TV Shows American Factual TV Shows

I just want to know if its just me or are American factual shows really annoying? The content I have no problem with, its just the way they keep repeating themselves over and over and over....the format really gets to me - for example -
Tonight on "America's Most Factual TV Shows" we show you loads of clips before and after advert breaks of what happens on tonights show. When we return from the advert break we show you again what we just showed you before the advert break. So on and so on.....
Do American's have a documented tendency to channel hop? Do they have very poor memories?
Maybe it's me being impatient. But I am finding myself shouting "get on with it" at the tv far too often.
I think if they cut out all this unnecessary filler then the average 50 minute show would last around 20 minutes giving people much more quality time for other things..such as..reality tv shows -
The winner of best reality tv show 2008 is..............................................................find out after the break....

 

Your talking about Myth Busters right? Really gets me that they do that, I just assumed that they are dumbing down for the audience to let the "science" sink in.

 

Mythbusters is guilty of this, yes. But not the only ones. It seems the standard for all factual shows. Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares, a pretty good show by it's own rights - Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmare USA however, adopted this frustrating format...

 

Its also probably to hide the fact that the content they do have is paper thin so they just reiterate all the facts they have mentioned before, I mean how many times have you seen the preview bit only to find the actual slot they give it is barely longer than the preview...

 

What really annoys me is when they have an article that they say is "coming right up", but what they don't tell you is that the article is coming right up...at the end of the program! It's particularly prevalent on US news magazine type programs.

 

or they would have to fill the 30 minutes with something worth watching... eeek, that would take creativity, imagination and some cash on their side, i bet that filler stuff they use now (i.e. comming right up, adverts, comming right up, adverts and so on or repeating themself too often) is just a cheap way out to get the 24 hours of the day filled.

 

Yep, they're guilty as charged. It's why I generally would rather listen to music than watch the dreck on TV.

 

yes, americans have a tendency to channel flip. it annoys the hell out of me when i watch tv at other people's places, and every time the show starts gearing up to a commercial break they flip the channel.

 

Because of media overexposer, and peoples decreasing brain size, it must be drilled like a well in texas... I love the factual shows too.. but the repetitiveness gets to me. *sigh*

Anyone else love 'How its made'? I love that show with all my geekness....

 

Well now, since i got AT&Ts U-verse fiber optic internet connection + 3 HD with DVR Set top boxes
that flipping is decreasing, can record movies up to 120hours each box
starz,showtime, Military channel, Military history channel, International history channel
are the best just record a show for later, rather than sit on your ass flipping the channel

 

I like these shows too, but it seems that the only way to enjoy them is to record them so you can fast forward all the bs.
'How it's made' is a cool show...I don't know anyone who isn't drawn in to it....

 

How It's Made is cool, I think there's something vaguely hypnotic with the voice of the guy that does the voice-over. That monotone just kind of drags you in.

The worst example I ever saw of short attention-span programming was when we went to see a Knicks game in NY last year. Now, I've seen basketball games on TV before, so I was expecting the time-outs. What I wasn't expecting was the "officials time-outs" (or whatever they're called), which was obviously the TV channel saying "ok, time for another ad break". It took about 3 hours to play a full game which, after all, is only 48 minutes of actual play.

What is it with American sports and all the stoppages anyway? I think perhaps that's why soccer isn't that popular over there: 90 minutes play, and only one break.

 

They do this for a reason. If they hype a video clip before the break, you are more likely to stick around through the commercials so that you don't miss the full video. Television stations get money from advertising dollars, and they need people to stick around and watch commercials.

If you can hype a video clip well enough (the biggest, best, most awesome thing you've ever seen...ever!!! coming up soon...really really soon!!) the viewer is more likely to stick around to the end of the show. If you can demonstrate that your show has a high viewer retention rate, advertisers are willing to spend more to get a spot during your show.

The average human attention span is very short. This is why any web designer will tell you that a web page must load in a couple seconds, otherwise a viewer will navigate somewhere else.

-monkey

 

i've always thought that would be because otherwise people would rate the skill of a companies it guys and it would have a negative effect on a companies reputation.

 

Repetitivness on American shows are always what my Mum moans about, especially when they keep repeating footage of the same thing just to show the action over and over again. I have to agree with her!

Not only that, but the plethora of adverts and the frequency of them is just beyong belief. In the UK this is all cut out of American shows but when I was in the states last year I just couldn't believe it!

 

What I really hate is when they have an advert break and the last bit of the show is just about 2 minutes of the end and then the credits.

 

I can't stand it. I was watching Smash Lab (which is a bunch of idiots, but still entertaining), and they must have showed the same clip a half a dozen times.

And of course, I channel flip. I can't stand watching commercials. I'm easily agitated when it comes to these, and If I watch them I just become upset at how stupid/annoying/loud they are.

 

It would be interesting to see how well a channel works over in the states that uses the UKs method of advertising breaks and program makeup.

I think most of the US TV companies have had the wrong idea, trying to get people to watch through the adverts by doing the whole "up next, watch this amazingly dull crash that's pretty much the same as the last one!". Instead they should actually be trying to make their programs good. If I'm watching a show I really like I won't bother channel hopping during the advert breaks, I'll just switch off my brain or at the most, go onto the timetable to see what else is on. It depends on the person though, my housemate channel flicks during adverts which annoys me no end.

 

Quoted for the ****ing truth. I love that show, so insanely boring and monotonous, but oddly compelling and watchable. It's like the TV equivalent of the Shipping Forecast.

 

agreed, for me that shows like TLCs home shows or w/e
my mom can't look away,