HDTV: Scarier than Halloween

ABC

Frankenstein’s monster? Not scary. Freddie Kreuger? Nope. Godzilla? Definitely not even the least bit frightening … not when compared to HDTV.

I got my first glimpse of HDTV several years back while watching a football game at a friend’s house. And while I concede that Tom Brady’s tight end is a fine way to enjoy HD, a female sportscaster reporting from the sidelines, in the rain, with makeup running, raccoon eyes and flaws from here to there is a scary, scary sight.

Fast-forward a couple of years to when my husband finally got the HDTV he had been relentlessly coveting. He must have hooked it up on a Sunday night, because my first experience with our new HDTV was Grey’s Anatomy (yep … used to air on Sundays).

Now, I’m not trying to turn you off of the popular Grey’s, but picture this: Meredith Grey, whining, as always, in an extreme close-up shot. Her aptly applied makeup may cover that seeping cold sore in standard definition, but not so on my spanky new HD set. I haven’t felt the same about the show since, and really, every week is another highlighted facial flaw on someone in the cast. Not pretty, definitely scary.

I think Cybill Shepherd had it right, back in the Moonlighting days. Rumor has it that her contract required her camera to be fitted with a softening filter, likened to the haze that photographers would use on wedding photos from the ’80s. You know who you are; check that wedding album. We’d never have known if Cybill had a pussy pusy pus-filled zit, no siree.

HDTV has its place (Tom Brady’s ass, remember?), but I for one would like to enjoy my fictional worlds with a little less reality thrown in.

Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Oct 05, 2008 @ 14:00 EST5EDT