In This Section
TV Guide Spotlight
Also on TVGuide.com
|
« Cheers & Jeers
Reader's Jeer of the Week: Lost Signal?
Posted by nomadd8....
Jeers to Lost for committing the oldest blooper in the book. Why do we hear a dial tone on Michael's cell phone after he hangs up with Tom when every halfway intelligent person knows that there is no dial tone on a cell phone after the call is disconnected? It's quite insulting for a show that claims to be so clever to try to run something like that past its fans.
• For more Cheers & Jeers, check out the new vodcast.
• Share your own raves and rants about other shows on the Reader Cheers & Jeers discussion board.
• We may feature your Cheer or Jeer on TVGuide.com or in TV Guide magazine!
|
TVGuide Links:
|
|
|
|
Mar 28, 2008 3:50 PM
|
|
Obviously this is a case where the jeerer knows less than the show. That phone Jack is holding is NOT a cell phone. It is a satellite phone, most/many of which DO produce dial tones. So next time get your facts straight.
|
|
Mar 28, 2008 4:31 PM
|
|
Yea - just what askmike1 said!
|
|
Mar 28, 2008 4:40 PM
|
|
They are talking about a scene involving Michael and Tom, not the scene with Jack in the picture. Then again, I don't remember which scene they are talking about so it could still be that the dial tone was correctly used. Either way, this jeer is pathetic.
|
|
Mar 28, 2008 4:48 PM
|
Obviously this is a case where the jeerer knows less than the show. That phone Jack is holding is NOT a cell phone. It is a satellite phone, most/many of which DO produce dial tones. So next time get your facts straight.
Bruce said Michael's cell phone. Did he have a satellite phone too?
|
|
Mar 28, 2008 4:49 PM
|
|
The reporter is talking about Michael, not Jack (pictured here).
|
|
Mar 28, 2008 4:49 PM
|
Dumbest 'Jeer' ever.... 
|
|
Mar 28, 2008 6:35 PM
|
I don't know why you guys are disagreeing with this Jeer. I also don't know why TV Guide chose to put a picture of Jack on a sat phone next to a jeer about Michael on a cell phone. That's where the confusion is coming from.
The scene he's referring to is in the Meet Kevin Johnson episode, when Michael is talking to Tom after boarding the freighter. Tom tells him to dump the cell phone and hangs up. There is a dial tone, and Michael shuts the phone and throws it overboard.
Obviously there should not be a dial tone. Cell phones don't have dial tones.
This is a common blooper. They will show someone leaving a voice mail on a cell phone, or checking cell phone messages, and there will be a *beeeeep* like on an answering machine between messages. Cell phone voice mail doesn't do that. It's a signal to the audience, "They hung up the phone", or "They're listening to messages" but it's a nonsensical way to go about it.
|
|
Mar 28, 2008 8:09 PM
|
|
If this is the biggest jeer this season for Lost then it is doing something right. It's been amazing so far. So why not let the nitpickers nitpick something?
|
|
Mar 28, 2008 8:15 PM
|
|
I work in radio, so I understand why they do it on TV shows (on many shows - definitely not just LOST). In radio we call it theater of the mind, but the same principle applies. They are just using a sound familiar to the audience to communicate something. I imagine in a few more years the practice will stop because people just won't be as familiar with the sound. For example, for a long time every time I produced something referencing my stations website, I'd use the old modem sound (you know, bleeps, static, etc). I finally stopped about a year ago - after all, who uses modems anymore and with my stations younger target audience, they probably don't even have any familiarity with the sound! So I understand where they are coming from - but it can sure sound silly if anyone stops and thinks about it (like in the Jeer...)
|
|
Mar 28, 2008 10:21 PM
|
|
I can not believe TV Guide chose to post this Jeer. Does something as trivial and unimportant as a dial tone truly affect a person's viewing and understanding of the episode? Does it really affect how much you like or dislike the show? This Jeer sounds like someone who can't stand the show watched and is trying to find flaws within it.
|
|
Mar 29, 2008 1:12 AM
|
|
As a telecommunications worker, dial tones on cell phones on tv is one of my biggest pet peeves. It takes me completely out of the story.
|
|
Mar 29, 2008 10:56 AM
|
|
They use the tone so blind people who listen to the show know the call was ended.
|
|
Mar 29, 2008 6:26 PM
|
|
another "who cares" moment for me. Was looking for some sort of a scoop on one of my favorite shows, but reading that jeer I said SO WHAT!! BUT like the radioman above, maybe purists would get bothered by this. Me, I never even thought of it nor realized it was a "couldn't have happened" moment, because it was a small, insignificant moment in an otherwise great show. So WHO CARES!
|
|
Mar 30, 2008 10:44 AM
|
|
Sorry for any confusion; the Jack photo has been removed.
|
|
Mar 30, 2008 1:41 PM
|
|
|
