Accents

    Before I get started blithering, I just want to note for those getting their Dad news here that he's doing much better today. He's eating again and feeling much more comfortable. Hopefully it's the start of an ascending spiral.
    Nor do I have much to say about accents. It's more radio ad inspired kvetching and moaning-- sort of. I'm just bewildered when Hardee's for instance does an ad supposedly featuring a Texan where the voice guy sounds like he's from New Jersey and doing a half-hearted Sam Elliott impression. Similarly NBC Sports Network is starting to broadcast Premiere League soccer and they hired a guy doing about 15 British accents in about 20 seconds. Not, presumably, intentionally.
    My first thought was: why don't they just hire Texans and Britons? In an era of instant digital communications, how hard would that be? But my more useful thought was that the most important skill set in this field must be that ability to hit the post, as Dan Patrick says. In other words, to fill the available time exactly. Thus, the ability to do accents convincingly is not even a secondary consideration. Still, you'd think that there would be voiceover pros all over the world. Or that people who can do accents could be trained to hit the post, or people who can hit the post could be trained to do accents. Clearly, I'm part of a small minority that finds this annoying. Or in the case of the fake British guy hilarious. "England!"