This week’s whine has been bugging me for a long time. So long, in fact, that I have already whined about it once before. But this isn’t a rerun post. Instead, it’s an expansion on the fact that I am increasingly annoyed by…

Television Previews that Reveal Too Much

I can no longer escape them. As much as I try to avoid watching the “Next time on…” previews at the end of TV shows as to not spoil what plot lines or characters will show up in the next episode, they defy me, finding their way into my head when I least expect it.

I have two additional examples to add on top of my last post about this subject:

First, it appears that there now exists a trend for TV producers to think their audiences are so uninterested by what they’re watching that they need a summary of the entire episode within its first 30 seconds, revealing nearly everything that is about to happen, short of the actual ending.

This season, The Amazing Race has started adding “This week on The Amazing Race…” to the beginning of each episode, showing, in brief, many (or all) of the tasks, conflicts, and problems that are going to happen within the 60-minute show. I tune in to The Amazing Race to see great sights from around the world and to be surprised by what happens during the race. Take away that element of surprise and I’m left with just another travel show.

Similarly, on tonight’s Mythbusters season premiere (which I’m watching while typing this post), the first 30-60 seconds were devoted to showing nearly every crash and explosion that is going to happen over the next two hours. Kinda ruins the suspense.

Second, TV plot lines are now being spoiled not only on TV but also in print. I’m not referring to spoiler-filled Web sites, which are fairly easily avoided. Instead, Entertainment Weekly is including entirely too many details about what will happen in upcoming TV episodes. Worse yet, these details are included in the TV schedule section of the magazine. So if you’re simply trying to find out what’s coming on TV this week, you may inadvertently read something about your favorite show that you really didn’t want to know until you actually saw the episode. Very frustrating.

In general, I can understand needing to include enough exciting footage and plot elements in a movie trailer to make someone want to see a movie. But is it really necessary for an episodic TV show? Can’t an overall plot just be given rather than an episode-by-episode rundown? If you compare a television show season to a feature-length movie, isn’t revealing the plot of each individual episode similar to revealing what happens every 10 minutes in a film?

Attention TV producers: Enough with the spoiling previews. If your show is good enough to watch more than once, your audience will return. You don’t need to try to trick us into watching another episode by showing all of the best parts in advance. Thanks.