What?!! This Column!?? 07.03.06: Issue #12
Posted by Bryan Kristopowitz on 07.03.2006
Letterboxed TV shows? Why?
Am I the only person in the world disturbed by "Saturday Night Live" being presented in "letterbox?" I know that NBC is letterbox happy with many of its programs, but why give the late-night comedy sketch show the "West Wing" treatment? What exactly does "letterboxing" add to the show, besides a heaping dose of confusion? What do they do now when they do a movie parody? Present letterboxing within letterbox? It all just seems so pointless.
Is it meant to be some kind of prestige thing? I noticed that the "Law & Order" programs went to the letterbox format at the first of the year, abandoning the old full frame format that worked so well. "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," the top rated show of the three show franchise was the first of the bunch that I remember going to the letterbox thing. "Crossing Jordan," "Vegas," "West Wing," the cancelled "Hawaii," and a few others were all letterbox before the "L&O" switchover. I remember watching "Crossing Jordan" before it went letterbox and the show didn't feel any different. When you get a DVD movie in letterbox, you're getting it because you want to see the whole picture as it was presented on the big screen at the theatre. For instance, the big scene in "Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace," where Qui Gon Jinn meets Darth Maul in a light saber duel on Tatooine and Qui Gon knocks the Sith warrior to the ground and gets on the ship and Maul stands up and puts his saber blade away, in the letterbox version Maul is standing in the center of the screen when he does that. In the full frame version he's off to the side. The scene doesn't pack the same punch in full frame as it does in letterbox. Now, if you go ahead and watch "Saturday Night Live" and they start "Weekend Update," what are you really getting on the screen? Nothing but people who seem to be sitting further away from the camera than usual.
And why does this seem to be solely an NBC problem? Yes, cable seems to be following NBC'S lead with the letterbox thing, with "Rescue Me" on FX doing the letterbox thing and "The Closer" and "Saved" doing it on TNT. But why hasn't ABC started letterboxing "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy" and "George Lopez?" Why aren't all of the "CSI" shows in letterbox? Why hasn't "The Simpson's" or "American Dad" done it? Don't they want to be "prestigious?"
That's the only thing I can think of. It must be some kind of "artist" thing, where directors and producers think that the show they're working on somehow becomes elevated because of the black bars on top and bottom. It doesn't. But, then, too, what the heck do I know?
And has NBC looked into this development as a potential reason for their lack of ratings success recently? NBC used to be the top network on television, with "Friends" and "Seinfeld" and "Frasier" and a few others beating the hooha out of every other show ("ER" used to be a juggernaut. It still is a big show, but it isn't what it used to be. And it's been letterboxed for a while. Aha!). Now they're fourth and not really gaining. As far as I know, their two big comedies, "The Office" and "My Name is Earl" aren't in letterbox, but "ER" and the abomination "Heist" all are (were), which should tell someone something. I know that there are plenty of people who buy DVD's in full frame because they think they're getting screwed, that they're not getting the whole movie in a letterbox edition. And no matter how much nerds and their acolytes scream about aspect ratios and all that the general public couldn't care less. They just want the movie to "look right." If they don't like it in their movies, why the heck would they like it in their TV shows?
Just an observation.
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Earlier this year I was forced to watch "American Idol" every week. Now I'm forced to sit through "So You Think You Can Dance" every week. Now, I'm not the world's biggest "Idol" fan, but that show's monotonous cruelty and TV show crapola is about a million times more interesting than the flapfrop that Fox has on the dance show. The judges, all three of them, are bigger douchebags than Simon Cowell. The "English" guy on the dance show, Nigel Lythgoe, is just a big mouthed yeller. If he's got all kinds of pull in the entertainment world as a producer and talent scout, it's a wonder the man hasn't been bloodied. The way he acted this past Thursday when the man they voted off, Bennie or whatever his name was, said that he hadn't planned out his "vote for me" routine extensively ahead of time, and then Nigel went completely batcrap on him and the audience, the crowd should have rushed the stage. I think Nigel's attitude towards performers and the audience showcase why these shows shouldn't be on TV at all. And the show on Wednesdays, the show where the dancers dance before the viewers at home call in and vote, is way too long. The whole thing where we see every couple pick their dance style, and then go to see the choreographer, and then the choreographer goes all "Dr. Phil/ Judge Judy" on them because they haven't picked up on the dance steps seconds after seeing the profession do it, and then they perform on stage and Nigel and the woman in the middle go "That's not professional enough! You'll never make it on my stage you bunch of punks!" is way, way, way too long. Fox could get this show over in an hour. Who out there finds the choreographer bits entertaining?
And wouldn't this show be more interesting if they just brought out the seasoned pros and let them dance and get destroyed by the judges?
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One last thing: Does anyone find it odd that the DVD commercials for Pierce Brosnan's movie "The Matador" make it seem as though it's a high end killer action movie? Now, I never saw it when it was out in theatres, but from everything I read and the reviews I saw and the trailers at the time of release, the movie was a comedy. Why the change in emphasis? Aren't they worried about bad word of mouth on the DVD, with people thinking they're getting "The Bourne Identity" and instead are getting "The Whole Nine Yards"?
