August 2020: MySeries in 500 words

August, the month that the Tour de France started. We were finally allowed to go on holiday, but not quite. And the month that finally featured the schedule announcements of the Big Five. Whether or not that has been received with cheers? Entire hotels were booked, one floor per crew. The Tour de France had to be done, even with the numerous amounts of rules and limitations for the crew and audience. No longer running behind the cyclists wearing a monkey suit and holding a flag. That must be a great thing for the cyclists, but if it will actually happen that way, that remains to be seen. 'Fans' often don't let themselves be stopped by rules.



We were also allowed to go on holidays once more, but only if we would follow strict rules and guidelines. If you went to a 'code orange' country, you would have to go into quarantine for ten days after getting back home. You could take a rest from your holiday. The pictures will be different than the previous years as well. Mandatory mouth masks meant that you also had to take pictures with them on. On the beach, park and/or squares, it is mandatory to keep 1.5 meters distance. Sometimes even more. But ah well, at least you went on a holiday.



It wasn't just the sporting events and holidays that 'suffered' from the corona countermeasures. Television series suffer quite a bit from the Covid-19 pandemic. The Big Five networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and The CW) released a fall schedule earlier this month. They looked quite a bit different from the usual fall schedules. They've become 'fun' schedules. A lot of game and or reality programmes or series that aired on a different network.

If and when series will start premiering this year fully depends on the continuation of the productions. CBS has released a schedule when some series will once again start their recording process. But these are temporary dates and everything depends on the virus. And how many people will still be infected and have to go to the hospital? If and when the other networks come with a production schedule is only something we can wait for.

Luckily, the series lovers have quite a bit of stuff to go through on Netflix, Amazon, Apple TV+, Disney + and various other streaming services. You don't have to get bored during the upcoming month, as the September list was quite long. Next to that, Netflix has decided to purchase quite a few Scandinavian series, which means that there's also a decent amount of international material to be seen.

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But the fans of procedural series, which mostly air at the big five, will have to wait for a bit longer. It is a matter of being patient. And even though quite a lot of series are cancelled due to Covid-19, I can't imagine that any of the well-known procedural dramas have anything to worry about. The only thing that will change for them is the schedule. Many series will now probably start in October or November, which is, of course, subject to change. Some series may even be delayed until January of February 2021. This also means that the 2021 schedules will be completely different.

The series fan will have to wait patiently and just experience what's to come. Patience is a virtue and in the meanwhile, you can clean up your watchlist. And then you'll be able to start off with a clean slate.

With kind and patient regards,

Mandy