There was a time when TV Guide‘s grid was useful. Back in the days when there were only a handful of channels or even a few dozen. But today, when most cable or satellite subscribers get hundreds of channels, we need a new paradigm. Enter TV Forecast HD.
Instead of showing you every single thing that’s on, TV Forecast lets you create your own specialized grid of not the channels you want to watch but the individual shows. Simple but powerful, you start by searching for a new show that interests you, or an existing show that you watch every week. The app automatically adds that show to your personalized list, and gives you a brief summary of what that episode is about, what time it airs, and how long it lasts.
From there, you can view your list of upcoming shows — which provides you with a daily countdown to when that show will be on — or you can switch to the attractive Calendar mode, which shows you a monthly, at-a-glance overview of everything you have planned to watch for that month. I imagine that the list or calendar could get mighty crowded for the TV addicted, but those who single out a few choice shows to watch will find it gloriously clutter-free.
Optionally, you can have the app use iOS alerts to notify you at a designated period of time before a show you want to see will air, and you can use “time zone correction” to localize your show times. One of the app’s nicest options for sequential viewers (and particularly for serialized shows) is the Bookmark, which lets you mark the last episode where you left off. You can also choose to look at a detailed list of every episode of a given TV show, including both past and upcoming episodes. Tapping an individual episode will show you that title’s next scheduled air date.
Removing a show from your list is as simple as tapping the “Edit” button in the lower left corner of the screen, and then tapping the red “x” icon beside that show. The one caveat I noticed is that many of the times and air dates provided are from the U.K., and being a U.S. viewer, I couldn’t find an option for changing this. But it’s only certain channels that appear this way, and I’m sure a future update will correct this tiny oversight.
TV Forecast HD is a lovely app for both the hardcore TV-phile and the occasional viewer, providing everything you want to know, and absolutely nothing you don’t. It’s the TV Guide for a new generation.
