DVR.  Last year it was Supernatural, Elementary, and Psych, six to seven episodes each.  This year it was Elementary, The Mentalist (love Simon Baker!), and the Blacklist.  Those filled the gap until new shows arrived thanks to A&E and TNT – USA has nothing for me this year with Burn Notice and Psych both retired and White Collar not yet returning with its final six episodes.

Then July comes, and with it, filming and set photos/reports and episode titles and endless interviews.  I also fill many a night with shows like Cold Justice, Major Crimes, Longmire, and Perception.  I’ve been rewatching Supernatural seasons 1 – 3 on DVDs and binge watching seasons 4 – 8 (midway through season 7 right now) on TNT.  I also check out new shows, although most don’t get past the first episode, and while I did check back in with Under the Dome, I only managed two, maybe three full episodes and now don’t even bother.  That’s all right though, because at the writing of this it is mid-August, and I can now count the number of weeks until Person of Interest premiers on one hand.  Shows like Supernatural, Arrow, still engage some fingers on the other hand for counting and Grimm and Elementary both take up almost two full hands.  Still the signs are here and ever increasing:  Summer hiatus is drawing to a close.

So with that in mind, I give you five signs that confirm summer hiatus is almost done:

Number 5:  Comic Con.  It comes mid to late July every year.  The weeks leading up to it are a flurry of announcements of which shows are confirmed and what cast members are coming.  The TCAs arrive as a bit of a preview and then the main event arrives; complete with sizzle reels, cast interviews galore, written reports, tweets teasing the panels and endless YouTube videos – thank you to all who provide those!

Number 4:  My summer shows end their run.  Longmire concluded its third season, finally telling us who murdered Walt’s wife and the reason why.  Thankfully, Henry is cleared of murder charges and we learn that the corruption involving this case stretches all the way to the Denver PD, although they had not a hand in the crime itself.  On the cliffhanger note, we are left with Branch in mortal danger again, or his father (wonderfully portrayed by Gerald McRaney – ah, Simon and Simon/Major Dad J) and Vic and Walt’s future as something more than boss and subordinate is finally cleared with her divorce papers in hand and him spreading his beloved wife’s ashes to the Wyoming wind.  Ferg, my favorite, is still the odd man out, but he has made it clear he doesn’t appreciate being underappreciated.  At least Branch told him to his face that he deserved whatever promotion comes his way.  Major Crimes ended, which I watched but not with anything more than an interest in passing time, Perception ends this week, and Cold Justice ended last.  I love real crime solving shows and this one is a treat as we get to watch the team systematically work each cold case.  I wish Criminal Minds operated more like this:  more profiling and less glorification of the crime as we ‘see’ it and ‘live’ it through the perpetrator.  I’d rather see it and solve it through the eyes of the profiler.  But that’s why I watch Forensic Files and Cold Justice…and Mystery Detectives and…well, you name, I probably watch it.

Number 3:  Shark Week begins – and Shark Week ends.

sharkweek

I’m with Dean Winchester with this one:  Who doesn’t watch Shark Week; a whole week of sharks?

Number 2:  Here in the northeast, the days turn cooler, the crickets take up near round the clock singing, and darkness begins to set in much earlier.  Would you believe there are already leaves turning and even falling to the ground?  I love the changing seasons, so this is a positive and a negative.  It’s positive because fall here is gorgeous!  It’s negative because the winters are long and cold and I’m not a skier, snowmobiler, or ice fisher.  I love long walks with my dogs and once the darkness arrives and the cold sets in, those walks are much shorter – and a lot less fun.  Still, it means the fall season is nearly upon us, and that is another positive.  (On the flip side, I get a bit sorrowful come spring because while the daylight lasts a lot longer, and the temperatures warm, it means my favorite shows are hurtling towards their dénouement for the season, and hellatus arrives again.  Of course Longmire returns, so there is that!

Number 1:  My DVDs from last season are about to ship.  Person of Interest Season 3 arrives on Tuesday, September 2nd – well, they will if I preorder them.  (Write that at the top of the to-do list.)  For the last two years, come my new DVDs for Person of Interest, I watch the just concluded season straight through right up to the premier.  I plan on doing that starting September 2nd – two short weeks away.

PersonOfInterest S3 BLUDVD

So there you go, the five signs I see that hiatus/hellatus of 2014 is about to close.  We’ve come a long way since May, just a little bit further and we’ll see Season 3 of Arrow and Elementary, Season 4 of Person of Interest and Grimm, Season 2 of Blacklist, Season 479 of NCIS (it’s my comfort food show) and Season 10 of Bones, Criminal Minds, and Supernatural.  I plan on checking out Stalker – Maggie Q!, Scorpions, and The Flash.  Other things will get picked up and put down as the season progresses, but for now, I’ve got a pretty full schedule.

Now, time to get back and finish my DVDs of Arrow, Season 1, and Person of Interest Season 1 and 2, and Season 7 and 8 of Supernatural courtesy of TNT’s syndication…

As always, thanks for reading.  Elle2

Similar Posts

tvfortherestofus