On Saturday, I had a rare treat - yes, I actually wanted to watch the TV at the weekend! A Stephen Poliakoff night on the Beeb was just the ticket: Gideon's Daughter is one of my all-time favourite modern dramas, and so I settled down for an evening of unalloyed pleasure.
Not quite unalloyed however. On ITV, the ads are a tedious but necessary distraction; on BBC, they just enrage me. At the end of the Culture Show special about SP (which included extensive coverage of a new piece A Real Summer), Mark Kermode mentioned that it would be on next, so I jokingly said "Oh yes - I bet there's a trailer for it now" - and lo and behold, there was, immediately after the credits. Then the piece itself.
Perhaps I am unusual in not being tempted by endless trailers for the same thing, however good it is. By the time Capturing Mary eventually appears on the screen, I shall nearly be at screaming point from all the repetition: more a spoiler than a trailer.
Are BBC marketing executives all complete cretins? Or do they so underestimate the attention span of the general public that they think we need hourly reminders about what's on later? Sheesh.
http://the-real-linda.blog.co.uk/
12/11/07 @ 16:16