# TV annoyances



## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

Time for a rant I think, please join in.

It really annoys me when before a ad break we get coming up after the break, and then after the break we get previously before the break, then there is the length of the breaks themselves, 6 minutes or more on some programs.

Is there a single body which we could go to as this is the way they're shown in the UK, nothing to do with where the program was made.

Rant on hold.


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## 96299 (Sep 15, 2005)

Very rarely do I watch TV, but when I do and when the adverts come on, I just pause the telly until they are done. They do my head in and go on for far too long. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr !

Steve


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## Spacerunner (Mar 18, 2006)

Just too many things about UK TV that I hate and despise to even start writing a list.


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## cabby (May 14, 2005)

Are you telling me that other countries TV is any better.

cabby


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## Spacerunner (Mar 18, 2006)

Don't know. Never watched foreign TV. 
Just can't understand why people go through all the rigmarole of bothering to spend time abroad then spend up to £2000 on trying to get home TV.

Actually that's not true. I've watched french TV and seen some reasonable documentaries. But of course my french is not good enough to understand it all.


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## HarleyDave (Jul 1, 2007)

We rarely watch live TV at home any more - using instead the Sky box to timeshift stuff to a time that suits us which gives the ability to whizz thru the Commercial TV ad breaks

I have also noticed that the BBC is not immune to self-serving ads for upcoming programmes and the BBC news can be a trailer for the latest Panorama exposé - which I feel is a bit naughty

Here in Spain we are coping with the complexities of VPN and streaming/downloading programmes - not because we are telly addicts but because we are living here (temporarily) rather than being on holiday and there's only so much going out etc that we can handle.

A nice night in with a bottle of €1.80 Rioja, an episode of Endeavour or a double helping of Silent Witness is nice and relaxing (well it is after you have watched it all twice so you can actually understand what's going on - Mind you - that might be the Rioja effect...)

Cheers

Dave


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## HurricaneSmith (Jul 13, 2007)

Kev_n_Liz said:


> Time for a rant I think, please join in.
> 
> It really annoys me when before a ad break we get coming up after the break, and then after the break we get previously before the break, then there is the length of the breaks themselves, 6 minutes or more on some programs.
> 
> ...


I agree largely with what you say, which is why I rarely watch live TV.

I tend to record most of the stuff i want to see and then fast forward through all the guff. That way a programme listed as an hour can be watched in 45 minutes or less. For me it's handy time management.

.


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## HurricaneSmith (Jul 13, 2007)

I must type faster ............ HarleyDave beat me to it. :crying:




.


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## siggie (Oct 2, 2010)

Spacerunner said:


> Just too many things about UK TV that I hate and despise to even start writing a list.


You have obviously never watched TV in the USA - utterly appalling on the whole! I have seen TV in many countries and UK TV is, in comparison to most, very, very good.


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

We have watched French TV and were not impressed, but c/w American the French is excellent...... (which does not say a great deal about either.....)

The UK TV is easier to watch IMO BUT the BBC ads and trailers are really annoying, we rarely watch C3 but do watch some C4 with excellent documentaries and "different" programmes.

So my rant would be also about the length of the gaps and the content of the gaps between programmes......... as well as the way the News is used to highlight Panorama for several days either side of it.....

Dave


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## Spacerunner (Mar 18, 2006)

siggie said:


> You have obviously never watched TV in the USA - utterly appalling on the whole! I have seen TV in many countries and UK TV is, in comparison to most, very, very good.


So much US TV on UK TV it's hard to tell the difference. 
UK TV is but a shadow of its former self. And it definite not 'very, very good' by any stretch of the imagination.


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

Spacerunner said:


> So much US TV on UK TV it's hard to tell the difference.
> UK TV is but a shadow of its former self. And it definite not 'very, very good' by any stretch of the imagination.


We were in Florida in an RV during the election that gave George W the questionable win and the tele then was covered with political ads - longer than the programmes and almost obscene in the way they attacked anyone else....

The US programmes on the UK TV are mild c/w their normal junk IMO

and while I totally agree the UK TV is a shadow of itself - with programmes such as Dad's Army, The Vicar of Dibley, The Morecombe and Wise Show and many others, but nothing compatible being produced now....... the standard is still MUCH higher than what we can see in France, Italy or certainly the USA, although Germany seems to have some excellent programmes on it.....

Where are the new versions of such greats as the original David Attenborough series; Life On Earth ? Or the excellent documentaries produced by Jacques Cousteau on the Calypso? Memories are made of these ......

As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder - and ugliness too would be and much UK TV is now in the latter category IMO......

Dave


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## siggie (Oct 2, 2010)

Spacerunner said:


> So much US TV on UK TV it's hard to tell the difference.


You have obviously never watched TV _*in*_ the USA :grin2:

We may have a lot of US programmes on TV here but the mainstream UK channels show the best US TV programmes! Also, they are shown for UK audiences, i.e. a lot of the advert breaks are cut out - for example in the US you will cut straight to adverts after the opening credits, and then have breaks every 5 minutes or so!



Spacerunner said:


> UK TV is but a shadow of its former self. And it definite not 'very, very good' by any stretch of the imagination.


Just to put your quote from my post into proper context, the less edited version actually read...


> UK TV is, *in comparison to most*, very, very good


 :wink2:


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## BrianJP (Sep 17, 2010)

Kev_n_Liz said:


> Time for a rant I think, please join in.
> 
> It really annoys me when before a ad break we get coming up after the break, and then after the break we get previously before the break, then there is the length of the breaks themselves, 6 minutes or more on some programs.
> 
> ...


Hey just be thankful that you are watching the best TV probably in the world. 
I can assure you that from my experience in most of the other countries that I have watched their TV you would loose the will to live if you continued with it.


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## emmbeedee (Oct 31, 2008)

siggie said:


> You have obviously never watched TV _*in*_ the USA :grin2:


Agree completely. We lived in New York for 7½ years & the programmes were, by & large, dreadful. As stated above, the advert breaks oftentimes seemed to take precedence over the programme until you came to the conclusion that they WERE the programme.
The only channel we were able to watch regularly was PBS. This officially stood for "Public Broadcasting Service" but was colloquially known as "Principally British Service" because most content came from here. No adverts, but regular appeals for "donations" or somesuch to help keep it running.
No idea if it's changed much since we left but American friends & colleagues who had visited the UK were unanimous in their opinion that UK TV was far superior to the US version.
Getting back to the original point, if we want to watch a programme on one of the channels which carries adverts, (which is quite rare TBH), we will record it on our Humax box to watch later, when we can zap the ads.


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## delawaredandy (Oct 12, 2012)

The programmes we want to watch we tend to usually download via the catch up services, don't know why but for some reason if you download them from there they seem to cut out most if not all the adverts.

M


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## ChrisandJohn (Feb 3, 2008)

Kev, I agree it's not just the ads that are the problem but the way those kinds of programmes recap before the ads and tell you what's coming after the ads, and then they remind you again after the break and tell you what you'll be watching next, if you stick with them. My understanding is that this is to gain and keep the attention of those who tend to channel hop and may have missed what went before and could get bored during the ads and hop off elsewhere. Generally it seems to mean that there is in fact very little actual content in the programme.

My solution, usually, is to avoid those programmes and generally we watch BBC. I know the BBC have 'ads' between programmes but at least they don't interrupt the programme for them. On the occasions we watch commercial channels I generally use the ad breaks to: make a cup of tea, go to the loo, take out the recycling, check out MHF, send a few emails, order something on-line, etc. By then I've either forgotten what I was watching (in which case the re-cap could be quite useful) or given up trying to follow it.


Chris


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## TeamRienza (Sep 21, 2010)

If for no other reason than is very apparent in this thread, I shall always be a supporter of the TV licence and the BBC in spite of the imperfections in the system or the organisation.


Davy


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

I agree Kev but to be honest I hardly bother with mainstream TV now anyway, its crap. 

I just spend time googling what is the best stuff to watch and then stream it over the internet if it takes my fancy. Advert free and the best of the best. The "TV's" day is over.


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## peribro (Sep 6, 2009)

If I want to watch a channel with adverts then I make sure that I record it through either my Sky box or my Humax and will start watching it 10 minutes (or more) after it's started. That way I can fast forward through the ads, intros & extros. Life's too short I think to sit about watching adverts and other TV junk!


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## chilly (Apr 20, 2007)

TV annoyances?

a selection...


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

Spacerunner said:


> So much US TV on UK TV it's hard to tell the difference.
> UK TV is but a shadow of its former self. And it definite not 'very, very good' by any stretch of the imagination.


I beg to differ, program choice is entirely a personal thing, there is a lot of good TV to be had depending on your preferences, and a LOT of crap too, but I find that the better the program the more padding there is in it. We like to watch house building programs and the like, and one of them is about sheds :roll: but it's akin to a self build MoHo for me, but they keep going back over program content from the first series FFS why? is there so little to film that they need to recap every damned screw going in.

We record everything on the Virgin Tivo box, but it is still mega annoying, but it at least has some software which when you restart after whizzing through the ads, it takes you to the beginning of the next part, so you don't have to fart about trying to find it.

One day they will use the existing tech to jump the ads altogether.

I have actually timed some so called one hour shows at as little as 25 minutes of actual fresh content.

So to go back to my OP, is there a single body we could lobby.


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## HarleyDave (Jul 1, 2007)

delawaredandy said:


> The programmes we want to watch we tend to usually download via the catch up services, don't know why but for some reason if you download them from there they seem to cut out most if not all the adverts.
> 
> M


Yes - I've noticed that too - quite a pleasant surprise although ITV has seemingly interminable "interactive ads" on the net and woe betide you if you click on one in error!!

Cheers

Dave


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

Yes I noticed as well, but I have two problems with it; A, you can't do it with all programs & B, I keep bloody forgetting to watch stuff.


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## Mrplodd (Mar 4, 2008)

If you access any of the ITV programmes on iplayer type catch up you CANNOT fast forward through the ads.

Andy


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

Mrplodd said:


> If you access any of the ITV programmes on iplayer type catch up you CANNOT fast forward through the ads.
> 
> Andy


I wasn't sure about that Andy, so went to catch up a ITV show from this afternoon to check, it was Jeremy Kyle, but you can fast forward through it (best way from what I just saw) but there were no ads at all when using Virgin, can't comment for online viewing though, looked at Iplayer and that can fast forward x 128 obviously no discernible ads on there.


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## Mrplodd (Mar 4, 2008)

Kev

I was referring to the online catchup type viewing, it might be Ch4 or 5 rather than ITV but I can definatly recall not being able to FWD through the poxy ads. Can't record off catch up so unable to FWD that way either.

Andy


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Agreed about US TV being diabolical and self congratulatory. Plus they mumble and are trying to change the English language.
But the mighty Dollar reigns and any good film will gradually increase adds towards the culmination of the plot. So much so that I have often ditched a film towards the end.

I find most French TV is dubbed English and US programs anyway. OK their news and documentaries are great if we concentrate.
But it's hard work and we miss lots. So take the easy option and watch UK TV.

Now in Portugal and watching all UK TV on 'Filmon' quite successfully apart from my wife's choice of program.

Ray.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

Mrplodd said:


> Kev
> 
> I was referring to the online catchup type viewing, it might be Ch4 or 5 rather than ITV but I can definatly recall not being able to FWD through the poxy ads. Can't record off catch up so unable to FWD that way either.
> 
> Andy


You're probably right Andy, I've not checked those.


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

American mainstream TV might be crap but their subscription cable TV is superb. Chalk and cheese really.


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## GMLS (Dec 2, 2010)

The things that really annoys me is when after an ad break, then then spend a good chunk of the next segment repeating what has been covered in the previous segment. This obviously gets worse the further into a programme you get. 

George Clarke and New Life In The Country/Abroad appear to be the are the biggest culprits! Grrrr


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## cabby (May 14, 2005)

We use Sky and if we DOWNLOAD a program we can watch without adverts.The program stops as it would but then restarts again as if you had seen the ads.
This as Andy says does NOT happen if you only use the iplayer or similar catchup viewing.

cabby


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## delawaredandy (Oct 12, 2012)

Yes that is true Cabby, I should have pointed that out in my earlier post about catch up TV we too do it via Sky.

M


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

GMLS said:


> George Clarke and New Life In The Country/Abroad appear to be the are the biggest culprits! Grrrr


Plus one for George Clarke, a good presenter but marred by the way the program is aired, shame.


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## chilly (Apr 20, 2007)

One program that springs to mind is 'Helicopter heroes' about the Yorkshire air ambulance service.
If they're covering, say, three incidents, they'll do 5 minutes on incident 'A', 5 mins on 'B' and five mins on incident 'C'. They will then repeat this 4 or 5 times until all 3 stories are concluded. This type of editing together with the preview/review each side of advertising breaks, I find really annoying.
Just sayin' like.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

chilly said:


> One program that springs to mind is 'Helicopter heroes' about the Yorkshire air ambulance service.
> If they're covering, say, three incidents, they'll do 5 minutes on incident 'A', 5 mins on 'B' and five mins on incident 'C'. They will then repeat this 4 or 5 times until all 3 stories are concluded. This type of editing together with the preview/review each side of advertising breaks, I find really annoying.
> Just sayin' like.


Yeah plus one on that too Chills, also the police, border, customs shows all do the same stupid thing, they don't get that we watch out of interest not just for the bloody recaps.


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

cabby said:


> Are you telling me that other countries TV is any better.
> cabby


The stations we watch don´t have adverts, but often we have BBC documentaries with a German translation, trouble is the English is spoken in the background, the 2 languages drive us crazy. to add too that annoyance is the terrible music they add to the program. Its particularly annoying when its and nature program, for instance a bird gracefully flying and they put loud `_music´ _to accompany it. At the moment Hans is watching a program about Nero, he can´t understand half what the commentator is saying because of the loud _music.

_Jan


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