I went out last night so I missed The Devil's Whore. I should have taped it but I thought, no... I'll watch it on the internet. That's what people do these day, right? People turn on their computers and they watch telly on them. I was going to be one of those people. I have been one of those people before. I watch telly on my internet. I am now. I was really looking forward to watching TV on my computer this morning, and catching up with episode two of The Devil's Whore. But I didn't. I couldn't. Why? Because Channel 4's catch-up service - 4oD - the biggest pile of shittle I've ever seen.
For all our Devil's Whore stuff, go here>.
I knew 4oD was not compatible with Macs. I knew that. I was prepared for that. I tried it anyway and was instantly disappointed even though I knew what was going to happen. That was my fault for trying when I knew I was going to be disappointed. I am a TV masochist, I know that.
I think did an equally stupid thing - I read a review in The Guardian.
Big mistake.
Lucy Mangan wrote this:
"I haven't been this caught up in a story since Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon went rushing over the moors, filling each other's arms with heather and heaving bosoms.
And then - and then! - Cromwell has Rainsborough killed for posing a potential threat to his future leadership of England. This is, I believe, both wholly historically inaccurate and exactly right. I am having the most marvellous time. It is just realistic enough, just daft enough, just lush enough, just bloody enough, just passionate enough, just odds-boddikins enough to satisfy every girlish whim, every lusty urge and every bellicose instinct that has ever surged in a viewer's breast, and Andrea Riseborough as Angelica, as pale and delicate as a cameo brooch, holds the vast and various swathes of the whole thing together with the steeliest of pins."
After that I was pulling my hair out. The veins in my temples were throbbing and I was pacing the flat, so eager and desperate to see the episode.
So I went to the internet cafe down the road. They have PCs right? 4oD works on PCs and PCs only. So I went there and it didn't work.
Why?! Why?!
Because, even though the pooter was fully equipped with everything it needed to be, it didn't sodding work. It needed the latest version of Internet Explorer. I asked the man. He said it had the latest version of Internet Explorer. I tried again. It then prompted me to download a Windows Media Player thing. And so it continued.
The upshot is that I am Devils' Whoreless and really angry. Why doesn't C4 provide its 4oD like the BBC's iPlayer? OK, so Channel 4 neither has the budget nor the bandwidth to play with, by why not embed like the BBC? Sheesh. Even ITV's catch-up service is better than Channel 4's version.
Sort it out!
Get Free freeview dongle, test out Telegent interactive TV service
I went through all the hassle to watch Dead Set. Even more so because I use Firefox and won't let IE anywhere near my computer.... it worked eventually and is better than ITV's in that it doesn't have any ads in. But agreed they could make the process a lot simpler.
Well you don't have to download 4od to use it. You can just go to www.channel4.com/watch_online and view anything