Explain This to Me

A hectic schedule and blogger’s block joined forces to make me neglect Agoraphilia for most of the last week. But a number of things have yanked my chain in the last couple of days, so the block has vanished.

For now, I’ll limit myself to a minor TV-related complaint. I understand the value of broadcasting movies in the widescreen format. The usual pan-and-scan format cuts off the edges of the picture, and I would rather tolerate the black strips on the top and bottom of the TV screen in order to see everything I would have seen in the theater.

But can anyone explain to me why some TV shows are broadcast in widescreen format? “Angel” is regularly filmed in widescreen, and some other shows like “ER” run special episodes in widescreen. They even advertise this like it’s a benefit, as though the viewer is getting something extra. But in fact, the viewer is getting less. These shows are not originally filmed for the big screen. The directors could choose to film them in a way that fills the whole TV screen. Instead, they give us big black strips without any compensating gain. What a gyp!