Tuesday, January 01, 2008

big rose, small thorn

Four networks offered high definition broadcasts of the Rose Parade this morning. Two of those were commercial free. In Los Angeles, almost everyone watches the parade on KTLA with Bob Eubanks and Michaela Pereira. The rest of us could watch KTLA's coverage on either the HD Theater channel or in SD on the Travel Channel but with commercials.

Last year I wrote that I wouldn't be disappointed if Eubanks retired from covering the parade. He seemed a little better this year than last but I didn't care for the way he used his deep announcer voice to drag out the last syllable of many words. It sounded like "Wells Fargoooo" and "pinata dot commmm." As the Trader Joe's float passed by, Bob said, "I'm always amazed how these designers come up with these new ideas year after year after year." Of course he is. He can barely come up with new sentences year after year. I got a strong feeling of déjà vu while Bob was talking about the equestrian units.

Every time I flipped over to ABC, I heard the announcers remind each other that every part of the floats are covered with organic material. Yeah, we get it. Other than that, their coverage was pretty good. They had a decent camera position and their HD broadcast looked fine. NBC's picture looked nice too. I liked their coverage better last year when Billy Bush filled in for Al Roker.

The best of all the broadcasts turned out to be on HGTV. They had the first camera position along the parade route. Their picture quality was superior. I heard surround sound and stereo separation as the marching bands played. The announcing team of Robb Weller, Paul James and Jann Carl did a good job, without being annoying. My one frustration with HGTV was when they put the marching bands into a small box while most of the screen was filled with a promo for an upcoming show. The band sound was turned down during the promo too, which was a waste of their excellent microphone placement. If they need to run their promos again next year, they should only air them when an equestrian unit passes by.

Did you watch the parade? On which channel? Did you see the City of Burbank float? Isn't Emeril Lagasse starting to look like Jackie Gleason? Aren't you glad the Stanley Cup was exempt from being covered in organic material? Did you see any of that outdoor hockey game in Buffalo today? Oh c'mon. I know you were watching the Vols. I recorded the parade so I could flip over to the game.

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4 Comments:

Blogger Monica said...

No I did NOT watch the Vols play I watched the NHL play outside, GREAT game! Pittsburgh is doing Great this season.

1/03/2008  
Blogger Monica said...

Did you watch the parade? Sorry, no, I usually do, but missed it this year.
Isn't Emeril Lagasse starting to look like Jackie Gleason? Big fat YES to this one!
Aren't you glad the Stanley Cup was exempt from being covered in organic material? Had it been that just would have been sacrilege!
Did you see any of that outdoor hockey game in Buffalo today? Of course, only thing I watched today, best thing one. Oh c'mon. I know you were watching the Vols.-nope never watch the Vols, biggest waste of airtime ever, college sports are overrated.

1/03/2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

yeah, the outdoor hockey game was great. I hope they continue that tradition next year. I just wonder how hard it would be to set up an outdoor Ice Bears hockey game. Maybe on the north lawn of World's Fair park. Lord knows they'd never let 'em do it at Neyland...unless Kenny Chesney was somehow involved.

1/05/2008  
Blogger Monica said...

It would be awfully hard to set up an outdoor Ice Bears game with this freaky East TN weather...can you believe 65 today??? I want snow! It would be great but the weather here is way to unpredictable, at least in Buffalo they know it's going to get cold and stay cold. :)
Heck if Fulmer, Summit or Pearl asked them they might do it. Or if Dolly Parton got involved even.

1/07/2008  

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