Lights, Camera, Cut

Why has 'cut' replaced 'action' in the famous 'Lights, camera, action' studio line? Television seems to have an illness, and blood is oozing from the cuts

For me it started with Relocation Relocation. Kirsty and Phil's comments were cut and highlighted throughout the opening and first segment of every programme. The 'best bits' (no not those) were shown in advance like some kind of rolling trailors. The result is that you end up seeing the best bits so often that you sign with boredom and they become the worst. They're supposed to entice you into staying through the ad breaks and not switching channels. If it weren't for the fact that the ads are so good, I'd switch everytime. Either over or off. The trailors are wagging the tractors and showing them up to be, well, slow and ordinary.

X Factor is a major culprit of this television technique and I even noticed it on Dragon's Den this week. Whatever happened to suspense? Are the programme makers so unsure of their products or their abilities that they have to resort to desperate hooks? Like fishermen worried about the size of their rods? Or are they assuming a sub-intelligent species of television viewer? Do they think that constantly reinforcing the dramatic highlights will satisfy the lowlife?

Commercials used to be like this, where the brand and packaging were displayed and named constantly throughout the 30 seconds. It worked, as it has always done, but selling learned the lessons of entertainment. Perhaps entertainment needs to learn some lessons about selling?