What irritates you the most about TV?

[Steve Mehs]

From Z'Loth

[dtcarson]

All of the above! Although
"Programming running 1-2 minutes off-schedule so you don't switch channels" least of all. [assuming I understand what you mean by that? If you mean shows starting at 1759 or 1801 instead of 1800, ok, that's annoying too--I have to program PVR to record 1 minute early if I want the opening credits.]

Man, they all suck. The bugs just get annoying, but I can ignore them [although I would hate for them to burn into a RPTV.]

Edited for *anything* I hate--make the 2 hour block, 2.5 hours, show the whole movie, and some ads.

The black bar [like on TNN or Oxygen, not that I watch either of those] I also detest--no wonder J6P doesn't like widescreen/letterbox, if he has to watch that monstrosity and distortion.

Squeezed credits--The people worked on the show, give them the respect of having their name in lights! Sometimes I actually want to see who played what, etc. It was bad enough when they sped up the credits, but now they shove another commercial in there.

I have a few of my own to add in:

* Overkill, or, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire syndrome. You know: one network has a hit show, so they cram it down our throats, and every other network copies them as much as they can, then cancel it after the ratings drop .5 points because people need a break. Which actually segues into two more:

* "Reality" shows--I read somewhere that something like 95% of last year's top 100 shows were 'reality' shows [including game shows.] Am I alone in despising these? Get the camera out of my face, quit giving these Gen X whiners airplay. Their fifteen minutes is up. If I want reality, I'll go to work. I get enough politics and backstabbing there. The closest I want to come to reality shows is game shows.

* Impatient networks--where if a show doesn't become a 'hit' in two episodes, they yank it. It takes time, people--didn't you learn that from the dotcom explosion?

* Overkill, part 2. Someone on another board actually gave me a reason for this--new networks which don't have the budget for 24 hours of original or non-repeat programming, run multiples of the same show. [Come on, TLC, how many times do we need to see people Trade Spaces? That theme music is annoying, and you've stretched to an hour what BBC did in half an hour. Of course part of that is because that's about the only thing my wife watches; it loses its appeal to me in about five minutes.] But some big networks do this too; Ted Turner is one of the richest men inthe country, and apparently he only owns like five movies [Overboard, Trading Places, A Few Good Men, etc.]

* Pan'n'scan: "Formatted to fit your screen." Show me the whole movie, I can take it, honest! Even worse was when TBS/TNT played A Few Good Men--the entire movie in P&S, until the CREDITS! They went widescreen/OAR for the credits, I guess because either A. P&S would have been too noticeable, or B. they figured no one was watching by then.

Sigh....and the funny thing was, we got Dish installed last Saturday, so I was playing with it and scanning it Saturday afternoon/evening, which was the wrong time to be impressed--seeing as how there was basically jack on.

Please don't think I'm trying to steal your thunder, Z'loth; I thought your poll is a good jumping ground for discussion/venting.

[Ray_Clum]

Simple - Hundreds of Channels and STILL nothing to watch...

[djlong]

I would have voted "All of the Above".

I jsut saw something on TechTV that took credit squeezing to new heights.. They actually took the last act of Max Headroom, squeezed it to half-screen and ran the credits, half screen, next to it!

Why don't they just take four acts of a show, put one in each corner so we can watch it all in 15 minutes and they can give us the rest of the hour for advertising!!!

[Mark Lamutt]

Definitely an ALL OF THE ABOVE vote from me!

[gcutler]

All of the above!!!

[Kevin]

There's nothing more annoying than having parts of a show/movie cut out so that the network can show more commercials. I was watching Con Air the other night on USA, and I could not believe how many commercials there were, and there's nothing more ANNOYING than COMMERCIALS during a GOOD MOVIE!!! :flaiming

[catman]

I am with kevin . Leave the comerials off . When acommerial comes on I go surfing the other channels . Just so I don't have to look at the ads . I got it Don't show bushs talk .

[cnsf]

Originally posted by Ray_Clum
Simple - Hundreds of Channels and STILL nothing to watch...

You should spend some time in London with no satellite. A few days of ITV, the BBCs and Ch. 4 would make you very appreciative of your current selection.

[EvanS]

Originally posted by djlong
I would have voted "All of the Above".

I jsut saw something on TechTV that took credit squeezing to new heights.. They actually took the last act of Max Headroom, squeezed it to half-screen and ran the credits, half screen, next to it!

Why don't they just take four acts of a show, put one in each corner so we can watch it all in 15 minutes and they can give us the rest of the hour for advertising!!!

and they wouldn't even need to do that if they could just bring back the Blip-Verts!!!:lol:

[SMN]

I also will vote for all of the above. That should have been added to the list.

[Mark Holtz]

I expected "all of the above". I just wanted to see the one thing that irritates people the most.

[EvanS]

my worst irritation with TV is:::

THAT I WATCH SO DANG MUCH OF IT NOT IN HD!!!!!:shrug:

c'mon 921 :dance:

[waydwolf]

    Well, we're doing well at giving some excellent ideas to the broadcasters, such as...

Black Bars
    From now on, every program should be widescreen format to allow for the black bars as an opportunity for advertising upcoming shows, products, etc. Why break for commercials when we can have them running 24/7/365?

    I'll think of some more and you can bet the broadcasters will. ;)

    And yeah, ALL OF THE FARKING ABOVE IRRITATE THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF ME AND MAKE ME WANT TO SCREAM!!!

    Ironically, my brother works for a local TV station.

 

[Jacob S]

Black bars to some are annoying, to me the time shift in programming particularly what Nick at Nite used to do as bad as 7-10 minutes later than it should be.

Also a show not being correct in the program guide, or all these fancy special effects that show up huge during a show or movie that distracts you.

[BobMurdoch]

Biggest thing that bugs me is he affiliate control of what stations I can receive. I like being able to watch news programs from all around the country (I love those LA helicopter chases of the bad guys). For example, I could put an antenna on my roof and get a picture for the Philadelphia stations, yet the Feds say that I am prohibited from getting those stations via satellite. Yet, my local cable company CAN carry both markets. GRRRRRR.

Well, I'll be getting my revenge when the 921 comes out due to its ability to record OTA HD programming. Due to the WTC attack, New York City STILL doesn't have HD programming (excet for CBS which is on the Empire STate Building). I'm told by people in my area that they CAN receive a picture for the Philadelphia stations (which according to my latest issue of Home Theater magazine, are all in the UHF band and I should be able to receive them with a decent UHF antenna) .

[HTguy]

I would have voted for "All of the above," also, given the opportunity. So I voted for "squeezed credits" since it's the top of this list for me.

I often want to identify music, locations, etc. that were used in a production and squeezing the credits off to the side or wherever makes it impossible. I know a few people in the industry, too, and it would be nice to be able to read their names if they're listed. As it is, you can't read anything except a few names in big fonts on individual screens like major stars & director. So what's the point of rolling the credits at all if they're illegible?!:mad:

But of all the things on TV that really make my blood boil & bile rise is the stupid infotainment shows that pass themselves off as "local news!"

The "anchors" often get their facts wrong and the "reporters" in the field, when they're not just doing "man-in-the-street" interviews with the clueless, are equally clueless. Usually they just give a live intro to a prerecorded & edited video anyway. Their own voices sound different as they switch from live to tape & back.

The anchors use teasers to try to keep you tuned in. The story they tease you with often comes down to a throw-away one-liner at the outro of the broadcast.

If I were King of TV the producers & "talent" on these productions would be summarily executed and some real journalists would be hired to present actual (and factual) news!

:rant:

[Martyva]

None of the above, How can such a marvel be annoying? Waking up is wonderful! The Road comes out on DVD in two weeks and my bamboo is shipping.

[MarkB49]

All the above!

And i get to pay 44.98 a month avg.to add to the above and i know many of you spend more.

I'm into my 50th video tape this past year of cutting ALL commercials.
I still like D* too much to dump it-but when and if i do i'll be ready,just like i did back in 1985.Talk about sticker shock 19.95 for 2 receivers & all the programing back then.

If they would just stop running so much JUNK at the bottom
of a running program it looks like a used car lot.

Mark

[Nick]

As I said some time ago, it's just a matter of time before all channels and programs begin to resemble Bloomberg TV, with the picture reduced 1/2 and the extra space given over to ads, promos and other such BS. :eek2:

[The Old Wizard]

I would have voted for all of the above. I have one to add. How about when the local news is giving local & state election coverage & they shrink the program picture to about 1/4 the screen & fill the rest with election results. If they have to give the results make it a crawler across the bottom, oh wait that might interfere with logo bug in the corner. :lol:

Another one on that same vein. The interruption of a network show so that we can see the local candidate's concession speech. Why can't they show that on the 11:00 o'clock news.

Also, speaking of news coverage how about the "BREAKING NEWS story that turns into 5 hours <insert any amount of time you like> of repeating the the same facts about the story over & over again.

[Rainbird]

I want to add commericals to the list. We are just being saturated, sometimes three or more of the same ad in a half hour time slot. For example:

That darn "Video Professor" - I'd like to send him and his free CD's to Iraq.

That "Lost Another Loan to DiTech" banker. I hope they go the way of Enron!

Care to add to the list?

[lee635]

The outrageous salalries that cause ad time charges to skyrocket and subscription fees to rise. The advertisers then roll the higher costs into the product or service sales price. :(

[firephoto]

This just describes TNN, what about the other channels? :lol: