The Wait To Coronation Street's 50th Anniversary Is Driving Me Nuts

Okay, we already covered this:  I am a big fan of "Coronation Street."  Yes, I am a guy.  Yes, I have testicles.  Yes, I have a wife, and she is not just for show (though she sure is purdy, hyuk, hyuk).  And, yes, I watch the show religiously.  Not so religiously as other people I've recently read about (I watch Corrie every night on CBC at 6:30, and if I'm not watching at exactly that time, I am PVRing the show in order to watch it slightly later in the same evening - I do not, however, then go and watch the omnibus on Sunday as some people do even after watching each episode during the week), but I haven't missed an episode yet and don't intend to ever do so since I started watching.

This is especially upsetting as we are hoping to be moving to the Dominican Republic in the next two to three years.  See, I love this show so much, I am very concerned that once we are in the Caribbean we will no longer have access to it.  Now, I know that the CBC website allows for watching online, and I also know that the ITV website (home of the show in Britain) does as well, but here's the thing:  If you aren't in the right country, you can't watch the episodes online.  So, while I can catch the CBC website's episodes now, when no longer in Canada I expect I'll be out of luck.  So the question then becomes, does any provider down in the Dominican carry Corrie?  We're looking into this, but results are mixed.

The Dominican Republic has a lot of things that surprise outsiders, considering they are still listed as a third world country.  Did you know that the DR is the most internet-friendly island in the Caribbean?  That the capital, Santo Domingo, is thought of as the Montreal of the region?  That on their two-thirds of Hispaniola (the other third is Haiti) they have opera houses, museums, art galleries, wildlife preserves and botanical gardens?  Most auto dealerships in the world have a piece of the action in the DR, and so do a couple of big names in television programming providers.  According to research done by Andi, my wife, both Direct TV and Sky provide satellite programming to the island, but the problem is we can't get the information on what channels they both offer and whether Corrie is carried by either of them.  This is maddening, but not as bad as something else about the show which is making me climb the walls...

That being the upcoming 50th anniversary week of "Coronation Street" episodes.  See, in Canada we're 10 months behind the current British episodes.  This means that currently, we're watching what happened in March - April of 2010.  Now, that normally isn't a problem, but when suddenly the media outlets are lit up by photos of tram crashes, huge fires, and information about certain characters' untimely demises...well, I wish we could hurry up and get to them!  And yet, I must languish here outside Toronto, waiting until September and October for the lead up to the big event, and the wait is horrible!  Almost as bad as waiting for July to see the second half of the last "Harry Potter" flick!  And the biggest problem is what I know about the upcoming anniversary shows!

I won't include even a single spoiler here, so don't worry if you are a Canadian fan reading this, or Australian as they are also some months behind the air dates in Britain.  I will say that knowing certain aspects of what is coming makes things I'm seeing this week so much more ominous than I thought they would be...and it is just fuelling the fire of my eagerness to watch these episodes to a high flame!  A look here, a random (or, knowing that the celebratory episodes and storyline were planned WAY in advance, probably not so random) line there, it is all just getting too much!  Get to the December episodes now, for crying out loud!  Stop my personal torture!

Worst of all is when I consider what will happen if we do find that one of the providers of the Dominican Republic's television services does in fact carry Corrie, but it is current episodes with no delay.  What am I going to do for those 10 months?  I can't miss ten whole months of episodes!  I mean, I want to see what December 2010 brought to The Street, but I don't want to miss all the episodes separating me from those ones!  I might have to go to Craigslist or something to find someone willing to copy episodes to DVD for those 10 months, record them to DVD in the DR without watching them for the first year or so, then get all the discs together and go on a huge binge of Corrie, just to get to where I'm watching current shows with all the backstory.  What am I to do?

Well, I guess that is my worry...but if anyone has ANY information as to what channels the different DR providers offer, or anyone in Canada willing to do a huge pile of recordings (of course, I would supply the blank DVDs and shipping fees), please let me know.  Leave a comment, and much thanks way in advance.

Otherwise, keep a recliner free for me, would you?  I'll be back soon with a review of the other mid-season replacement shows that just started in February.