Distracting Onlookers

Last week I went to the dentist and was lucky to come home with no cavities despite some very lazy brushing and flossing habits. I promise to do better in the future, but that's not why I'm writing this post. While I was in the dentist's waiting room, the TV was tuned to The Today Show. I was casually viewing it when I realized that they still film the show with a bunch of idiotic attention seekers in the backgound in front of a live audience. I also realized how horrible morning television is.

I don't know why it upset me so much but I can not stand it when I see a show and they allow people to be in the background waving and pointing. I can understand a live news report for a breaking story outside with bystanders gawking at the camera and walking by, but if you are going to broadcast a live TV show every day for years, why would you film it in front of glass windows on a busy street in New York?

A rare moment without the window gawkers.

As I sat watching this show, they talked about style, recipes, home care, entertainment, and other topics and I became infuriated as I saw the same thing happen over and over at regular intervals. Adults walking by would do a double take when they noticed the cameras. Then they'd stop and wave and jump up and down and act like a 3 year old to get attention in the background of the show. What the heck?

There is a local news channel that does the same thing and I refuse to watch their broadcasts because of it. I guess I am not as mad about the dumb attention seekers as I am at the producers of the show who not only do nothing about it but actually encourage this distracting behavior.

It's one thing if you want to take a break from the studio and mingle with the crowds outside during parts of the program, but to have distracting people in the background throughout the entire program just kills the professionalism of the show. I understand they have celebrities and musical artists in the show that people may want to see, but what kind of people stand in big crowds holding signs hoping to be caught on camera with Al Roker? Get a life people!

I'm not trying to pick on The Today Show. There are also many other programs that utilize this distracting presentation style. Apparently the producers of the show believe they have a formula that works, but I won't be sold on it until I see the President address the nation with a bunch of people walking by in the background.

I was surprised at how easily this whole thing set me off. I'm usually a laid back and patient guy, but when it comes to watching a program and seeing distracting idiots jump around in the background I have a short fuse. I felt more like I was at a photobomb convention that I was watching TV. How much did this whole experience bug me? I actually found it to be a relief when I was finally able to go back and have the dental assistant scrape my teeth and gums with a sharp instrument.