Later, on tonights episode.....

harney

My girlfriend laughs at my hatred of this, but it really irritates me!

Why do shows have to basically give you the highlights of what is going to be on the episode right at the start. For me it takes away from the surprise element of what ever show I am about to watch.

Do people out there like to know what is about to happen on what ever show they are about to watch, or is it annoying to them?

As luck would have it I can't think of an example right now, although through the fog of time I think Dallas and maybe The A-Team used to do it. Btw, I am talking about fictional shows rather than factual shows.

Lovely Bloke

Yes, it's hateful.

Also hateful are these "previously on Stations Name's "Show That You Are Watching, and it's the middle of the season, so you aren't likely to be jumping in in the middle of a story but we think you're an idiot" - then they show you some random scene from eight season previous where some minor character said something of no consequence, but you KNOW that character is about to pop up in a really, really important scene, so you better be paying attention ok, OK, OKAY!!!

Stop spoiling my shows!

Skerries

Battlestar Galactica was the biggest culprit
I used to close my eyes until the dramatic music was over

December2012

LOST also did this. Sawyers really connected to who??????

CastorTroy

If it was recaps, then you'd hate WWE where they could have something happen, show a replay, go to ad break, come back and show the same thing from "moments ago" then later again in the night have "earlier tonight".

But I don't think the precaps happen these days, do they? I would find them as annoying as trailers where you see something happen with a character who supposedly dies during the episode, but then you remember the scene he was shown in hadn't happened yet so you know he'll be back.

As for Lost, did they do precaps, or was that just RTE trailers which I always remember for giving away the line

Charlie, you're going to die

from the end of the upcoming episode

ejmaztec

What annoys me to the point of almost bouncing the TV set off the wall is when they decide to show "bits" of the next episode at the end, most of which give the game away. As soon as this appears, I have to flick the remote and don't even watch the credits.

The Beeb seems to be the main culprit in this.:mad:

CastorTroy

I remember once watching a repeat of the latest episode of a series, again I think was on RTE, and during the last ad break they shows the trailer for the next episode which took away from the cliffhanger the episode ended in.
"Will he survive?" "Yes because you already showed him alive in next week's episode"

Banjo

Dallas definitely started doing this toward the end - my wife is rewatching the series and I'm pretty sure I didn't really notice it until about 1988/89. It's great fun though, because if you don't know whether they're doing a Previously On... or a Tonight On... and you missed the last couple of episodes it feels like you're watching Looper

Unrelated note - how come we all remember JR getting shot and the deceased Bobby coming out of the shower, but not that time Bobby dressed up as a member of Delta force and took on an entire mercenary platoon that was camped on a neighbouring ranch using only a single pistol and a block of C4?

I have no problem with the "Previously, on AMC's <fill in the name of a pretty good show here>" as a couple of times I've jumped onto a series having missed the first couple of episodes (Hell on Wheels, Dexter, Dollhouse) and it does help. I can see the point - if you make a series completely inaccessible to those who weren't there on day one, you're cutting off a huge chunk of your audience. I guess as we move towards universal adoption of On Demand services, it's going to become redundant.