Television Reflections
I am a child of the ’80s. It was a different time. We expected less. Sitcoms, especially, were peppered with cheesy dialogue, moral lessons that slammed us over the head, and canned laughter to tell us when something was meant to be funny.
My favorite movie of all time is Raiders of the Lost Ark. Having seen it twice on the big screen in the last few years, I can honestly say, it’s not up to today’s standards. I still love it. But there are continuity problems that we never cared about back then. A lot of them. Objects and costumes and hair shift and move back again multiple times throughout a scene.
But it wasn’t important. We didn’t have DVRs to freeze and go back mid-episode. When VCRs came along, you could do it, but freezing a frame made lines across the screen, so it was difficult to really see anything. We didn’t have digital copies or computers or YouTube, so errors in detail were missed, ignored, or passed off as interesting trivia.
It’s different today.
Despite the plethora of reality shows, we expect near-perfection in storytelling, dialogue, and continuity. Move a single cup from one take to another and message boards will light up like Christmas in Las Vegas. Life lessons need to be more subtle. Character motivations have to be solid, or viewers will stop watching in disgust. Production qualities, even on sitcoms, are incredibly high. Compare the multiple-house sets and outdoor shots of Modern Family to the three or four rooms with only one angle on Family Ties or The Cosby Show.
Now, with that in mind, there’s something about today’s television shows (and even in a lot of movies) that really bothers me.
So much care is put into the details of every shot. So, why can’t they keep the green computer screens near the cameras from reflecting in the eyeglasses of every single bespectacled character?
Seriously. I know I’m being picky, especially in light of all the wonderful special effects and realism they’re putting into everything else. Writers, set designers, costumers, directors, actors–they’ve all upped their game.
And that’s  why the green reflection in the glasses bugs me so much. And seriously, it takes me right out of the story. I see green, I start scanning for anything in the room that would explain it. Next thing you know, I’ve forgotten to pay attention to the show itself, and I’m squinting to make out everything reflected in the glasses.
It’s not cool. I know nothing about television production, but it seems like my husband and my daughter could easily take the green reflections out of the shots with Photoshop.
Why does nobody seem to care? Am I alone in this weird obsession?
Does anyone know why they don’t bother with it? If I knew why, I’d probably let it go.
After all–I’m a child of the  ’80s. We expected less.
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