I Review Freeview Introduction

Hello, and welcome to this brief introduction to the podcast ‘I Review Freeview’.

I’m James Brook, a retired old codger who watches Freeview TV. Streaming services like Netflix and Disney+ all want paying once a month and, as we all know, monthly subscriptions have a nasty habit of going on forever. So I don’t watch them.

Now some people argue Freeview is the last relic of the broadcast age. They say the future will all be streamed.

But they are wrong. Freeview has loads of channels, lots of programs and enough diversity to swing a cat. Well, more or less. Ha! To put this another way: Freeview should see me out.

Also, of course, it has the main broadcasters: BBC, ITV, Channel 4, etc etc. So it’s not only 20-year-old murder mysteries and rubbish films in black and white! Nope. You can watch new rubbish as well!

Me, I quite like watching old stuff, and I’m pretty sure I’m not unique in that. However, if this podcast develops how I expect, you, the listener, will guide what I watch and what I review.

So, how will this work?

It’s simple: every few days I’ll launch a new episode, with reviews of programs I’ve recently watched.

Optionally, if I find there is a demand for it, I’ll also maintain a ‘coming up’ podcast, itemising those programs I intend reviewing in the next few days. This will give listeners a chance to watch these programs in advance, should they wish to do so. Just let me know if you want me to do this.

Each podcast should last around 10, 15 minutes. I will give my unique, often caustic and occasionally witty assessment of 1 or 2 programs. This is a change from the first two episodes, which were longer, with 4 or 5 reviews. The trouble there was - as I take a while to write this stuff - as much as a week could pass between the broadcasting of a program and my review appearing.

To begin, I’ll select what I’ll be reviewing, but after the first few episodes I’ll be picking up on suggestions from listeners. You can do that by emailing contact@ireviewfreeview.com or on the website ireviewfreeview.com. ‘ireviewfreeview’ is all one word, by the way, and - like most email and web addresses, isn’t case sensitive.

As a reviewer, I make it a policy to stay out of my comfort zones of old UK police procedurals, comedies I saw 20 years ago and now untopical topical quizzes. So no reviews - unless I get really stuck- of reruns of ‘Midsomer murders’, ‘Father Ted’ or ‘Mock the week’.

When picking programs, I try not to prejudge, so I only take a quick glance at the descriptive blurb and make an instant yes or no decision. Often I go just by the title alone. Which means I can end up watching rubbish. But sometimes a little gem appears.

A couple more things: unless you count the icecream van tune at start and finish, I don’t have any sound effects. Nor do I have any guests. It’s just me in my Grandpa annex with a big TV, a notebook, a second hand microphone from eBay and some audio editing software I barely understand. And interruptions for tea, toast and grandchildren wanting me to fold yet another paper aeroplane.

Oh, and by the way, the image for this introduction was generated by a free AI image generator with the prompt:

‘a colourful painting of large TV being watched by a handsome man.’

I’m not that convinced, but then it was free and I was in a hurry.

Anyway: just remember contact@ireviewfreeview.com or just the website ireviewfreeview.com or - if you really keen, search I review Freeview’ (3 words) and hope something surfaces.

And that concludes the introduction.

Thank you for listening and goodbye for now.