…one of these cable networks has gone too far. I think it was either TBS or TNT. I was watching a program last night, when suddenly this HUGE, FLAMING ad appears in the bottom-right corner of the screen. It was for some sort of firefighter movie or TV show that’s going to be airing soon. It was fucking HUGE -it covered almost 1/4 of the entire picture.
But wait, there’s more - this one had SOUNDS. That’s right, covering up 1/4 of the screen with the program’s huge, flaming title wasn’t enough - it DROWNED OUT the audio of the program I was attempting to watch with loid sirens and crackling, burning sounds. What in God’s name provoked this!? Even more ridiculous, the thing remained there - covering 1/4 of the screen and drowning out the audio - for at least 30 seconds, but I’m thinking more like 45.
Damn I hate that NASCAR pit stop thing. It makes me throw objects at the TV screen. I haven’t seen the firefire thing–yet. I know the networks are trying to come up with new ways of making us watch commercials in the era of Tivo, but making me miss dialogue is just unacceptable.
I haven’t seen any with sound yet, but DAMN, do I hate those fucking annoying fucking things! There aren’t enough fucks in the world to describe how fucking moronic they are.
The last one I saw was for this program called Izabella’s Wedding (which is a Pit thread unto itself), where a girl in a bridal dress walks into the picture from top left, spins around while holding a magic wand that creates letters forming the words Izabella’s Wedding. Then she does a silly little dance and stands there for like a minute before slowly exiting. The first time I saw that one, I couldn’t believe my own eyes, and was this close to throwing the remote through the screen.
TNT ran one on Angel the other day that not only blocked a huge chunk of screen and obliterated dialog, it covered captioning of foreign language dialog. A triple threat!
At least TNT has, for its NASCAR bugs (they’re called “bugs,” those enormous little ads, how charming) killed the audio so that they don’t bombard the viewer with the pneumatic tire changing noises any longer.
FX is the worst. Their bugs for Rescue Me have convinced me never to watch the show.
You know, I would almost expect this kind of crap from TBS or TNT –
But A&E – A and freaking E has taken to vandalizing the programs they carry with this stuff.
There’s nothing like watching Poirot and being pulled out of a Georgian reverie by a superimposed animation of a jetliner flying across the middle of the screen, accompanied by the sound of a Dopplerized jetliner flying by, advertizing some crap new “reality” show.
Hello! I’m watching Poirot, here. I’m not going to think “Great! One of those enormously entertaining ‘reality’ programs! I’ll mark my calendar.” No, I’m going to start meditating on how to introduce a sufficient quantity of digitalis into the diet of the cretin who thought this was a good idea. Duh.
Bugs? How appropriate - they “bug” the hell out of me!
I’d read previously (perhaps here) someone’s complaint of a History Channel show about the “brownshirts” of Nazi Germany, and the “bug” during the show from UPS, with their latest ad tagline: “What can Brown do for you?” :eek:
OK, so I’m going to start selling things to throw at the TV screen on TV.
“But wait. there’s more! Buy the nerf football NOW, and we’ll include three colorfull nerf darts…”
So, would you throw nerf footballs and darts, or do I have to go to the extra expense of special nerf remotes? Anf does it have to look like your remote, or can it be a generic?
If we would all write to the networks and complain, threaten to stop watching the channel, tell them how much more we would appreciate the network if they didn’t do that. If we asked our friends and coworkers to do the same…
If only there were some sort of very cheap, quick, mail-like medium so we could communicate with these television stations…
This is one of the major reasons I will not buy cable. I watch precious few TV shows as it is, and when I watch them I do not want advertising interrupting it. Pretty much anything I want to see is coming out on DVD now, so I’m putting my cable “dollars” towards DVD purchases each month.
I’ve strongly considered doing that myself. I will also point out how many cable stations are devoting more and more hours to paid programming. I was up early on Sunday Morning and i’d say 80% of all my basic and digital cable channels had infomercials on until 10 in the AM. I know those are lower viewing hours, but really? I’m the one paying tons of money for this.
I’m going to try to log how much time I spend watching cable channels in the next month or so and make up my mind.
As well, often on Good Eats, while AB is making a recipe, the ingredients will appear in a box in the upper right hand corner. This is where bugs often appear.
So let’s see, that was:
2 tbs sugar
zest of 1 lemon
1 cup milk
Catch Emeril Live seven nights a week
only on Food Network
pinch of salt