When Television Time came across my desk, I was thrilled at the opportunity to check it out. I’m aware that it’s excessive, but I watch roughly 20 TV shows a week throughout the year, and with so many networks and premium apps, it really is tough to keep track of everything. The app has a little ways to go, but for the most part, it makes my hobby a lot easier to manage.
After first booting up Television Time, I was greeted with a giant selection of shows, complete with descriptive logos (everything but Scandal was well cropped) and bold, easy to read font. Scrolling through the list I saw a wide variety of shows, but on and off the air, including Father Ted, Gargoyles, The Wire, Grimm, Breaking Bad, and even anime like Trigun or Berserk. Every single show I currently watch was listed, which is roughly 100 in all. The purpose of the app is two-fold—to queue up a “watchlist,” and to keep track of shows that are currently airing and provide you with updates.
The home screen is rather brilliant. Current shows are displayed in a banner-like format with updated artwork, in the order that they are going to air. So for instance, checking it on Monday, it showed my lineup as Gotham at 8PM, Fargo at 10PM, The Daily Show at 11PM, and The Nightly Show at 11:30. It’s also helpful for shows that don’t run on a set schedule and may take a hiatus. In the “to watch” section, individual episodes are displayed with a quick synopsis, which is a nice touch.
One big concern I do have is that air dates aren’t always current. While it does show when some upcoming titles are airing in the near future (X-Files, which is roughly two months out), it doesn’t display everything, such as Broad City, which has a confirmed January 2, 2016 Season 3 date. Also, the dates in the search functionality aren’t helpful—for instance, when searching for Married, it showed it as a “2014” show, even though it aired its second season this year as well. The same goes for everything else—at first glance, folks may not be able to tell if a show is still on the air.
Television Time, for the most part, does exactly what it sets out to do. While I previously had all of my shows collected in a checklist, using the app adds a huge degree of convenience, and I no longer have to juggle air dates on a constant basis to ensure that I’m recording a show. At the same time, I hope the developer ups its game a bit and continues to support the app for the long haul. Also, don’t get too hyped—at the end of the day, this is still a glorified list tool.
Television Time is an iOS that can be downloaded for $2.99 in the iTunes App Store.