Encore - bugs, v.o, edits... (1 Viewer)

[GaryEA]

(If this has been brought up previously, I apologize in advance. Thanks.)
I just caught the final ten minutes of "Batman Returns" on Encore and I was put off by the way they treated the film.
Okay, first the bug. This is a pay cable film and we know that some cable stations akin to HBO and Showtime are beginning to use bugs more and more. To me, it might as well be an NBC logo and they can start cramming commercials in. I'm not paying for self-promotion, I'm paying for uninterrputed movies without any commercials. Well, supposedly.
Then the film ended, and I realized that a 126 minute film had been tucked into a two hour time slot. Since I hadn't watched anything except the last ten minutes, I don't know if they made any edits like the infamous NBC edit. What they did do was speed the end credits up to double-time. Siouxie and the Banshees didn't even make it because the music was abruptly cut off.
Then, the real killer. While they had another graphic on the bottom, telling me the next date I could watch the film, a voice-over started promoting the next film. I haven't heard this since networks actually let tv shows have thier own credits rather than stuffing them into uniform columns on the left or right side so they can run a commercial or start the eleven o'clock news thirty seconds early.
Is this becoming the "norm" because I'm not paying for digital cable just to hear self-promotion at the cost of the films?
Gary
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"My life has a superb cast, but I can't figure out the plot..."
-- Ashleigh Brilliant

 

[Danny Knapp]

It's absolutely ridiculous. You can only enjoy a movie now if it's on VHS or DVD. I don't know if you know this but The Disney Channel has commercials...that's right I said commercials. So the question I always come back to is...what exactly are we paying for?
Are we paying premium cable prices to see advertisements?
Also I'm sure you've heard of UPN selling "bugs" to McDonalds and the like. It's a total disgrace. I haven't been able to read credits of a film off TV for years now. How do the filmmakers and people who have worked on a film feel about this kind of stuff? Having their name scroll too fast to read or too shrunk to even comprehend? I'm curious.
Don't even watch TNN! All you'll see is a black bar on the screen at all times with the name of the program ALL THE TIME. Thankfully it's not during WWF RAW.
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I dislike Tom Green!
[Edited last by Danny Knapp on September 09, 2001 at 01:52 PM]

 

[MikeAlletto]

As far as disney goes, I'm not paying for it. Time Warner in Austin rolled it into normal cable last month. So now I look at it like all the other normal stations, commercials and all.
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Michael Alletto
Mike's DVD List

 

[David Williams]

It's funny actually... The Disney Channel has been considered basic cable for some time now, but it hasn't been until recently that some cable companies have made the switch. I believe DirecTV started it and its been a slow trickle down since then. My cable company also recently did the switch, but I believe that was because of the time involved (they've been busy with digital cable)... because of the way our system is configured they had to go to every house in their system and remove the trap on that specific channel. Quite the job.

 

[GaryEA]

Danny - That's a good question; What are we paying for?
I wasn't aware that Disney had become a basic cable channel. I'm not a regular watcher so I never caught the change from premium to basic. No wonder Comcast suddenly picked it and added it to our line up this year. And to think I was getting a good deal.
As for TNN, I found out about their non-stop self-promotion while watching a Star Trek movie. Well, the ten minutes I watched of it (I just popped in my laser and picked up it left off). The title was displayed on the bottom non-stop, just in case I forgot which movie I was watching. I tried to think of a good rationale for such a move, but none came to mind. Do current tv audiences need that much hand-holding, or is more of a revenue thing?
Vince McMahon must have some pretty good pull to keep TNN from bugging the hell out of Raw and Smackdown.
As for UPN selling bugs, well, that's just ridiculous. I hadn't heard of that and thank you for telling me. I can see it now, Burger King bugs during Enterprise.
Now I'm noticing other examples. The Fox affiliate here in North Jersey (WNYW - 5) has started to display bugs of the title of the show on the bottom of the screen. Again, just in case I forgot that I was watching Drew Carey, Simpson, or Seinfeld...
I guess TV will eventually look like CNN's Headline News
It's less than a half an hour 'til Band of Brothers. I hope there aren't any new tricks tonight.
Gary

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

It's less than a half an hour 'til Band of Brothers. I hope there aren't any new tricks tonight.

There sure are... widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.1!

 

[GaryEA]

There sure are... widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.1!

Yeah, but I like tricks like that!
-g