I have written in several blogs on some of the niggles of life. I shall discuss some niggles I have about television. I'm sure it's not just me that notices such things, so if anyone reading these thoughts has any further comments to make, do, please, feel free to write in the comment box at the end as it would be interesting to know what other 'niggles' regarding today's television people can come up with.
Why do sports programmes have to have people talking on them with very loud voices? As a person who has no interest at all on the subject of football (and, indeed, a great many other sports, apart from athletics and possibly rugby.) These persons seem to speak in CAPITAL LETTERS as if those to whom they are talking are either incredibly deaf or stupid, or else, to someone who has English as a second language and can barely understand what it being said. Or they speak with such basic English it's an insult to the average person who has an I.Q. above about 120 or so. Or as if they were Sun readers, or at least, tabloid newspaper readers, which always seem to use very basic language (from what I've seen of such papers when I've visited the supermarket and have inadvertently seen the headlines of them. Generally in huge bold, very black print with about a 2inch square block of type for the story the headline is for.)
Then there's the patronising tone that some presenters have. A sort of Primary School teacher-type voice. Kate Humble uses this voice whenever she's presenting certain programmes, usually with cuddly animals on. A lot of the presenters on Countryfile speak like this. A sort of 'we know better than you, so shut up and listen' type of voice. Infact, Countryfile has a sort of smug tone to it, a very patronising and insulting sound for townies who know nothing about life in the country, where their food comes from, the fact that meat comes from animals bred and living on farms and are ignorant of how it is slaughtered and butchered and don't think the nice little plastic packets they buy in supermarket which contain meat, neatly presented and covered in cling film, comes from a living animal.
Let's move on. How about this niggle? Why do the credits at the end of television programmes have to go past so rapidly you can't possibly read them? Why do they have to be crammed into a very small box, generally squeezed up so small you can't read it and the other half of the screen will then have a trailer for another show that's coming up, or about the next show, and an announcer will talk over the music from the previous show? What is all this about? Is it because the television schedulers are scared you're going to loose interest and turn over to another channel? Because we now have so much choice, so many channels on multi-channel platforms, as well as down-load, catch-up, streaming services such as Amazon and Netflix? All this is so annoying when you want to find out the name of an actor in such-and-such drama or film, or even, who wrote the music, directed the thing or any other detail that the credits should show. It's a bit of an insult to those who have laboured long and hard over a piece of television to then have their name rushed past the viewer in such a fashion.
Advertising. A general beta noire of many television viewers. I realise that many channels have to be funded by advertising, but why do many of these commercial interruptions (for want of a better way to describe them?) have to be so CRASS and AWFUL? We now get 'sponsored by . . .' promotions at the beginning and end of programmes as well as during the ad breaks ('wrapped around' is probably the technical term.) Adverts for sofas get on my nerves. Do companies such as D.H.L., Sofa World and others ever sell their products at full price, and do people always want a new sofa at Christmas or Easter? Why do they insist on using that stupid woman with the high-pitched voice, very annoying (almost as annoying as Kate Humble) nauseating and awful. Then there's the constant ads for such things as stairlifts, funeral insurance, P.P.I., Saga holidays and so on, which seem to be aimed at people of a 'certain age.' Something of an insult in a way and generally on the, how should I describe them, the 'lesser' digital channels, the ITV channels 2,3 etc which seemed to show programmes aimed at older people, with repeats of Midsummer Murder, Poirot etc etc.
Then there's the patronising tone that some presenters have. A sort of Primary School teacher-type voice. Kate Humble uses this voice whenever she's presenting certain programmes, usually with cuddly animals on. A lot of the presenters on Countryfile speak like this. A sort of 'we know better than you, so shut up and listen' type of voice. Infact, Countryfile has a sort of smug tone to it, a very patronising and insulting sound for townies who know nothing about life in the country, where their food comes from, the fact that meat comes from animals bred and living on farms and are ignorant of how it is slaughtered and butchered and don't think the nice little plastic packets they buy in supermarket which contain meat, neatly presented and covered in cling film, comes from a living animal.
Let's move on. How about this niggle? Why do the credits at the end of television programmes have to go past so rapidly you can't possibly read them? Why do they have to be crammed into a very small box, generally squeezed up so small you can't read it and the other half of the screen will then have a trailer for another show that's coming up, or about the next show, and an announcer will talk over the music from the previous show? What is all this about? Is it because the television schedulers are scared you're going to loose interest and turn over to another channel? Because we now have so much choice, so many channels on multi-channel platforms, as well as down-load, catch-up, streaming services such as Amazon and Netflix? All this is so annoying when you want to find out the name of an actor in such-and-such drama or film, or even, who wrote the music, directed the thing or any other detail that the credits should show. It's a bit of an insult to those who have laboured long and hard over a piece of television to then have their name rushed past the viewer in such a fashion.
Advertising. A general beta noire of many television viewers. I realise that many channels have to be funded by advertising, but why do many of these commercial interruptions (for want of a better way to describe them?) have to be so CRASS and AWFUL? We now get 'sponsored by . . .' promotions at the beginning and end of programmes as well as during the ad breaks ('wrapped around' is probably the technical term.) Adverts for sofas get on my nerves. Do companies such as D.H.L., Sofa World and others ever sell their products at full price, and do people always want a new sofa at Christmas or Easter? Why do they insist on using that stupid woman with the high-pitched voice, very annoying (almost as annoying as Kate Humble) nauseating and awful. Then there's the constant ads for such things as stairlifts, funeral insurance, P.P.I., Saga holidays and so on, which seem to be aimed at people of a 'certain age.' Something of an insult in a way and generally on the, how should I describe them, the 'lesser' digital channels, the ITV channels 2,3 etc which seemed to show programmes aimed at older people, with repeats of Midsummer Murder, Poirot etc etc.
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