Coming Up Next in This Blog Post…

File this under “Things That Really Annoy Me” – kind of like how ABC incessantly brands every show with its network name. I’ve been watching ‘Rubicon‘ on AMC. (Forgive me for falling behind on recaps; I’ve got too much going on these days.) Anyway, at many of the commercial breaks during the show, the network plays a “pre-cap” that tells you what’s going to happen next and shows a clip from the upcoming scene. AAARRRRGGHHH!!! Are these network bozos not familiar with spoiler alerts?!

There’s nothing that spoils the mood of watching a show more than having footage from it played out of order and context during the very episode it’s supposed to appear. I try to fast-forward past it on my DVR, but inevitably wind up hitting the button too late and seeing something I don’t want spoiled.

I HATE this. Is the network really so afraid that a viewer already watching the show will tune out during the commercials and not come back, that it has to tease the next event that’s going to happen within the very same episode?

This is infuriating. It needs to stop right now. The network is only shooting itself in the foot with this strategy. I’m actually less inclined to watch the show during its first run (where it earns the most ad revenue), and more inclined to watch it later On Demand or online, where there are fewer commercials and no stupid pre-caps.

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this on BBC America too, though I don’t remember the program. It might have been ‘Torchwood’, or something else that I don’t actively watch but may have stopped for a second when I ran across it while channel surfing. Have our readers spotted this problem during any other shows?

4 comments

  1. Bryan

    I’ve been liking Rubicon a lot myself …. however, moves like this are why I pretty much watch everything via DVR now. Even if I watch a show an hour (or even start it half-way through), I don’t have to see any commercials – let alone ones that might be giving away future plot points (even if they’re only coming up in 5-10 minutes).