Defamer
While most of you heathens were watching The Hills and/or The New Adventures Of Two And A Half Men Who Met Your Mother on Monday night, your Uncle Grambo was plowing through the first two and a half hours of the new Frontline documentary, Bush's War. On an emotional level, it was a thoroughly exhausting experience — reliving those nightmarish days of September 2001 and the resulting six-plus years of what can only be described as another long national nightmare had precisely the opposite effect on my sleep patterns as a fistful of Ambien. That said, it deserves classification as essential viewing, regardless of your party affiliation. That said, this post is not about George Bush or politics, nor does it have anything to do with the subject matter of the two-part series that Variety describes as a "great historical drama." Rather, it's about how glorious it was to watch a news documentary that was specifically tailored to HDTV and why we're considering boycotting 60 Minutes until they make the switchover to hi-def programming.
While most of the marketing of HDTV is targeted towards cinemaphiles and sports enthusiasts, there certainly is an net-positive end benefit for connossieurs of news programs to plunk down the $2 grand or so it takes to upgrade to hi-def. Not only does the medium allow viewers to be more sufficiently stimulated on both the visual and audio fronts, this blogger would argue that it makes the viewer more likely to actually absorb and process the information that the program is trying to relay. For instance, in Bush's War, the visual clarity of the footage that was shot in Iraq (not to mention the haunting stills from 9/11) resonates within your head and your heart in a way that traditional, low-def TV cannot possibly compete with.
Which is why we are so surprised that the venerable news division of CBS has staunchly refused to upgrade their flagship show, 60 Minutes, into HD. Sure, no one wants to see Andy Rooney's nose hairs in 1080p, but we're pretty sure they could gauze up their lenses in such a way that everyone's favorite cantankerous crankypants could look as good as Cybill Shepherd did on Moonlighting. But there's no denying that the rest of the show could really use the upgrade. Take last Sunday's segment where Anderson Cooper got in goal to try and stop David Beckham's patented bendy kicks, for example. Since the show has already acquiesced to lowering their journalistic standards to a point where they can justify interviewing someone as vapid and meaningless in our country as David Beckham, why not go the extra mile and take their visual presentation to the next level? We're sure it has something to do with cost, but that excuse quickly flies out the window when you consider that the budget and funding-challenged PBS can afford to do so. So, Sean McManus, the gauntlet has now been thrown. You already have a last-placed news show on your hands, so why not invest the extra $$$ necessary to make the strides to save the last remaining audience members you have left?
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Comments
I thought Beckham actually came off pretty well. I was expecting nothing, and was pleasantly surprised he was able to string coherent sentences together. Hey, YOU try doing that after spending a significant amount of time with Robotits.
I'm telling you folks now, buy stock in Unilever (Vaseline parent)- When CBS goes full HD, you'll thank me.
I'd say it's because only old people watch network news, and it's a proven fact that HD frightens old people.
@People Paula: My "old" parents with their new-fangled technology fall into the "Hey, we will watch ANYTHING that is broadcast in HD". This means they are simultaneously way cooler and slightly more pathetic than I am...
I think it's because they don't want you to see the puppeteer's hand that holds Andy Rooney's corpse in his chair.
60 Minutes is on television now? I thought it only came on those old wax cylinders.
Another uninformed post by someone who knows nothing about CBS, CBS News or how to pick up a phone and do some information gathering. "60", as it is known in the business, was very slow in converting to tape from film. The issue then was the internal debate about production quality: the look and feel of the broadcast ("broadcast" is the word they use at CBS News for a show). But now things are different. CBS News has absolutely no money. It operates on a staff so thin you could pass it on the street and not know it. Converting to HD, for those of you who aren't aware of television engineering, would cost a couple of more dollars than CBS has right now. There is separately the issue of the CBS News library. The library already has gone through a tragic tossing into the garbage of most of the film and tape CBS News has ever shot. A switch to HD would require "bumping up" film and non-HD when library footage is used: more costs. You guys need to write about stuff you know something about. Stick to items about toilet paper, for example.
Do you have any idea what the gauze would look like in HD though?
Frontline is the last hope for intelligent television. Seriously, the last.
Aha. So full-time Diablo Cody coverage was preferable to something. I owe myself a Coke.
In truth, converting a news department over the HD is extremely expensive, and Viacom is notoriously cheap.
A.) Thank you for reminding me about the "Frontline" series on Bush. If you care to keep track of serious journalism, there is a reason this show is so aptly named. And B.) I have also been wondering the same about all the news networks. My only guess is the reporters want to delay the eventual bell of clarity that will reveal moles, dimples, bags, furrows, ear and nose hair, and other humanoid defects. I don't know if HD allows the "Barbara Walters" soft lens effect that forgives these humanoid style defects...you know the old "spray gook on the lens" so there's a soft cottonelle feel to the whole thing. And C.) I want to send you a stack of Starbuck cards I have for just noticing the same thing as I.
I'm thinking Andy Rooney's face would look like a stalactite.
Damn, so I missed this? I love Frontline, anyone know when this will air again? I can't figure it out looking at the official site.
Also, I recently upgraded to HD and it's awesome. Looking forward to more HD channels.
my friend tells me that the last hold out for HD on ABC is Regis and Kelly. I guess HD will show the true face of hell.
@Superstarsteve: I saw a few minutes of Babs' latest Oscar special, which was in HD.
The Vaseline works as well as ever, though I think they have to spray on an extra layer.
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