I got a free LCD HDTV last weekend as a bonus from the boss. It’s not one I would have bought, but it is a 37" Viewsonic, so I’m not going to complain.
Free is free, after all.
Since I’ve gotten it I’ve been quite happy - hooked to a media center PC it works perfectly.
However, last night I was watching Family Guy and there were a few scenes that had a lot of brighter-whitish colors. When those scenes happened the screen got so washed out that the picture was almost pure black and white with the only thing really being visible being the blacklining that would normally separate the colors of the animation.
Sounds like your contrast, and possibly the brightness, may be dialed up too high. Most people , including the places that sell them, just set these willy-nilly which causes most of the common picture-quality issues they complain about. See here for a proper adjustment procedure.
Here’s another setting to look for in the TV’s menu: My TV has several brightness settings, one of which is called “dynamic” something-or-other. This mode is supposed to analyze the picture, and adjust the brightness and contrast so that darker scenes become brighter. Perhaps your TV has a badly implemented version of this.