Even those largely passive to basic channel logos are finding that the
influx of 24/7 onscreen intrusions like "Jacko Monday 9pm" or The
Simpsons spinning doughnut with "6 days to go", used to pre-empt the
300th Episode, is just too much to bear nowadays.
It was bad enough with the constant use of a red dot to advertise their
interactive services, despite the fact that simply telling us would be enough
to advertise them.
As of March 2003, Sky One's controller is Sara Ramsden who, according
to Sky bigwig Dawn Airey, is "a highly accomplished and creative
television executive who knows the Sky One market perfectly". Is that so,
Ms Airey. Well, I put it to you that she knows absolutely diddly squat about
her market if she thinks this is the way forward, and given the current level
of dumbing down on your channel I'm surprised either of you would know which
way round to sit on the toilet and would only know what to do with it if
it had a constant beaming logo shouting "DUMP HERE!"
There's a Simpsons episode where Homer and family use the Flanders' woodland
retreat, yet Ned has emblazoned everything with a Post-It note on how to use
it, right down to "Fill me" on every section of the ice-cube tray.
"With what, Ned(?)", condescends Homer. "With water", says the
Post-It note beneath. That is where Sky One have now sunk.
Currently, the main annoyances from Sky One are:
The red dot: We know these interactive services are available.
They can be available without the need for a constant irritation onscreen,
and since I record everything I watch first, 'pressing red' will make no
difference. I also long since disconnected my phone line from the Sky box
and part of it snapped off inside so it's not being reconnected any time soon.
ALL NEW: We know when programmes are all new. Only the Simpsons'
new episodes aren't shown week-in week-out and the reason we watch all these
programmes is because they're new. We can work these things out for ourselves!
End-credits interruptions: Continuity announcements and the screen
being partially overtaken by clips of the next programme, the most offensive
of these being with the grating voice of ex-Radio 1 failure Claire Sturgess'
waffling over particular episodes of Futurama (Season 5) and Scrubs (Season 2),
just a split-second after a character had died, about what cack was coming up
next. Just how bloody insensitive do they have to be?
The Simpsons spinning doughnut: "6 Days to go": As a pre-empt to
the Simpsons 300th episode, despite the fact that it isn't the 300th one they've
shown, as they missed out The Cartridge Family, and add to that all the
ridiculous cuts they make to The Simpsons, Futurama and Family Guy,
and don't forget the onscreen logo that was "Jacko Monday 9pm" for a
few days before it was broadcast - we know all these programmes are on and we
don't need to be told as if we have the attention span of a Sky Television
Executive.
If you feel equally aggrieved by all this, then click the following link which will forward your
email to the main Sky viewer email address, Sky One's controller Sara Ramsden,
the person who put her in charge, Dawn Airey and the head-honcho of the whole
mess that is BSkyB, Tony Ball.
A copy of the email will also go to Logo Free TV, who
are keeping a record of all the protests made against Sky.
As a certain Simpsons character would say at all this unnecessary onscreen
intrusion, "Homer mad!!"
Note that as of Friday December 19th, 2003, as the year draws to a close, Sky
One, like Channel 4, appear to have relaxed their behaviour with the red dot and it no longer
dominates the output like it used to. You can still 'press red' without it being
there so let's hope this continues.
If you include further text with your email, please keep the replies polite
and to the point.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Similar to the onscreen graffiti brought about by Channel 4, the BBC and
UK Gold
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