I hate this, too!! Remember the countdown to spring break on the corner, during the show, not the credits. Which is even worse. And Showtime (also a Viacom company) does this as well. I was taping Sliding Doors 3 or 4 weeks ago, and Showtime did the same thing. And when my fave group Duran Duran was on VH-1 Behind the Music, they kept on flashing "1 week to Divas Live 99" over and over, completely obstructing the names of the people speaking. MTV, VH-1, and all other cable networks should stop this. They have plenty of opportunities to plug their mindless programming without detracting from the few (Daria) intelligent shows!
Robyn I'm counting down to new eps of Daria. You lucky Australians and Brits, now I'm envious. :-)
I don't usually mind these little superimpositions unless I'm trying to tape Daria episodes for my collection but this banner is more intrusive than usual. It's so big and located in such a critical area that it sometimes overlies action area. I suppose next time they'll simply cover the entire screen.
We get that now during Saturday morning shows in the UK such as SMTV Live and Fully Booked. They have some stupid scrolling strapline across the screen announcing the winners of some competition, or other stuff that they could have told us during the live-in-the-studio bits. It's completely stupid. For a tv show to be screened as part of one of these magazine programmes is a fate worse than death, as they just treat them as filler material, interrupting them in the middle, and sticking graffiti all over them in the form of the show's permanent on-screen logo as well as this latest idiocy, the scrolling banner thing. As a result I hardly ever watch the weekend morning shows any more. (Well ok, maybe it's more because they've usually finished by the time I join the land of the living.)
I think broadcasters have been getting a lot of hate mail about their defacing of TV programmes, especially the insidious DOG (digitally originated graphic) (a permanently on-screen channel logo in the corner of the screen). There's an ongoing thread in uk.media.tv.misc at present called "Oh my God! Another C4 DOG! You bastards!" which I think pretty much sums up a lot of people's feelings on the subject. Do people in the US have to suffer these things too? We're told we have to have them because otherwise we won't remember what channel our favourite programme is on (in other words they think we're all morons). The worst thing is it's impossible to have a rational argument with the TV execs who impose these logos on us, they just stick their fingers in their ears and go "la la la la la" if you try and reason with them.
Fortunately, although C5 has one of these DOG things, it's fairly faint, and they don't run any banners over the top of Daria. Nor, unlike the BBC, do they chop off the all-important end credits. I am *so* glad that Daria isn't on the BBC, it would be a nightmare, I can just see myself feeling obliged to write in after every episode to curse at them for cutting it short just as the end song was starting. Mind you, it would be nice if it was on a channel that had better picture quality....
As long as the DOG is semi-transparent and not too intrusive I can live with it. It's an annoyance, to be sure, but not too much of one. It's the large intrusive banners like I wrote about before that irritate the hell out of me. I'm glad to see I'm not alone in my hatred of these things.....
I totally agree with you about the end credits too. Although I don't tape 95% of the stuff I watch, I do like uncut/unmodified end credits for the stuff I do tape. I do have to give MTV credit for that... they don't screw with the end credits like most of the other networks do. The only other network I know of here that doesn't mess with end credits is TNN (The Nashville Network)... even Comedy Central does it sometimes, which aggravates me because I also tape South Park. Oh well, at least they show the ep 3 times a week so if they mess with it once, I stand at least a chance of getting an unmodified copy one of the other two showings.
Yes.. although for the most part they're small and hard to notice, and usually somewhat trasnparent. And mtv doesnt have one on any of thier shows.. a DOG, that is. However, it is probably the most notorious cable channel for the use of DOG-like graffitti crap.
LOL
<more snippage> --- ~Po
CROWDSURFERS WILL BE EJECTED FROM THE BUILDING. It can be harmful, and most of all disrespectful to climb on other people's heads. Crowdsurfing should only be done naked and in the privacy of your own home.
Actually, in the rare instances that MTV is actually playing videos (not showing emaciated, barely clad chicas bumping and grinding) they have this little rotating cube thing floating about in the lower right hand corner. I didn't mind the semi-transparent MTV logo, but this thing is just hideous, and so loud, you end up staring at it instead of watching the damn video.
The only thing worse is on the occasion there's something watchable (Like for someone EXTREMELY bored) on Total Request Live... well, the fact that not only are there a ton of scrolly stupid comments that all sound "carson you is such a hottie" it's interrupted every ten seconds by some one TALKING during the video.
Dagny- cynic, general loony
http://urbanspacemen.arecool.net
"I'm not different for the sake of being different, only for the desperate sake of being myself. I can't join your gang: you'd think I was a phoney and I'd know it." Vivian Stanshall