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TV Tidbits: Your TV set may not be showing you all of your favorite shows
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Published: October 24, 2008
Television viewers watching traditional TV sets aren't getting the whole picture -- but, for the most part, they aren't noticing that.
Since traditional TV sets aren't as wide as new digital HDTV sets, many programs are now being shown "center-cut," with the image trimmed off on either side when seen on a traditional set. In the early days of the digital conversion, many shows filmed in widescreen were shown letter-boxed, with black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. But that isn't being done as much now that more people are watching on newer, wider screens.
Most programmers are accounting for the cropped edges by keeping vital footage toward the center of the screen. But there have been some exceptions.
Last week, a reader called asking about why the edges were cut off of Saturday Night Live. When I tuned in to last Saturday's episode with guest Gov. Sarah Palin, I saw what he was talking about. Text on the screen was cut off on the edges, and at times the action was taking place partially off the area seen on a traditional screen.
"Most graphics are designed to fit in the middle," said Hank Price at WXII. He said he would bring this to the attention of NBC. He expects that it will be fixed.
"As people transition to high-definition displays, they won't have this problem," Price said.
Missi Pyle, an alumna of UNC School of the Arts, appeared at 3 a.m. Tuesday on the Fox News program Red Eye With Greg Gutfeld -- and the school got a mention on the show.
The series is a comical take on the news of the day, with host Gutfeld, regular panelist Bill Schulz and several guest panelists -- including news correspondents, comedians and actors -- discussing current events. Ombudsman Andy Levy appears for a "Half-Time Report" to tell the panelists what they've gotten wrong.
Pyle is currently on Broadway in Boeing-Boeing. She has appeared in such movies as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Soccer Mom, and has made guest appearances in such TV shows as Heroes, Pushing Daisies and My Name is Earl.
During a segment about colleges, Pyle mentioned being a graduate of the school -- which she identified by its original name, the N.C. School of the Arts. She studied acting and graduated in 1995.
Later in the show, Levy accidentally referred to Pyle as "Mimi," which quickly became a recurring joke. The whole episode is not available online, but the Half-Time Report is at Hulu.com. Go to tinyurl.com/5qp2pq to check it out.
The latest DVD release of Family Guy includes the show's 100th episode -- quite an achievement, considering that Fox canceled the show twice, after its second and third seasons. Fan outcry brought the show back for the third season, and strong DVD sales brought it back for the fourth and beyond.
The show is now in its seventh season, at 9 p.m. Sundays.
Family Guy Volume Six, a three-DVD set that was released this week, has the last five episodes of the fifth season and the first seven episodes of the sixth season. As with other Family Guy DVDs, it is loaded with extras, including commentary tracks, deleted scenes and features.
Two particularly amusing extras are the 100th Episode Special, in which creator Seth MacFarlane interviews people who don't like his show, and a convention panel in which the cast does a live reading of an episode and answers questions from the audience.
Other new TV-to-DVD releases this week include the reality show LA Ink Season 1 Volume 2, starring tattoo-covered pinup model Kat Von D; the second season of The New Adventures of Old Christine; and the The Man From U.N.C.L.E.: The Complete Series, with all four seasons of the 1960s spy drama packaged in a box resembling an attaché case.
■ Tim Clodfelter can be reached at 727-7371 or at tclodfelter@wsjournal.com.
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