It's the fluff that makes it special.

"Well, to be honest, it just didn't make it for me. It's just so much fluff."

Marlene to Jerry in "The Ex-Girlfriend"

It is fluff.

Anyone with a widescreen TV or widescreen computer monitor [raising hand] is getting "so much fluff" when they look at an image on the screen. That's the thought that occurred to me as I was watching the MLB Network yesterday. My mind wanders at times.

The image at the top is the widescreen version of The MLB Network. The one directly below it is the "regular def" version, formatted for square CRTs. Since most of the TV watching population still has the square TV screen, it wouldn't make sense for producers to format their shot for the widescreen TV. In this case, the young lady on the left and the man on the right would be either cut in half or eliminated altogether.

The same is true of the network shows you watch, like The Office or CSI Miami that are filmed in widescreen Hi-Def. Sure, it's widescreen, but the fluff on the sides is just that - fluff. They can't shoot those shows in true widescreen (like a movie) because large numbers of viewers would be left wondering who is talking at stage right.

So, that widescreen TV or computer monitor we bought is really only good for movies and other things that are made to be seen on the wide screen. We're ahead of the curve so far that the road hasn't even started to curve yet.

As for me, I'm feeling a little cheated by the fluff on the sides, since the money I paid for the TV is pretty much just allowing me to see scenery and not content. it's nice for movies, but I used to watch the letterbox version on the big square tube, so I'm really only seeing it about 6 inches wider and no higher. My 37-inch LCD TV is just about the same height as the old 32-inch CRT that I got rid of to upgrade to hi-def. OK, so it's hi-def. That's nice, but what am I getting? Clearer and sharper sides of the screen that contain ... nothing.

That's your thought to chew on for today.