Watching TV

Be prepared for a rant!

Being a very old person, I do spend quite a bit of time watching television. It’s not that I have nothing else to do. The sound of the TV makes a good “white noise” that, honestly, helps me concentrate while creating on my computer. So, of course, since Hallmark is one of the channels that I “watch” most, I watch some of the programming over … and over … and …After watching the same movie or program over and over, it is easy to see the errors in that movie or program.

I often wonder where the writers were educated because there are glaring errors in the English that is used. Shouldn’t dialogue in a movie be the best it can be? For example, what has happened to the word, “yes?” The characters don’t say, “yes;” rather, what they say – consistently – is “yeah.”  And, “going?” Nobody says “going.”  “Gonna” is the chosen word. “Gonna” gets that incorrect-usage, no-such-word, red underline any time I use it in printed form! And – “wanna.” AGHRGGG!!!

As long as we’re talking about dialogue … the word “amazing” is a required word. Every Hallmark movie I’ve ever watched uses that word somewhere in the script. And, children, having performed some normal childhood activity, have done a ‘fantastic” job.

I think the worst infraction that I hear is the use of the incorrect object of a preposition. Using “I” for “me” seems to me to be the worst. Sample, “Mother gave the dog to Jim and I.” “She went to the store for Agnes and I.” You get the gist. Did the writers never have lessons in the use of prepositions and their objects? And, the actors are in league with the writers. Don’t they know that it is grammatically incorrect to use that phasing? Don’t they know that it should be “Jim and me?” “Agnes and me?” Can’t they say – “Wait, this is wrong.” Clearly, they don’t! Who proofs these things?

There always seems to be a second story floor in the houses. A staircase that the characters can ascend or descend as part of their story. Have you noticed that the houses in the movies are all spotlessly clean? When someone comes to visit, there are no dirty dishes in the sink. The house is never cluttered with thrown-about clothing. There are no boxes filled with stuff sitting around, as there are in my house.  Snowy sidewalks are always cleared, with just enough snow on the edges to show that snow has fallen. The same for the steps. Who shovels snow and leaves it like that? The left-over snow has not melted into an icy layer over the sidewalk. And, speaking of snow – it only falls in front of the characters. Very little ever falls directly on the actors. I read somewhere that that snow is called “Hallmark Snow.”

I sometimes wonder if the aerial views of towns and villages are nothing more than cardboard cutouts that show the town, and that they are not really a view of a real town. There is one image that I keep seeing, over and over and over – purportedly in “different towns. The white church with a very tall steeple has been in so very many towns. I’ve come to wonder exactly where that church is. And, there are a couple of “town” buildings – on the corners of streets that are used over and over.

I will admit that there are some actors (one male and one female) who appear to have such great chemistry that they are paired in movie after movie. The great chemistry moves from movie to movie and enhances the dialogue and actions. I like that. Of course, I have my favorite actors and am always glad when watching a movie with them in it.

When the Great American Family broke away from Hallmark and stole so many of the Hallmark stable of actors, I was not happy. Some of you will disagree with me that the GAF writers do not produce the same (albeit expected) stories and dialogue that the Hallmark writers produce. At this point, I would rather watch a Hallmark movie that I may have seen time after time than watch a movie on the other network. I do, however, miss those actors who decided to go to the “dark side,” never to return to the “light.” Many of them were favorites of mine. I’ve observed that Hallmark is now adding new actors to its team, while managing to keep many of its beloved actors.

At this point, you may be asking yourselves, so, why does she watch Hallmark since she has complaints about the work?

Now, it is time for me to stop grunching about these things and get my house “ready for its next close-up.” Oh, wait, I can’t do that now – I have to go to a medical appointment.

Be Safe and Be Well
The Cranky Crone
Thoughtful comments are always welcome.