Those Irritating
TV Credit Obits
by Jerome A. Holst
When I sit down to watch TV, I don't want to be
disturbed. TV is my way of relaxing and getting
away from it all. Of course, the TV commercials
placed between the programming bother me, but
hey, that's the trade off: I put up
with these little intrusions, so the TV
producers can get the revenue to air the
programs. But as of late, more and more programs
are getting into the habit of intruding further
into my viewing time by placing annoying little epitaphs, or obituary
notices at the end of a TV show when someone
close to the show dies. Is this really
necessary. Well, I just don't think so.
I understand that
some cast member or creative member of a show passed away and the producers of the
program, in a moment of grief, decided to use the
TV credits as a way of saying goodbye to a
friend. Now, they might think nobody would mind
such a touching gesture, but you what, I mind.
I take my TV watching seriously. I enjoy the
texture of the storyline. I get enthralled in the
plot and I don't appreciate it when just as the
show ends,
just at the point I get to say Wow! that was a
fun show or a great show, that a stupid little
reminder of someone passing away pops up to
disturb my viewing pleasure. I didn't tune into
the show to be reminded of real life, but rather, I
wanted to escape into a fantasy land to be entertained. And, if by chance
one of these "Obit" notices appears at the end of a show
like Buffy the Vampire Slayer - that
contains a lot of "killing and death," I can
handle the pretend TV death and violence. But what I can't handle is some
uninvited TV Obit intruding into my viewing time
and interjecting an unsolicited real world
"memorial" about someone I don't even know.
Frankly, I don't want to know about them. I just
want to watch my show and leave the viewing
experience with a bit of contentment.
I'm reminded of the 1993 movie
The Fugitive
when Harrison Ford as Dr Richard Kimble is
confronted with capture at the top of a dam. He tries to tell Tommy Lee Jones
who plays
Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard that he is innocent
but the Gerard character flatly tells him, "Hey, I don't
care." And
that's my point about all these TV Credit obits. "I
don't care!" And phooey on the TV show
producers who assume that I will care. These
Obits are just plain inappropriate and
unwelcome, as far as I'm concerned. Take note TV
producers: It's my job to watch the
show and enjoy it; it's your job to
make it enjoyable, So, don't inflict upon me, in the
privacy of my own home, a weepy little death
notice about someone one who died in someone
else's life. I can't do anything about it,
anyway. And when
the show goes into reruns, and the episode runs
again, and the now "dated" TV Obit re-emerges, I won't care
then either. I'll still be irritated by the intrusion, but I
just won't care.
And
something else. If I personally wanted to place
a little three-second screen message at the end
of a TV
program, I would have to pay for the privilege. It's called a
"commercial." Are the people
placing these death notices paying for the
privilege?. I don't THINK so. And because the
"public airwaves" are regulated by the FCC, I would
think that such postings would be considered
an unfair use of the airwaves.
After all, the credits
at the end of the show are meant to be
instructive. They're supposed to tell us who
starred in the program, the names of the stage crew
who made the show possible, but certainly not
what personnel died. The
producers of the show shouldn't take license to
use the programs as a "free bulletin board
for departed souls" I can tell you this, if my uncle Joe died, do you think I'd get free
obituary notice on the TV show credits of my choice. Not likely.
Now, back to my main
point. If I watch a TV program, it is implied
that I want to be entertained or educated. It doesn't imply
I want to hear about some John or
Jane Doe who passed away in Hollywood last
month. There is a place for this kind of
information. It's called THE OBITUARY PAGE. USE
IT! To summarize: Get out of my face, let me watch my shows
in peace and stop with the TV Obits already. The
world is depressing enough as it is. Don't put
more bad news on our TV shows as well.
Oh, just one more
closing note: John Thaw, the British actor who played
the role of
Inspector Morse died on February 21, 2002 from
throat cancer. He will be missed.
