Channeling Inappropriate Content
Posted on | September 11, 2009 at 7:07 am | 4 Comments
I’m taking a break from my very exciting CD Archiving series to bring you this special Pet Peeve of the Day: The television sets at the local fitness center that I frequent.
First of all, on any given day, a few of them will be off/out of order. Currently 2 of out 10 are completely dead. One TV is working, but has blotchy black edges around the picture, like Shadow Creatures are attempting to possess it. Every day, they devour a little more of the screen from the outside-in. It totally freaks me out.
Some of the sets have closed captioning on and some don’t. I’m assuming very few people actually plug their headphones into the jacks on the treadmills, ellipticals, cycles, etc and listen to the TVs. I think most people are like me and they listen to their MP3 players while occasionally glancing at the sets. Therefore, CC should be on for most, if not all, of the sets. With my luck, CC is on only for the sets furthest away, which I can’t read very well when on the treadmills without my glasses. I prefer not to wear my progressive lens glasses at the gym, since they get covered with sweat and I can’t see through them anyway. (BTW, I’ve totally grown used to the glasses and wear them at all other times, even when on the computer.)
Then there’s the content. Lately, some of the TVs at the gym have been set to the Food Network. This seems overly sadistic to me. Are they thinking that by getting people to crave food after a workout, they’re more likely to keep coming to the gym and pay those membership fees? Like I really want to see someone rolling dough while I’m huffing along at 7mph on the treadmill.
Sometimes some TVs are set to infomercial channels. Or at least to channels that show infomercials during the time I go to the gym (the Food Network does this sometimes in the early morning). That is unacceptable. Even if I were interested in the product, how am I going to remember the phone number or URL by the time I get home? Man, I could really use that weed whacker that uses the special double helix fishing line.
What’s especially weird is when the infomercials showing are for fitness products that could conceivably cause someone to stop going to the gym. When I see one of those, then I know the gym doesn’t have a plan like I thought with the Food Network thing. If I go home and send for the Become Totally Ripped At Home In 90 Days With No Exercise Equipment And Eat All You Want DVD, then what use would I have for the gym?
Also, they almost always seem to have a couple of the televisions set to the NFL Network, even when it’s not football season. Does 24-Hour Fitness have some sort of arrangement with the NFL Network that requires them to constantly show it? Do I really need to see some Titans/Ravens game from last year while I’m sweating it out?
At least they’ve stopped setting the TVs to channels that show scripted dramas such as Law & Order reruns. Those are pretty useless when working out, since chances are you’re not going to see the whole thing and won’t know how it turns out.
Ideally, the channels should be set to “small digestive bites” networks. I like when some are set to a local station for the local news and some are set to a national news channel like CNN. I am also willing to put up with ESPN, since that seems logical for people working out. And some days, they do have the televisions set up that way, like this morning. But that’s becoming increasingly rare.
Of course, the best bet would be setting them all to The Erotic Network. That I could go for.
Latre.
Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “i’m not the one you were looking for home and away”.
Videogame(s) Played Since Last Blog Update: None
Comments
4 Responses to “Channeling Inappropriate Content”
September 11th, 2009 @ 5:38 pm
The Erotic Network, eh? Wouldn’t that, perhaps, distract people from the working out they’re supposed to be doing?
Then again, it could be used motivationally: stop the scene dead until you’ve reached a goal…
September 11th, 2009 @ 9:15 pm
Diggin’ the new FlasshePoint theme.
I may need to investigate the progressives. Sometimes I can’t read something on the iPhone without a little arm-length adjustment (hand distance from eyes, not bone surgery). Especially after a long day of computing.
I miss the 24HF in Fort Collins with the TVs on each machine. I actually plugged in and listened to the audio.
September 12th, 2009 @ 5:16 am
Don’t you have access to the remote?
I hit the gym at 5:00 2-3 days/week and immediately set adjacent TVs to MSNBC and ESPN (after looking around to ascertain no one’s actively watching what I’m switching away from, our of politeness). Both those stations are usually on anyway. Gotta catch my simultaneous Hardball and Around the Horn.
September 12th, 2009 @ 10:01 am
Access to the remote? Ha ha ha!
Strangely enough, this morning there were TVs set to MSNBC (first time I’ve ever seen that) and ESPN. Did you come over here and do that? Initially, the other TVs were set to FUEL, but someone came to their senses and switched it to the local news.