Over the past year we've seen some of the most annoying promos on TV spread like the plague. From the permanently superimposed bug billboards on Sci-Fichannel and ABC Family, to annoying animated screen wipes for other shows on channels like FX (now with audio!) and the infamous ads for The Closer on TNT.

Recently this trend has started to leak through to network shows. CW has started running promos during their programming which are annoying, but the king is undoubtedly NBC. A channel which managed to gain viewers and praise last year (for the first time in a long time) with shows like Heroes, Friday Night Lights, 30 Rock, The Office and My Name is Earl. Now they are intent on repaying the loyalty of the viewers they manage to capture by running annoying promos for not only their own shows but for theatrical movies! It was bad enough when they started running animated promos for the mediocrity of Phenomenon.

Well I've had enough. Somebody has to draw the line. It's time people started showing NBC the same respect they show us, the viewers. We don't have to watch NBC shows. We can easily watch other channels or just rent the entire season on DVD from Netflix and they can watch their Neilsen ratings slide back to where they used to be at the bottom of the pile. Let them know that if they want us to watch, we deserve to see the whole show not just two thirds of it. Why move to the larger size of 16:9 for high definition programming if you are still losing a third of the image?

It not only ruins the show, it makes the effort that writers, directors and actors put into making a show dramatic, exciting and well shot, totally wasted.

Michael Pilot
Michael.Pilot@nbcuni.com
President, NBCU Sales & Marketing
212.664.6795

Jim Hoffman
James.Hoffman@nbcuni.com
SVP, Network Entertainment Sales
212.664.7045

NBC think it's okay to force advertising on us, so return the favor. If you have any junk mail put it in an envelope and send it to:

NBCUNI.COM FEEDBACK
100 Universal City Plaza
Universal City, CA 91608

Got a blog? Post on other forums? Copy and paste this information there. If you sit back and do nothing then pretty soon your favorite shows will be animated billboards.

If we show NBC that we aren't going to take it, then it might stop the other networks from following their "lead." After NBC, the cable networks are next.