Sound Replacement
I have a long-standing bitch/confession session to unleash: I hate voiceover, the technique of recording and lip-syncing professional voice talent to match the mouth movements of beautiful - yet harsh sounding - actors and actresses. In the past, maybe the sound person on the set of a commercial shoot wasn't on his/her game, or maybe the actor or actress smoked too much and had a shitty voice. Clearly, there has always been a niche for the voiceover sound replacement.
Nowadays (I don't care if "nowadays" isn't a real word), you can't find a TV commercial without voiceovers. YOU CAN'T FIND ONE! WATCH! All TV commercial actors and actresses are chosen specifically for their looks or "acting" ability, and video is shot with the clear intention of having their voices replaced by not-so-beautiful people with beautiful voices.
Before I decided that pro sound work was not for me, I spent a couple years working in a pro studio doing stuff like this. There's this big chunk of the entertainment world that nobody ever sees, but that is bread and butter for small-time producers, engineers, talent, etc. So I got sort of used the idea of the voiceover thing, but never imagined it would get this bad. In my opinion, the result is rarely dead-on perfect, and I've always assumed that even a total dumb-dumb could pick out a badly lip-synced TV ad. For some reason, I can pick out every single one, whether it's good or not. Heck, I even just said that YOU CAN'T FIND ONE that hasn't been voiced over.
Am I making a mountain out of a mole hill? Does this bother me simply because I'm a behind-the-scenes kinda guy and am hyper-aware of every instance it's used? Or does the rest of the world - even Social Security families sitting in their single-wides eating government grilled cheese sandwiches - notice it and become just as irritated? No, I'm not about to start throwing things, but you know what I mean: irritated, like "Where's the damn mute button on this stupid remote", or "Shit, what CEO decided THAT commercial was convincing enough to pay for?"
I know, I know, turn off the TV if you don't like it. Change the channel. OK, it's off - - - Bye!