The "teaser" is a staple in TV today. It's been around for some time, but now local TV news stations are refining the tease. What is a teaser? Typically a teaser consists of auditory or visual information, or both, providing the viewer a glimpse of what he or she can expect as programing continues. as in, "Coming up in our next segment will be".... followed by a brief glimpse of what is promised if the viewer stays tuned to the broadcast. It hints but doesn't show anything and it frustrates the viewer because he or she would rather hear the news than be teased about it.
The news broadcast may begin a newscast with a tease for an upcoming story, then shift the focus: "But first, we bring you our top story..." Details when we return. But first, we bring you our top story." Teasers can be vague to make the viewer wonder and stay tuned or they may be overt, in which the audience stays tuned because it is made to feel there is something too important to miss. Usually, the more teasers in a news broadcast the less competent and informative is the station. Good local news shows have fewer teasers because they spend more time on serious news and, thus, do not need to tease to keep their audience.
Every American city has plenty of TV stations using the tease. Portland has many more than New Orleans, and its so frustrating here that no station has a clear lead in audience size. That's because when all stations tease they all begin to look and sound alike. They become interchangeable as to quality presented. So it then comes down to some crazy reason why the viewer picks on news cast over another, not because one station gives a better presentation than the others. I prefer a certain station news broadcast here in Portland because it has two of the prettiest and sexiest weather girls on TV. Huh If I am not going to get a quality TV news presentation on any of the stations, then I might as well take the sexist road and watch the station with the hottest babes.
According to a recent University of Southern California media study, a composite half-hour of LA local TV news contains 8:25 of ads; 2:10 of teasers; 3:36 of sports and weather; and 15:44 for everything else. That's a lot of fluff and way too many teasers. Only about half of a half-hour of news is news. And of that half much of it is entertainment related rather than factual news that the viewer should know. So teasers sometimes tease us to wait for what is nothing more than frivolous news. It used to be we were teased about important news stories. Now it may be something so trivial that the viewer turns angry when he or she sees that they have been tricked into staying up late at night to hear the next reality show gossip.
The old joke about the broadcaster reading "The U.S. is under a nuclear attack...details on our second segment" seems almost too real now to laugh too loudly. Oh...since I have to watch teasers when I try to learn news events on TV. you get a teaser from me today. "My E mails may have already caused you severe brain damage. Open your mailbox next Friday to see if you can be saved".
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