First, the SD stretch: rather than pillar-boxing non-widescreen programming like Just Shoot Me, they stretch the shit out to fill the full frame. But unlike SD signals which most TVs (and devices like TiVo) can manipulate (zoom, pillar-box), these HD signals can’t be manipulated (yes, I know some TVs can, but not all or many) leaving you with a shit picture. Plenty of other HD channels air similar re-runs and pillar-box, why is Turner such a lazy fuck? They have some notice on their website about their policy, which might have made sense seven years ago when HD was less common, but nowadays this is a joke.

Second, the HD stretch: rather than broadcasting the HD version that is readily available, they show an SD version of a widescreen show with some unknown aspect ratio. The most criminal example (no pun intended) is Bones on TNT. Here’s a show that has been in HD since day one, on a network that shows even non-widescreen episodes of Law & Order in full HD, broadcasting a stretched, washed-out SD version. Las Vegas, a show also in HD from the beginning and no longer making new episodes looks as beautiful as I remember the first-run airings. Why the fuck is Bones stretched to shit? It is completely unwatchable, as are re-runs of Angel which was in HD starting in season two. They had some fuck-ups with some early episodes of CSI: New York but seem to have worked those out, what’s the deal TNT, there are out-of-work technicians that could fix that shit (if it really needs fixing rather than just picking the correct source).

I guess all we can do is bitch, they’ve been doing this for years and even acknowledge the horrible decision as one made consciously. Fix this shit now! Oh, and HD stations showing re-runs of HD-from-the-beginning shows like Law & Order Criminal Intent that show the non-widescreen versions: fuck you, too!