Latest lunatic gambit: ads in the MIDDLE of the shows!

[don Jaime]

Nickelodeon, in their infinite quest to tick viewers off with idiotic programming, has taken to interrupting to shows to promote a movie called Jimmy Neutron. You'll be watching a show (for me, SpongeBob Squarepants) and suddenly this CGI kid will drop in to cover half the screen. He'll titter a bit and then turn on a machine that wrecks the show. The first couple of times the show switched to live action puppets mouthing the dialogue, then all the characters had this brat's hairdo, and tonight the tape was "rewound" so the same one second blurb was repeated over and over and over.

I turned it off and I ain't watching Nick till this turd tanks at the box office. I may not even watch after that. When I want to watch SpongeBob, I want to watch SpongeBob, dammit, not some punk kid interrupting SpongeBob. I don't want commercials in the middle of my stories, thanks. Kiss this customer goodbye.

[langden alger]

....all i have to say is-thank god nick doesn't have any rights to batman at all...if they did that during an ep then i gurantee you somehow and someway somebody would be hurting very, very badly in that company.

[Karkull]

Heads will roll if they interrupt Invader ZIM with that Dexter's Laboratory rip-off movie.

[DR. BELCH]

They're turning those mediocre bumper gags into a whole movie? Sweet mother of frig, what's next? "Jerk Chicken and Fish Out of Water: The Movie"? "Inside-Out Boy: Bigger, Longer and Uncut"?
I did see the puppet gag in "Hooky"... thankfully it isn't in every Spongebob showing. I can't imagine them doing that with Zim or the Oddparents or Pinky and the Brain (though I must admit a Brain puppet would be adorable...wouldn't mind having one, actually)....

[Fantasie117]

You'll be watching a show (for me, SpongeBob Squarepants) and suddenly this CGI kid will drop in to cover half the screen. He'll titter a bit and then turn on a machine that wrecks the show.

That's pretty bad. I don't watch Nickelodeon so I haven't seen it, but I despise popup ads. You know, the ones in the lower left or right corner of the screen?

I was watching Leathal Weapon 4 on some channel (TBS? TNT? one of those), and they kept putting "Watch Invincible next week at Blah Blah time." I don't want to watch this movie! I will not watch this movie because of that ad!

I'm watching this show. I don't want to be told about any others except at Designated Commercial Time. Designated Commercial Time is not during the show!

*sigh* I notice that when one network decides to do something "different," every other network is doing the same thing within a week. Maybe it's just a fad. Hopefully, it's a fad.

[Maxie Zeus]

Originally posted by Fantasie117

*sigh* I notice that when one network decides to do something "different," every other network is doing the same thing within a week. Maybe it's just a fad. Hopefully, it's a fad.

No, it's just going to get worse:

1. The networks are hurting ad-wise because of pre-emptions related to 9/11 and Afghanistan. They'll use any trick to squeeze a few more dollars out of what they've got.

2. The clutter on the news channels will encourage them to think that people will accept clutter in their entertainment. My prediction: Soon the show itself will be banished to a corner of the screen (a la HN) and the bottom and side will be taken up with text ads.

I pray I'm wrong, but I see it happening.

[The Mad Hatter]

Yikes. You may be right, Maxie... they're already digitally inserting Coke cans and the like in re-runs of sitcoms like Seinfeld. Then again, the Nick things seem like a symptom of the public's ever-shortening attention span. Sigh... I miss context.

[Captain Caps]

For example: to promote "Animaniacs" coming to Cartoon Network, they would drop stock footage of the Warners bouncing around fast into reruns of "The Flintstones" and shows like that. I think it to be rather lame myself. Turning the cartoon scenes into puppet scenes...odd!

Sincerely,

John "Captain Caps" Kilduff

[Fantasie117]

(Posted by Maxie Zeus) No, it's just going to get worse:

1. The networks are hurting ad-wise because of pre-emptions related to 9/11 and Afghanistan. They'll use any trick to squeeze a few more dollars out of what they've got.

2. The clutter on the news channels will encourage them to think that people will accept clutter in their entertainment. My prediction: Soon the show itself will be banished to a corner of the screen (a la HN) and the bottom and side will be taken up with text ads.

Ahh! Now I'm just scared. That's it. Only Classic Rock Radio for me.

Now more (in?)coherent thougts: You have a point about the uninterrupted news reports that whole week. I didn't even realize there were no commercials until I read it in the paper a week later. Networks want the money they lost by pushing the premieres back a week...but do they get paid for promoting their own stuff, which is what most popup ads are?

My dad says all the time that commercials will be interrupted by shows. I really hope it doesn't come to that. Most TV shows nowadays are bad enough. We really don't need it to get worse.

[Vigo Sprax]

Hmm, I wouldn't be surpised if this is done to get to people like me also...I record everything with TiVo so I simply fast forward through most commercials (Some exceptions being those for JL).

[Maxie Zeus]

Originally posted by Vigo Sprax
Hmm, I wouldn't be surpised if this is done to get to people like me also...I record everything with TiVo so I simply fast forward through most commercials (Some exceptions being those for JL).

Yep, inserting commercials into the show is about the only way an advertiser-supported network can protect itself from TiVo and VCRs.

[DarthGonzo]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Fantasie117


That's pretty bad. I don't watch Nickelodeon so I haven't seen it, but I despise popup ads. You know, the ones in the lower left or right corner of the screen?

I was watching Leathal Weapon 4 on some channel (TBS? TNT? one of those), and they kept putting "Watch Invincible next week at Blah Blah time." I don't want to watch this movie! I [B]will not watch this movie because of that ad!

I'm watching this show. I don't want to be told about any others except at Designated Commercial Time. Designated Commercial Time is not during the show!

Totally, they do this on South Park all the time, and now all series in syndication on Fox actually have a little logo on the bottom left of the screen the entire time telling you what your watching. Thanks, Fox, I almost forgot I was watching The Simpsons . What's even worse is some commercials actually do this!!