TV Woes: A Vent

I understand why commercials exist. I even enjoy a few of them and will go out of my way to watch the ones that amuse me. I don't mind a heads-up about what is coming up later, either.

What I do not understand is how stations think that it is in any way acceptable for commercials and promotions to actually disrupt their programming.

I was irritated when a local network affiliate blocked the subtitles in an episode of "Heroes" with the station number. However, I chalked it up to an idiotic mistake and luckily it didn't last the entire episode. But honestly, how difficult is it to pay attention to stuff like that?

Most instances aren't mistakes. It is obvious that the promotions are deliberately inserted into the program.

I dislike it when I am watching one show and an ad for another show runs through it. The animations are distracting and the shows they pimp are usually weak anyway. The worst, in my opinion, was the old promo for the first season of the "Anna Nicole Show". In addition to distracting me visually, I was subjected to a sound effect. The dog yipping would block out dialogue in the show I was trying to watch. I stopped watching E! for some time because of it. I may have hurt the mute button on the remote as well.

By now I am resigned to the practice of cutting off or "scrunching" credits in part of the screen while promotions play. Today took it to another level. I got sucked into watching "Rocky" on Spike TV. Sure, I have seen it many times before, but it has been a while and I was enjoying it. I could not believe it when the last few minutes of the movie were shoved to the bottom of the screen while the "Chick Chick Boom" spot played. They couldn't even wait for the credits.

I guess I should be thankful that they let us hear who won the fight.

Maybe they believe that the target audience for Spike TV doesn't care about the emotional aspects of the film, but I think that is insulting. Why wouldn't they (we?) care about Rocky and his loved ones? Those final moments are really important to the character and to the film as a whole. Sure, the big fight is the climax of the movie, but it just isn't a satisfactory ending on its own.

So, I say that the practice is weak. It just seems counterproductive. How is it beneficial to the station that a self-promotion would drive me away? I was happily watching their product. And now I'm not.

Instead, I am here.

Deep breath.

Out.