The bane of my life!!! (Discovery Wings)

Member Name: rob_writer

Product:	Discovery Wings
Date:	19/07/01 (607 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good if you like planes

Disadvantages: Bad if you don't, Repeats

I sit at the PC as I write this, but I have the TV on too. After a few months I have managed to master the art of watching TV and using the PC at the same time. The problem is that when the house was renovated the old living room was meant to become more of a study area, where the PC would go, and the newly created room would be the living room. The problem is that the new room is cold, and people can't decide to watch the same channel, so both rooms have turned in to TV rooms and me and my computer end up stuck in the same room as a TV, usually being watched by my dad. And what does he watch? Every night of the week? For hours and bloody hours? Well, you guessed it!! (C'mon, if it wasn't the same channel as the title of this op then something?s gone wrong somewhere!!).

Discovery Wings. The bane of my life.

We have ONDigital, we should have got Sky but at the time the waiting list was 3 months. I'm impatient, and at the time I didn't have a clue how inferior ONDigital really were. My dad loves documentaries, but initially there was only UK Horizons to keep him happy. Then ONDigital got this channel. Bearing the semi-famous 'Discovery' name, this channel is dedicated to all things to do with flight (of the human type, not birds). Why ONDigital couldn?t have put on the real Discovery Channel I don't know, but my dad didn't care, this is his dream channel.

And really, I mean, what could be more interesting than a night of hearing about aeroplanes. Two nights hearing about aeroplanes? It's the choice I face, either go and watch the other TV and have no Doooyoo, or sit in here and listen to another documentary on the B52's in Iraq. The odd time they spice it up by making it about helicopters, and once I even saw a short film about a guy making a rocket. The thing is that I had just been to Salford Uni on an open day and saw the rocket being built, and watched the very same film while I was waiting for
my interview. That was the high point of Discovery Wings for me, but otherwise it bores me silly.

It's interesting though, that while I sit here on the net, half listening to and watching the TV, that I actually learn quite a lot. If the channel was entitled 'How to make women love you' or 'Ways to Win the Lottery' then I would be quite happy to undergo this subliminal learning, but alas it isn't. Now every time I see an aeroplane on TV I can identify it. Watching Pearl Harbour I thought to myself, that?s a Mitsibushi Zero, and theres only one left flying in the world, or when I see a film on WW2 I can identify all the craft. I could probably recite every single conflict since the turn of the century which involved air craft. And all I want to do is watch Big Brother, it's not too much to ask, surely?

Anyway, I am being unfair. This channel isn't bad. Let's start the review proper.

If you haven't guessed, this channel is about aeroplanes. Well, no, infact it's about flight. This means it has helicopters, planes, spacecraft, rockets and anything else that flies that isn't an animal. The thing is, 90% of it is planes, so in our house we just call it 'the aeroplane channel'. You can get it on ITVDigital (see, new name) and Sky Digital, but I don't think any of the cable companies carry it. It's on air from 6pm until 2am every night of the week. When this channel first game on air I did have reservations as to just how long they could actually keep showing new programmes about flight. I mean, there is a limit to how much you can say, and although there is a lot of new material appearing all the time, these worries did prove worthwhile, because this channel is certainly open to having the odd repeat. Or loads.

To demonstrate my point here is a typical schedule for a day on Discovery Wings. (For simplicity, I'll just call the programmes A, B and C, but if you must, add
in such exciting titles as Model Mania, Airshow World and Test Flights).

6pm - Programme A
7pm - Programme B
8pm - Programme C
9pm - Programme A
10pm - Programme B
11pm - Programme C
12pm - Programme A
1am - Programme B
2am - Close

After seeing this channel, you will find that you actually feel guilty moaning at the BBC for their repeats. They are tame compared to Discovery Wings. You get the same programme 3 (yes, count 'em - THREE) times in one night. At least this means my father is limited to 3 hours aeroplane viewings, although he has been known to watch the same thing twice in one night ('they're interesting' he says, but I don't agree). Then to make things worse, the same programmes may be on a week later. The more time you spend watching it the more likely you are to catch a repeat!

In all honesty the shows are generally good quality, if you like that kind of thing. Most are just cast offs from the main Discovery Channel, while others are obviously back water productions that wouldn't make it on to a more mainstream channel. It can get quite diverse as well, with one show instructing you how to make a model rocket. Shows range from the standard air crash documentaries to airport style docu-soaps (no Jeremy though!), with the standard war planes, top secret planes and space travel shows thrown in for fun. It's not just modern stuff either, it goes right back to first aeroplanes, so if you like aeroplanes, then you'll.....um.....love this!

Overall I guess I was a little cruel to this channel to begin with. It's content is good, but the repeat level really is WAY too high. In reality you get 3 hours of documentaries per day, which really just isn't enough. Watch it, but just not all night!

Summary: