Not a huge fan of Sami Gayle (Nicki). I realize she's a youngster, but she always strikes me as someone who is trying to act older than she or her character is. Maybe it's the snarky look she always has. I usually dread it when she has a story line and always pray they don't give her any lines during the dinner scenes.

All of the other actors I enjoy, however.

I will record the next "live" Blue Bloods broadcast and compare it to the "on demand" and give you my opinion concerning its effects on the surround information. I know nothing of the compressor CBS uses except to say that when the program material has a quiet pause, especially when the dialog is silent, the compressor begins to "ramp up" and raise the overall level of the mix. This results in low level sounds (room tone, low level foley such as clothing rustle, footsteps, distant quiet backgrounds such as city ambience through a closed window or voices and activities in adjoining rooms) becoming annoyingly loud. The moment the dialog returns, the compressor instantly yanks down the levels of those sounds to their proper levels .... only to begin to raise them again the moment there is a pause in dialog or primary sound effects. This "pumping" of ambient sounds is result of the compressor. Its use is prevalent on certain distribution channels, most notably on broadcast television.

If no one on the thread objects I will respond here, or I can respond to you personally.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Hi, and thanks for the response. We are definitely talking about the same thing. I notice that pumping effect of ambient sound most in the surround channels. Sometimes, even when there is dialogue, the "ambient" sound is annoyingly loud, but I have also been aware that it increases whenever there is the least interlude. It's as if the sound mixers (or producers) can't trust the audience to remain engaged unless there is constant audio stimulation. Although I haven't watched the show in some time, I remember Hawaii 5-0 being particularly bad about that.

I hope no one else minds this slightly off-topic discussion, but I think that the audio can be an important part of the show.

Happy Thanksgiving!

That's likely the fault of your local affiliate. They get lossless audio from the high bitrate network feed and then do whatever they want to it. Some sound "engineer" can decide that he needs to mirror the center channel into the L&R, or compress it, or mess with the bass or who knows what all. The audio in the On Demand isn't mangled by your local affiliate and is probably virtually identical to the network feed except for the compression being lossy.

Hi,

That's interesting information, thanks. It really never occurred to me that a sound engineer (or whatever ) at a local affiliate would be messing with the soundtrack of a network program. If you say that they do, I believe you, but why would they? What would be the point, other than because they can?

I always thought that it had more to do with the original mix, since higher budget TV shows such as GOT, or Strike Back, for instance have virtually (or literally) high dollar movie quality soundtracks. Even shows on TNT, such as Major Crimes, have better quality soundtracks, although not as good as the really big budget ones. I just assumed that network shows from CBS, etc. didn't have the budget for as careful and independent sound mixing, and were more formulistic in their approach. Pumping up the ambient sound sort of randomly, for instance. Of course, compression is another issue, and probably also depends, to some extent, on the provider. Mine is DirecTV, FWIW, for this discussion.

Do you have any idea why local affiliates futz with network soundtracks from a mixing standpoint?

Regards,
Mike

I suspect it's because they don't really know what they're doing. Someone who doesn't really know what their doing is probably listening to it on an improper setup and concludes that something in the network feed isn't to their tastes/right so they make changes in their audio processor(s). It's also possible they treat the audio the same way they do their live studio audio or local origin audio, who really knows.

Hanlon's razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

I think it's being called a teenager.

I'm not sure why but local affiliates messing with the audio is something I've read about for quite some time, probably since the advent of digital TV and maybe before that.
FWIW I believe CBS seems to be one of the worst offenders, in fact it was either here on AVS or or some other forum where they had a specific thread about CBS and it's poor audio quality, maybe someone else remembers.

Ha, yeah that's possible. But I've never really had a problem with other teen actors, just this one for some reason.

Hi,

I know what you mean about her character, although I think that they have been letting her evolve a little more this year. FWIW, I think that part of the show's premise has been to introduce liberal/conservative conflict within the Regan family with Nicky, her mother, and sometimes Jamie, representing the more liberal point of view. I'm sure that a lot of adults have found "earnest" teenagers annoying at times. Of course, none of us was ever like that.

Regards,
Mike

This is not the first show to play the liberal/conservative stand off. Best one of all was the Michael J. Fox show Family Ties with him in tie, vest and coat, it was a comedy were Blue Bloods is any thing but.

The storyline of this week's show certainly felt "different" from previous shows, IMO. For lack of a better term, it seemed to be more "family oriented"--not so much of a cop procedural show as it is usually. Danny spent all of the show at home with the wife and kids. Frank was worrying about a book that would show his past. Erin had a slight twist to her usual law-proceding story line. Only Jamie seemed to keep to the police line of a story. Even at that, it was more of an interaction with Eddie rather than real police work. In all, I liked it this one time-just to have a different point of view for the show. The writers seemed to have been given free reign to investigate new territory for the characters.

Just my viewpoint, FWIW.

I like the guy who works with Erin. Still waiting to see more of Baker though - hardly even the usual glimpse this week.

Not bad for a former Soprano mob capo and underboss.

I thought it was nice to show that Erin works with other people, rather than appearing to do all her work by herself.

As to Baker--I concur that she REALLY got short-shrift this week. They gave a glancing view of her through the closing door. As I've said before-I think they are wasting a good talent.

Yes Erin usually interacts only with the family or occasionally a witness so nice to see a different perspective. That guy is kind of like a Fusco on Prozac.

The sad thing about Baker was having her be the object of several lines of dialog and yet not visible. At this rate she'll end up like Maris Crane...

Since Treat Williams was referring to Baker, it would have made sense to show him talking to her or vice versa. Even if only for two or three lines, it would have fleshed out that part of the story line. Once again-they are wasting her character, IMO.

Good episode. I liked it.

I also don't get what they're doing with Danny - earlier in the season he was a maniac, now he's a regular Bill Cosby, er, make that Ozzie Nelson...

That pig Treat Williams spoke out loud what many viewers were thinking re:Baker.

I'd like to see a closer relationship between Frank and Baker. Nothing inappropriate, it just seems unnatural to me that people in their positions would observe such rigid professionalism with each other after years of working together in a high-pressure environment. She's obviously fiercely loyal to him - it would be nice to see a situation where that comes into play in some way...

The only thing stopping Eddie from moving to detective in the story line is the attraction to Jamie, "the only thing I would miss is hanging out with YOU". Wonder where the story goes from here.

The Eddie-Jamie thing has been going on for a long time. They should move it forward as they obviously have feelings for each other

I don't think they could continue as partners if the relationship goes too far, and that's the only way she can remain a regular character. They already have trouble finding plausible ways to give Linda her minimal screen time.

At least now they've presented a rationale for Jamie's lack of advancement - he likes stopping bad things from happening better than mopping up after they happen.

It is getting to the point where things need to start changing. Aside from the kids growing up, everyone in S6 is still exactly where they were in S1...

This will fix it.

Jamie moves into the DA's office as an ADA working with his sister, and Eddie goes to work as investigator with the DA. Keeps them together and opens up the sexual tension that they are so good at trying to hide from each other and everyone else for the ride together. Heck then the can pull up another seat at the Sunday dinner and close the show with a new high chair next to Frank. NY needs a new Commissioner anyway.

True, but I don't think Danny is quite ready to take over yet...

I think it is nice to have opposite sex relationships that do not progress to love.
SVU Benson and Stabler. Respect but no kissing. Much like the way I worked with hundreds of women over the years and only married one.

Yes it's a welcome change from the usual fare. On most any other show Danny would have had at least one affair by now. Anyway more complex relationships like Tony and Ziva on NCIS are much more interesting - though there were some hints of ambiguity on that Paris assignment...

Who said anything about Danny? It's time they had a women as top cop/commissioner.

Frank inherited PC from his father so Danny should be the next heir-apparent, no?