The Small Screen Gets Busy

And to think we viewers used to complain about the clutter coming at us during commercial breaks. TV actually may have taken that gripe to heart: Clutter levels decreased in prime time and other periods last fall, says the American Assn. of Advertising Agencies, reversing a long upward trend in nonprogram minutes during network programs. ABC aired less prime-time clutter--ads, promos, program billboards, station IDs--for the first time since November 1992.

But now we’re faced with a new and more insidious kind of clutter--during program content. Used to be if you were watching, say, “JAG,” you were watching “JAG,” period. These days, amid the action of CBS’ military drama, you might also see fall promos for “The Amazing Race” or Ellen DeGeneres’ new show popping up in screen corners. And during USA Network’s “JAG” cable repeats, a neon lime-green banner could well flip into view, blaring “U.S. Open on USA Next Monday.”

Don’t even get us started on the visual hodgepodge of CNBC or MSNBC. “Saturday Night Live” already has spoofed these info channels’ crazy quilts of stock stats, graphics, charts and logos, as sketch characters struggle to peer from behind all the clutter.

This trend’s roots trace back to the early 1990s and ID bugs, those superimposed translucent network logos. As cable channels mushroomed, channel surfers couldn’t get their bearings. MTV wanted to identify itself as distinct from VH1, and TLC from Discovery, and USA from Lifetime.

Dancing Bugs Lead to Squished Credits

The occasional bug became increasingly permanent as channel flipping evolved into its own program genre, with tubeheads keeping track of two, three, seven channels simultaneously. ID bugs also started taking on bright colors and/or dancing, flipping, swooping and spinning (like Discovery Channel’s revolving Earth).

The next victim was series’ end credits. These started getting squeezed sideways. Local affiliates initially did it to segue directly into their late news following a 10 p.m. network series. Then the networks began split-screening to tout late-night guests and future programs out of hits such as “Friends” or “ER.”

Finally, the inevitable. With viewers getting conditioned to continual graphics from sportscasts, shopping channels, “Pop-Up Video” and onscreen digital TV listings, actual program content would have to come under assault. ABC infamously introduced a “weather warning” crawl during some sitcoms a couple of seasons back to promote the Stephen King miniseries “Storm of the Century.” The network instead provoked panic over the supposed blizzard.

By now, promos have blanketed the entire tube. As Nazis threatened Jews during a recent “History vs. Hollywood” study of “The Diary of Anne Frank,” the History Channel blithely splashed the black-and-white tragedy with a flaming gold explosion that morphed into a channel logo hyping its upcoming “Gold!” miniseries. And things will only get worse. By last week, rumor around the industry was that UPN will consider selling its ID bug space to advertisers.

So this summer seems to have marked the critical-mass breakout of in-show clutter. “What we’re seeing now at the bottom of the screens may be cute and clever, because in summer you’ve got repeats on, and there’s a new season coming up that they go full-blast to promote. But once the fall season hits, they’ve got to tone it down a bit,” says media analyst Marc Berman. He finds it “very obtrusive” when a ship sails across the bottom of a Fox show to promote the fall series “Love Cruise.” Yet Berman, who used to work in TV and now writes for MediaWeek Online, doesn’t bet the situation will improve. “Because the economy is so bad, they need every possible way to squeeze revenue out of something. It’s like do or die now, and the name of the game is getting people to watch your shows.”

But if viewers do, what will they find? Yet more visual clutter. It’s actually a creative element in fall shows, such as “The Bernie Mac Show.” That new Fox sitcom conveys its star’s thoughts with narration to make the comedy “confessional,” executive producer Larry Wilmore says. He also decided to copy “the way ‘The Real World’ writes on the screen to identify people, places and things. I thought those are really great vehicles to get out exposition, things you don’t have to put in dialogue.”

“Maybe It’s Me,” part of the WB’s Friday family sitcom block, uses pop-up bubble commentary and onscreen arrows identifying things in its teen heroine’s universe. Creator Suzanne Martin was watching the graphics-laden game “Blind Date” when she thought, “‘You know, somebody ought to do that on a sitcom.’ So I actually did kind of throw in the kitchen sink in the pilot.” Executive producer Jay Daniel says: “Younger viewers have grown up on MTV and music videos, and they process information much quicker. Some of these elements can enhance their enjoyment of the show.”

Or of an entire channel. CNBC and MSNBC look sparse next to Bloomberg’s text-heavy proprietary financial coverage, and now comes the Bloomberg-ization of consumer TV. The new format of CNN’s “Headline News,” launched Aug. 6, has reduced the anchor talking heads to the tube’s upper right corner. The rest of the screen is crammed with visual elements.

Emulating the Internet’s Numerous Choices

Another swarming visual style is being adopted Sept. 7 by cable’s less ubiquitous ESPNews (in 23 million homes). Its continuous sports reports will add detailed stats and text of ESPN.com online chats--hitting the clutter nail squarely on the head of its cyberspace inspiration.

“On the Internet now, you have tons of choices,” says ESPNews senior coordinating producer Mike McQuade. “We’ve streamlined that process for viewers, giving them many choices, yet at the same token, making it television-friendly.”

“Younger people involved in the computer today are so used to seeing lots of information on a screen,” says “Headline News” General Manager Teya Ryan. They want, she says, “information in fast doses.” Adds new CNN News Group Chairman Walter Isaacson, “In this day and age, you need information at the speed of your life, and you need to absorb [only] some of it.” Focusing on just one thing, it seems, is so 20th century. Today’s young consumers multitask all day, from checking morning e-mail over their pagers to surfing 100 channels at night.

And to think we used to complain about the clutter level in 2001....

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Werts is a reporter for Newsday, a Tribune company.