Little Things That Irk You IX

[fallenangle]

I'm getting annoyed that on some Freeview channels they've taken to adding an extra batch of adverts immediately after a program ends ie. before the end titles. They then come back, run the end titles, often overlaying them with with other promotional program material, then immediately go into another set of ads before the next program.

Some programs, particularly those that have annoyingly extended intro sequences before the start titles appear, do a similar thing too. An ad break after 5 minutes then another after a couple of minutes of the remainder of intro scene, right at the end of the start titles.

I don't like this trend at all.

[gunrock]

Welcome to Ameristralia! Where the ads keep playing and the Murdoch's don't know where to stop...

[Yakumo]

Welcome to Ameristralia! Where the ads keep playing and the Murdoch's don't know where to stop...

I **** you not, back in the very early 2000s I went to Sydney with the missus. Aliens was on TV and it was unwatchable. Ads played every 5 to 10 minutes. It was absolutely ridiculous. God only knows what it's like now.

[Hirst]

When I went to America in 2000, I was watching The Simpsons on Fox and I’m certain it had a 40-45 minute slot and played out like:

Ads
Intro sequence
Ads
About 8 mins of episode
Ads
About 8 mins of episode
Ads
About 8 mins of episode
Ads
Credits
Ads

I can’t even remember what episode it was, but I can tell you where to get a great deal on a new or pre-owned Toyota Camry. With easy payments and no money down!

[wakka]

Yes this is normal in other countries and has been since the 50s, at least. They structure the ad breaks as shorter and more frequent.

This is easily avoided by any number of DVR products and streaming services developed over the last 25 years...

[Hirst]

You could often tell sometimes with US shows here because you’d have a bit where it would fade to black with some incidental music and then immediately fade into basically the same scene with some more incidental music.

[Protocol Penguin]

When I went to America in 2000, I was watching The Simpsons on Fox and I’m certain it had a 40-45 minute slot and played out like:

Ads
Intro sequence
Ads
About 8 mins of episode
Ads
About 8 mins of episode
Ads
About 8 mins of episode
Ads
Credits
Ads

I can’t even remember what episode it was, but I can tell you where to get a great deal on a new or pre-owned Toyota Camry. With easy payments and no money down!

Hah, had exactly the same experience in that same year! I had heard from my dad that American TV was advert-heavy, but the amount of it shocked still me. Funnily enough, the main reason I attempted to watch The Simpsons was because being over there I was quickly realising how much the series was essentially an animated documentary about America, so much of it started to make complete sense after seeing the US first-hand.

[Asura]

A literal small thing that's an irk.

The USB port of my Razer Phone 2 is finally on the way out (alongside a number of other problems steadily getting worse that I was ignoring).

Now I need to replace it, which means I need to do a hopefully-less-than-twice-a-decade task; I need to learn about contemporary phones <shudder>

Unfortunately Razer checked out the market and never made a Razer 3, which is a shame, as I love the Razer 2. But also, it was a relatively niche device, meaning that it's not really worth buying another one (new ones are basically the same price they were, which isn't good economy). You also can't really replace the dodgy part for the same reason.

Though I need to look into some of the clamshell designs they have these days, and whether or not they've managed to get over having a big ugly crease in them I saw at a tech show, years ago, when they first were showing off the prototypes. Gotta assume they have, because surely no-one would buy one if they haven't.

[fallenangle]

On the excessive TV ads matter: I thought in the UK there were legally binding rules governing how many and the total length of ad breaks there were per hour to prevent just such a descent into US style TV viewing awfulness.

Our TV licence system should be giving us protection from that happening but if it is not doing even that it is another nail in its coffin.

[Neon Ignition]

Staged, yes. Fake, no. For the same reasons Hollywood stunts aren’t fake.

I don’t know when you watched, but the real magic happened back in the 80s when it really was questionable if it was staged or not. Even after you knew it was staged it was still incredibly entertaining to watch throughout the 90s.

Yep, the bulk of my watching would have been late 80's/early 90's when there was the Hulkmania era and Ultiamte Warrior figures in the playground. I definitely appreciate the physicality that the performers have to put into it, by the sounds of things WWE should have been shut down decades ago for the malpractice put into the working conditions its wrestlers have been forced to endure.

[Asura]

Wankers on eBay who are presumably unaware of how much things cost. You put a decent bid on something, then they bid up to the price where it ends up 50p cheaper than just buying the item new from Amazon.

[Neon Ignition]

M62 closed in both directions after pedestrian killed | UK news | The Guardian
They really need to have a middle ground for dealing with these things. As if the stress of the incident or killing someone isn't enough, being arrested by default under a term that automatically assumes your guilt must be mind destroying.
Take them in for questioning absolutely and go from there but context should lead the spproach and any scenario where a pedestrian is killed on a motorway should lead with an assumption the driver is a victim and requires support in the first instance given, you know, there should be zero pedestrians on a motorway at any hour of the day.

[fishbowlhead]

M62 closed in both directions after pedestrian killed | UK news | The Guardian
They really need to have a middle ground for dealing with these things. As if the stress of the incident or killing someone isn't enough, being arrested by default under a term that automatically assumes your guilt must be mind destroying.
Take them in for questioning absolutely and go from there but context should lead the spproach and any scenario where a pedestrian is killed on a motorway should lead with an assumption the driver is a victim and requires support in the first instance given, you know, there should be zero pedestrians on a motorway at any hour of the day.

Crap reporting as always, what was the pedestrian doing on the m62? They would obviously get hit eventually. If not where were they killed exactly and what was the driver doing?

[Neon Ignition]

Compared to other countries like the US, there's such a fear in the UK of holding pedestrians responsible for their road safety. It's like a few years back when they reduced the A580 down to 40mph because over the course of a few years there were several incidents with pedestrians. Never once did it come up that perhaps the issue was the pedestrian waltzing out into the middle of a bypass where there's no crossing or in many places even a pavement.

[Asura]

Wait - is it really true that if a pedestrian is hit by a car - on a motorway - that there is still the assumption that the driver is at fault?

That's nuts!