Box Set Redux for SoHo

SoHo is repackaging its box set weekends.

Starting January 12, Sky’s premium HD drama channel will screen uninterrupted a complete season of a series on a Saturday and repeat it on Sunday instead of spitting it over both days.

On some weekends, shorter-run series will be double-billed as box sets.

For instance, on January 12, season one of Girls will air from 12pm and season one of Californication from 5pm.

They will be followed by seasons two of Hell on Wheels on January 19 (from 1pm) and, on January 26, one of Bored to Death (from 11.30am) and two of Strike Back (from 3.30pm).

While the new super-sized format means the hardiest of viewers can catch up on a season in one sitting, the downside is it takes one weekly primetime slot — 8.30 Saturday — out of the mix for first-run dramas of the calibre of Boss and The Hour.

The 8.30 Sunday slot won’t be affected because the box set encore will end before 6.30pm.

Also lined up for 12pm box set screenings over December and early January are:

• Hung, season one (December 1)
• Hung, season two (December 2)
• Treme, season one (December 8)
• Treme, season two (December 9)
• The Wire, season three (December 15 & 16)
• Boss, season two (December 22 & 23)
• Camelot, season one (December 29 & 30)
• The Shadow Line (January 5)
• Angels in America (January 6)

Other retro SoHo highlights in January include: double-episode re-runs of Game of Thrones on Friday nights from January 11, ahead of season three’s premiere in April; an encore season of Top Boy (8.30pm Mondays from January 14); back to the beginning of Rescue Me (10.30pm weeknights from January 28); and season four (albeit in SD) of The Wire (9.30pm Tuesdays from January 15).