Gather round children for I am going to tell you about the Good Old Days of Television.

Once upon a time, television was a truly wonderful thing. Even though there were no high-definition televisions and there was occasionally the odd patch of static, the picture was basically clear and nothing interfered with watching whatever was on. Well, except of course for Moms telling their children to “go outside and play”. (Yes, outside, children. … Oh, don’t cry, children – we really didn’t mind going outside.)

What do I mean that nothing interfered with watching what was on? Oh, that’s simple, children. I mean that the television stations didn’t add anything to the pictures like station logos or mini-ads.

No, not even a simple station logo, children.

For example, if I was watching Outsourced on Global in The Good Old Days, the only thing that would have been on the screen was Outsourced and nothing else. No discrete, semi-transparent Global TV logo in the corner and definitely no banners at the bottom of the screen advertising the upcoming show that are positioned in such a way as to obscure the subtitles that are occasionally used in the show.

Like happened in yesterday evening’s broadcast of Outsourced. Dammit! (Oops… sorry, children – I meant to say “darn it”. You shouldn’t swear, children.)

These banner ads are getting out of control. With the advent of HDTV, they seem to have become more intrusive, even in non-16:9 format shows. And lately, I’ve noticed that some of the annoying animated banners are being accompanied by sound that is mixed into the soundtrack of the shows. Both incredibly annoying and completely unnecessary.

Fortunately, they aren’t there all the time, but it seems rare these days when there’s not something being superimposed on the shows.

Sometimes I long for the Good Old Days, children.