Why do British television programs look different than American programs?
I’d also wager that the vastly different cultures have contributed to vastly different directorial techniques and art design. Plus it has been my experience that almost every US show gets about 10 coats of gloss put onto every frame to ensure that it is as appealing to advertisers as possible whereas many British shows, especially those put out by the BBC, don’t have that same level of commercial pressure expected upon them.
American TV does have an incredibly different mentality – quite apart from the whole VT/film thing, there’s completely different lighting, a general spending of more money on everything, and more gloss and sheen everywhere. One thing that really annoys me about American TV is the constant, constant sound backing track – you never let anything lie silent, there’s always some low mood-music there. In some shows it’s just unbearable – just try to watch something like Desperate Housewives or Ugly Betty (not that you’d want to anyway, but you know) with all that plink-plink-plonk-plonk-plunk going on.
