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Pet Peeves

August 3rd, 2015 · 3 Comments

Everybody has pet peeves, and reading about other peoples’ is probably not very interesting, but I’m going to post a couple anyway. If someone describing their pet peeves is one of your pet peeves, then don’t read!

There are a couple that detract from my enjoyment when watching TV.

1) When someone is being interviewed describing an emotional event and they start crying or getting choked up, why do they keep the camera focused on them? Give them some privacy. Stop recording, give them a chance to compose themselves, and start over. It’s an invasion of their privacy. They often will even zoom in for a close-up of the distraught person as they struggle to calm down. I usually feel like a voyeur, and jump forward in the interview if it goes on for very long.

2) During a televised lecture, comedy act or daytime talk show, instead of staying focused on the performance they often display random people in the audience reacting to the show; laughing if it’s funny, mouth falling open for something surprising, etc. Why? Is it to cue me on how I should be feeling? When I’m present at a show I don’t look around at people beside me to see their reactions, I focus on the show. I find it very distracting and it detracts from the show, breaking my concentration on the performance.

When I was at Intel we once had a televised class on statistics or something similarly technical, and they even did it there, showing people staring intently at the lecturer. That would have been me focusing on the lecturer too, until they pulled away and broke my concentration! It was supposed to be a class, not entertainment.

Tags: Opinion

3 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Donna // Aug 4, 2015 at 5:02 pm

    Or how about when they show those cheerleaders in skimpy outfits at football or basketball games? Let’s stay focused on the game! That’s the thing everyone wants to see.

  • 2 Daryl // Aug 4, 2015 at 5:49 pm

    Hey, wait a minute…. That’s never bothered me in the least. In fact, I don’t think they show enough of the cheerleaders; I mean, they’re athletes too. Let’s honor their skill and hard work.

  • 3 Don // Aug 5, 2015 at 8:34 am

    The thing that always annoys me is during baseball games they do a super close up of the pitcher. You can almost see the buggers in his nose.

    I don’t want to see that much. In fact I don’t want to see those close ups at all.

    I think they are showing off the lenses on the cameras.

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