One of the challenges of being a TV presenter (or in my current incarnation as Presenter/Producer/Narrator of GLOBAL VILLAGE) is to be able to introduce a program to the viewer by hooking them in from the beginning with a one-liner or paragraph that (one hopes) will keep the viewer glued to the box or flat HD screen, and prise them away from other channels.
 
The truly magnificently shot series, WORLD’S COASTLINES FROM ABOVE, a minute and a half into the program about the coastline of Ireland, starts out with the words, “We leave behind us the larger isle of Great Britain…and fly out over the Scottish Peninsula known as the Mull of Kintyre”. This might imply that we just spent some time in Great Britain before flying off. But we didn't. Confused? I’ll come back to this.

Another challenge is not to draw attention to things that may confuse. Well as I did not produce the series WORLD’S COASTLINES FROM ABOVE (I re-voice it, introduce it and package it for the Australian broadcast on SBS) and as this is a BLOG, where the moderator tells me I can go beyond where no TV presenter has gone before, I feel it’s as good a time as any to explain certain things to you, the viewer, that cannot be done in the presenter's seat for a variety of reasons - time constraints, the fact that episodes are pre-recorded a few weeks in advance and so on. 

 
As for the “confusion” I mentioned in the third paragraph, you the viewer, on hearing the line, “We leave behind…Great Britain…and the Scottish Peninsula…Mull of Kintyre” might say hang on, where is it? Let me reassure you here and now that nothing was cut out of that bit, which makes me then ask why did the writer of the series word it so that a viewer may well think we just visited Scotland and Great Britain before heading for Ireland? And for what purpose? As this is the first episode of the series it makes it even more mystifying.
 
Even if I received a response from the producer, the segment itself is so brief that it wouldn’t merit spending time explaining it on air. Thank goodness for the BLOG!
 
I’ll use this forum to explain those little things that crop up which I otherwise couldn’t do in the program itself for the reasons I’ve outlined.
 
The Mull of Kintyre example is one of those little things that you just can’t draw attention to when introducing a program but which nonetheless does deserve an explanation. And I feel its things like this that viewers do want explained and this Blog is the way to go. Let me know if I’m wrong.
 
Let’s give three cheers for the BLOG and its opportunities for two-way communication!