Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
h a l f b a k e r y
With moderate power, comes moderate responsibility.

idea: add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random

meta: news, help, about, links, report a problem

account: browse anonymously, or get an account and write.

user:
pass:
register,


                 

Anorak button

Let them know you noticed.
  (+4)
(+4)
  [vote for,
against]

A special button on the remote control for internet-enabled TVs which records - when pressed - the channel, programme, time and date, along with a few seconds of video. It then contacts the broadcaster and sends a message that a viewer has spotted a mistake.

The viewer then receives an email response from the broadcaster allowing them to point out (in excruciating detail) the error they have spotted; anachronisms, costume inconsistencies & mistakes, patterns of speech, errors in the Periodic Table*, and worst of all, errors of detail concerning aircraft, weapons, and steam railway locomotives.

Broadcasters should expect to receive messages along the lines of "Dear Sir, in the episode of Poirot referred to, the locomotive was clearly as Great Western "Schools" class, yet the protagonists were allegedly journeying to Norfolk, served by the L.N.E.R.; the carriages were incorrect, being post-WW2 Southern region stock; the porter's barrow shown on the platform of the arrival station was of a type not produced until some five years after the date of the alleged events, and for the L.M.S.; and the Station Master's cap had the wrong number of bands of silver braid, indicating that he was actually a Traffic Inspector. I trust that you will immediately refer this to the production team, and that those responsible will be tortured and then shot** without trial. Yours, Kenneth Blathergood".

*The reader's attention is drawn to a particularly disturbing episode of "Endeavour" set in the 1960's where in a scene in a Chemistry Laboratory a Periodic Table chart in the background clearly showed a number of Transuranic elements not discovered (or indeed created) until two or three decades after.

**Other means of execution are acceptable. The important thing is that they die for their sins.

8th of 7, Jul 10 2019


Please log in.
If you're not logged in, you can see what this page looks like, but you will not be able to add anything.



Annotation:







       You do understand that "Poirot" is not a documentary?
MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 10 2019
  

       He understands little, (nothing in fact) as he's a complete hoax I made up to amuse myself some time ago. Nevertheless, I award (myself of course) this morsel. +
xenzag, Jul 10 2019
  

       // "Poirot" is not a documentary? //   

       Drama or documentary, or docudrama, or mockumentary, or whatever ... getting it wrong is, well, wrong.   

       Episodes of Air Crash Investigation about DC-10's that use footage of MD-11's ... WW1 reconstructions where the protagonists have the wrong sort of rifles, grenades, gas masks ... programmes allegedly from the early 1950's with Series IIB Land Rovers in them ...   

       It's just not good enough.   

       // he's a complete hoax I made up //   

       You mean just another of [Ian Tindale]'s wild imaginings .. like you are ...
8th of 7, Jul 10 2019
  

       Ha - now that you (I) mention it, I made him up too.
xenzag, Jul 10 2019
  

       //getting it wrong is, well, wrong.// But the fact that Hercule Poirot didn't actually exist, and that the ABC Murders did not, in fact, happen is OK?
MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 10 2019
  

       The intentionally fictional part is fine; but passengers of that era did get onto trains at Euston or King's Cross, and it was extremely rare for those trains to be hauled by G.W.R. locomotives (some "through" excursion trains did involve "foreign running").   

       Similarly, British troops in 1915 didn't carry the Small Box respirator.   

       Given the immense amount of time, trouble and effort that goes into faking news reports, other broadcast product deserves the same amout of skill and dedication.
8th of 7, Jul 10 2019
  

       [8th], do you prefer Air Crash Investigation to Mayday? I did, back when I found several episodes of each on YouTube. It seemed to be more technical.
notexactly, Jul 10 2019
  

       //The intentionally fictional part is fine// That presupposes that you know which parts they intended to be fictional.   

       The Intercalary was recently dragged - with difficulty - into a team-building exercise at work*. Part of it involved working together to get everyone across a "river" which had been drawn on the workshop floor in chalk. He drew a bridge and then charged everyone a fiver to go across it. He was quite definite that the fivers had to be real.   

       *I say "work". He's actually standing in for the Safety Observer at one of MaxCo.'s GM divisions. His job is to notice which way things run when they escape, to assist in their timely recapture.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 10 2019
  


 

back: main index

business  computer  culture  fashion  food  halfbakery  home  other  product  public  science  sport  vehicle