Things I hate about this show.
I guess that's as good a title as any. FWIW, I actually really like this show, but there's also never been a show that annoys me the way this one does. I've posted a few of these in other threads, but here's my full list. Anyone else agree with any of them?
1. Music in older episodes. I love electronic, but that crap makes my ears hurt, makes the cats wake up and fight, and if loud enough, I think it could break glass. The theme song's not so bad, but most of the background music is just nuts. The (apparently) newer stuff is much better though. Some of that is actually excellent.
2. The lame puns in every introduction. Almost every sequence has at least one. They all make me cringe.
3. The occasional "history/timeline" drawings in the intros. Where did they find that God-awful artist? I could cram a charcoal rod up my ass, do the hokey pokey over a sheet of paper and still make better art. What style is that, anyway? Must be a style covered the day I missed Art History in college. Is it Neosuckism, perhaps? (edit: I take ALL of that back, I was unaware it was a continuous-line drawing. That's not easy to do, so, my apologies)
4. Simply-produced items (toothpicks, cotton swabs) get 15 minutes of the show, complex things get five (or less), and are summed up at warp speed while the credits roll. Common sense says complex things should be allotted extra time, like they did for Pianos and Electric Guitars. They spread each across two segments, thus showing more of the craftsmanship involved. One example where they screwed up was Electroplating. There's a hundred ways this is done, most being WAY more relevant to our lives than 4 minutes spent cadmium-plating an aerospace part. You actually learn more about electroplating from the Buttons episode, where they gold-plated buttons, than from the actual electroplating episode.
5. Get a damn High-speed camera, already! Every time they try to show superfast motion, there's always a good 5 seconds of footage with the object either standing still, going in reverse, or jumping around, presumably from the machinery being slowed down, or manual editing of a normal-speed shot.
6. Selectively omitting the names of key substances. ex: "polymer" "adhesive", "lubricant". If they can name the 10 ingredients that go into making bread or glass, do the same for the complicated stuff.
7. Trade secrets. I know this isn't the show's fault, but quite a few of the companies claim trade secrets that...aren't. It's like they want their competitors to think they have a super-secret, superior process. Either way, if a company forces the show to omit ingredients or skip the most interesting parts of the manufacturing process; (ex. cutting the hooks in Velcro), then the show should find another manufacturer, rather than resorting to a vague explanation.
8. Accurate show info. This is Discovery's fault, not the show's, (although some show titles are pretty vague and misleading). I gave up trying to record specific episodes, because the content rarely matches the episode.
9. Warn people before showing disturbing content! This is a TV-G show that actually blurred the breasts on mannequins. So, you don't expect anything too shocking. Then they show someone's cornea being shaved open open during "laser eye surgery". That was unpleasant if you weren't expecting it, as I'm sure most people weren't. By far the worst example was the "hatchery chicks" episode: A crew of old ladies and sharp machines fling, bounce, spin, dump and throw newborn chicks around like clods of dirt. Watching it, you wonder how they survive the process, then it's dawns on you that some don't. Invariably, a few must get torn apart by the machinery. Frankly, that segment was one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen on TV. I kept waiting for a disclaimer (like the egg episode) saying this process is humane, but it never came. The segment kept bouncing along with way-too-perky music and narration. It almost made me sick. God help us if they do an episode on slaughterhouses.
Edit: I'm not saying they shouldn't show this stuff, but those two episodes should've been rated TV-14/PG, or the segment needed a disclaimer warning the about disturbing content.
So, with all that said. I actually do like this show. :)
Kel
http://imdb.com/name/nm1485711/
Professional [?] on closed course. Do not attempt