Why Do the Networks Each Look Different?

Factual Questions
1

Hmm. This may just be me. I could swear, however, that there is a qualitative difference between the visual texture of the four major networks, regardless of show. Basically, I feel as if I could turn the television on and, without seeing the little bug in the corner of the screen, know which network I was tuned to. As if they each used a separate (and separately uniform) camera filter or light gel, although my roommate’s the senior director at the local ABC affiliate and informs me that as far as he knows, they don’t each use a separate (and separately uniform) camera filter or light gel.

CBS always seems a bit washed out.

ABC is sharper, a little darker, more cinematic.

NBC is brighter.

Fox is either very dark or very bright (dare I say cartoonish?), depending if the show is a drama (X-Files, Party of Five) or a sitcom (That 70’s Show). Fox seems, actually, the most internally variable.

I am willing to consider the possibility that this is simply a personal perceptual thing. To answer questions which may be forthcoming: I notice it most with sitcoms, less so with dramas, and even less–though still, I think, to a certain degree–with commercials. I’ve noticed it with movies played on networks, and also with network specials. I’ve noticed it on different televisions. It seems as if most cable channels have a similar distinct feel. I definitely notice it with the local news shows (ABC, NBC, CBS), and while that could certainly be the product of those particular affiliates’ cameras and lighting, the ways in which the stations differ are consistent to the networks overall. I don’t remember how the local news has looked when I’ve watched it in other cities. I don’t know about the network news.

I absolutely notice a difference with sporting events. (This may, I suppose, be due to the divergent graphics each network chooses to use, but I don’t think so.) Football on Fox looks different than football on CBS; basketball on CBS looks different from basketball on ABC (or, for that matter, on TNT or TBS).

So what’s the deal? Is there a simple explanation for this that I’m overlooking? What’s your call, Teeming Viewers?

2

it could very well be the station’s equipment for broadcasting the individual signals. i know back home, nbc was the only station to broadcast in stereo. they had money, so their transmitter was better. clearer signal. the abc affiliate sucked ass. their equipment was marginally better than a community college’s. the staff were ill prepared, and my college tv station put theirs to shame. they had little money to get good workers or to upgrade their transmitter. the pbs stations were in stereo, but their signal was so weak, the sound was good, but static filled the picture.

basically, it’s the individual station.

3

Right now I feel like a schitzophrenic who has been told that someone else can hear his voices too!

I notice the “look” of the networks in sitcoms, some dramas, and some news programs but never notice it in commercials.

4

ubermensch: Maybe I should talk to my roommate’s station’s master control op; he might know something relevant about their transmitter. Though, on the other hand, all the local affiliates are just eight miles from my house, and yet the networks look the same here as they do when I view the same affiliates from my parents’ place a hundred miles away. While I’m in other states, I don’t usually make it a habit to watch network TV–but to the extent I have, I don’t remember thinking to myself, “Boy, these shows look different than usual.” Besides, BlackKnight notices something, too.

BlackKnight: You notice something, too! Great to know that I’m not alone. :slight_smile: Unless you’re in my viewing area…

5

Like ubermensch said, it might not be the networks. Is there more than one station for the same network? Have you noticed the same effect on the same network in different cities?

6

Well, It’s not just you, but then it is just you. All children are keenly receptive of their mothers’ facial expressions, and I was very much so of my electronic wetnurses from my infancy on.

First - your perceptions:

Now mine:

NBC: more mellow, visual and audion tones somewhat grainier and muffled.

ABC(my vote for the most washed-out):Too much light allowed into the apeture - to my mind much more the splashy, tinnier of the majors, (appropriate for the reign of Fred Silverman)

CBS: The “Tiffany Network,” enriched and fullest of the three.

I can’t discern anything about FOX, since it wasn’t originally conveyed to me in my impressionable babyhood and over the waves in the sky, like calls to prayer from competing muezzin.

But that’s all personal perception - just like if you were ask people what color do numbers remind them of? I’d always say one is black; two is red, three orange-yellow, four blue; five is brown; six white, seven green - etc; and nowbody else would match the same numbers to these same colors

7

The Ryan: I hope I answered your question in my simulposted response to ubermensch.

Slithy Tove: Interesting indeed! That could very well be; perception’s a funny thing. Lemme think on it. (Our descriptions aren’t necessarily incompatible, either…although you did a much better job at conveying texture than I did.)

8

There’s definitely a difference, although I don’t know why. If you want to check it out, channel surf through the networks the next time they’re all covering the same event with the same feed–State of the Union speech, presidential address, etc. And I have cable, so it’s not differences in over-the-air transmission equipment.

9

I’m with uber. It’s the broadcast/transmission equipment.

Before a signal goes on the air or through the cable (yes minty, it applies to cable broadcasts too) it is sent through all sorts of filters and gizmos (one of which is a rectifier I think) all of which ever-so-slightly (sometimes purposefully, sometimes not) affect the signal. So the differences you’re seeing, IMHO, are the characteristics of the transmission equipment, not the actual programming.

Now, each network probably has some slightly different standards regarding lighting/sound/etc. levels too, but that’s not gonna make everything look the same – just in-house produced programming like news broadcasts.

10

Okay. First of all, we need to accept that on any of the 4 Networks named, there is a variety of media being show. By that I mean, shows shot on 16mm film, 35mm film, BetaCam SP tape, DigiBeta, High Definition, etc. Then, there are truly live broadcasts where you are not watching any artifact of videotape at all, rather a purely live generated image.

If you watch three items, on each of the 4 Networks, I highly suspect that this entire premise will fall to it’s death. Think about this:

  1. Ten minutes from a pristine copy of “Citizen Kane”.
  2. Ten minutes from a nightly newscast from 1965.
  3. Ten minutes from the broadcast master of “Titanic”.

If you run that same source videotape, of each show, on those four networks, then you will find that while there may be very slight differences, there isn’t a chosen “look” to a network. You’d watch 30 minutes on Fox, then NBC, then ABC, then CBS.

If you really wanted to get fancypants, you’d set up four identical Sony Trinitron Black Stripe Studio monitors, and have them matched to color bars-blue gun only. THEN, with totally matched monitors, watch the shows simultaneously.

I think they’d look very very close to identical. If there’s huge variances, it’s due to poor broadcasting equipment at the local level. I wonder if there would be any perceptible differences at all, with 4 monitors etc, using a DSS Dish or similar digital signal source. I’d WAG not at all.

Cartooniverse

11

Actually I have a DSS dish and get my local channels from it. I must agree there is a degree of difference. Oddly enouhg our Fox affiliate seems to have some of the clearest cispest images (and best sound).

Football on Fox is far better than the other stations.

12

I think it’s differences with signal transmissiion, compounded by differences among your local stations.

Here’s a quick 'n easy test (not scientific but not bad.) Next time the networks run something live and simultaneously (like the inauguration or State of the Union address), flip back and forth. If they’re using the same camera angles, it means they’re taking “pool coverage.” At that point, you can compare and contrast using identical material. If you have cable and CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, C-Span, etc. are also carrying the event live, that gives you even more points of comparison.

My bet is you’ll see subtle differences, but not anything that brands one network as “this” and another as “that.”

13

I used to notice this as a child, but I’m not so sure if I notice it anymore. Of course, I’m not watching the same local stations anymore, so perhaps if I were, I would still notice the difference. Come to think of it, I rarely watch network TV anymore.

Anyhow, I always thought CBS had the most “muted” color look. Less contrast, and not quite as bright. Filmed reruns still have this look–perhaps CBS was slower to switch to videotape? ABC was much more contrasty, and always looked kind of cheap in my mind. NBC was just right.

The strange thing was, I happened to catch part of a “Newhart” rerun on cable. I always remember this show as having the filmic “CBS look”. I was surprised by this episode…it seemed to be the same set, but the lighting was way different, a lot like (dare I say it) the “ABC look”. This also seemed to be very early in the series. Did “Newhart” originally appear on ABC? Was I watching a pilot? Did they just not have the lighting figured out yet? Or am I hallucinating?