Comments on: Meanwhile, over in the factual genre….

By: Harry

Harry — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 04:24:41 +0000

I found the show a bit boring, watched 1 ep and nothing really happened.. so I havent watched at all. Love Bondi Rescue though!

By: Paull

Paull — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:51:07 +0000

it is a pretty good show- cess would have to be a favourite.

By: GuanoLad

GuanoLad — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:40:11 +0000

What confuses me on Recruits is when we go from the new recruits who are just joining the Academy, then cut to the less-newer recruits who are already on the beat, which is backwards on how to structure a show like this.

I’d prefer it if they tried to keep the progression in chronological order, and had introduced the rookies on the beat later in the series.

By: Neon Kitten

Neon Kitten — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:18:52 +0000

It’s nothing to do with holding the audience’s interest, save for those casual viewers who channel-surf to the point of pointlessness.

What this editing style does is treat the viewer with absolute contempt. It basically works on the presumption that the viewer is either too stupid, too senile or too distracted to remember the most basic bits of storytelling, and so recaps the same story again and again and again to the point where it becomes an absolute necessity to watch these things on a PVR to skip all the crap.

A couple of years ago I took an episode of Border Security and edited out the ads and all the repeated material. It ran barely 10 minutes.

RSPCA Animal Rescue and The Force were both shows that stayed away from this idiot-pleasing style of editing in their first seasons, but which both have adopted it with open arms now.

I feel sorry for the poor Freeview PVR users who have been banned from having access to the kind of time-skip tools that us users of proper PVRs have. I really do.

To the producers of these shows: tell a story, for hell’s sake. Stop teasing your audience. Just tell the damn stories, one at a time. It’s not rocket science.

By: Axel

Axel — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:06:38 +0000

All the intercutting has completely turned me off the genre. Anybody with an attention span longer than a commercial break can’t be bothered.

By: Tim

Tim — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 23:44:12 +0000

I used to watch Border Security all the time, but the ‘meanwhile’ killed the whole genre for me. It wasn’t only the fact they couldn’t stick with 1 story for more then 3minutes, its that they then re tell half the story again as if i forgot what happened 5minutes ago. I found the whole thing to be too condescending so they definitely lost a few people over that and burned their genre.

If the story isn’t compelling enough to air without ‘meanwhile’ing it then don’t tell it, its as simple as that.

By: Bogues

Bogues — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 23:41:27 +0000

I really despise ‘meanwhile’ stories, especially on Border Security. I still watch it (just), but it is annoying. Border Security is also quiet repetitive. Each week you have the Asian that didn’t declare the suitcase full of food, the person with the drugs, the person without the correct paper work, and chuck in the occasional bust-the-illegal-workers story line.

Having said that, it always pulls in good ratings, so it mustn’t be that much of a turn off.

By: Neil

Neil — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:01:29 +0000

I really like this show and often feel disappointed that it is over after 30 minutes.

Policing lends itself well to this type of drama as it offers so much material in which to work with. Having worked, indirectly, with police in the past I have the highest respect for these people as a whole. We ask them to deal with the most horrible of things, put themselves in danger and then we want them to lead incorruptible lives in the face of a lot of temptation. On the whole, these are people who get into policing because they have strong personal values about protecting society and helping people. Yet over time who can blame them for becoming jaded and harden as they are exposed day after day to drunken idiots and drug dealers who often live a charmed life.

The episode last week about police having to draw their gun was a good example. It linked the theory they are taught at college with a real life example of practical application. Image the thoughts that must go through the head of a young girl of 19 who must decide in a split second – Am I going to have to shot this man dead or not? I am glad it is her and not me having to make that decision. After all they are all human and we all make mistakes – only they are held (as they should) to higher accountabilities.