I watch "Dateline" and a lot of college football. Strange as it may seem, they have something in common — an obsession with the obvious.

My interest in true crimes apparently is shared with most of the people on the planet. Programs such as "Dateline," "Forensic Files," "City Confidential," and the like have become the only genre my wife and I watch together.

Thanks to Hulu, we have many seasons of "Dateline." Why we find most of their murders fascinating is something I no longer question because answer must fall into the "It is what it is" category.

But one other thing is clear: Every "Dateline" episode is twice as long as it should be. People interviewed for the program say the same thing at least three times — during the often confusing and misleading introduction, then again before one of the too frequent commercial breaks, and, finally, after the appropriate commercial break.

What's too often unnecessarily annoying is what these people say. It's especially annoying when they are prodded into it by the segment reporter. Andrea Canning, who's been a "Dateline" correspondent since 2012, is the champion at eliciting the obvious and putting cliches into people's mouths.

For example, a police detective may say, "The husband changed his story so many times I became very suspicious."

To which Canning will reply, "In other words, too many red flags?"

And the detective will grunt, "Yeah. Too many red flags." As if the cliche added something to the story.

All "Dateline" reporters are guilty, but Canning is the most cloying when it comes to her obsession with the obvious, like when she scrunches her face into an overly concerned expression and asks, "How did you feel when you found out your daughter had been murdered?"

This is where "Dateline" and college football converge. Andrea Canning would be at home as a sideline reporter who has the useless job of pulling aside a coach to ask, "How do you feel about losing by 48 points?"

The proper answer to both questions is, "How the hell do you think I feel?"

Football announcers in the booth aren't much better. How many times do we have to be reminded, "The quarterback can't afford to take a sack"? Or, "The receiver really should have caught that pass"? Or, "It's fourth and 19, the Irish will have to punt"? This is one reason I miss Don Meredith. He always found something interesting or amusing to say during a telecast.

Meanwhile, back at "Dateline," a relative of the episode's victim is commenting, "When I was told Judy was dead, I said, 'What do you mean Judy's dead?' Then I fell to my knees. Judy loved life. She had a smile that lit up a room."

No one deserves to be murdered, but just once I'd like to hear a friend say, "I'm not surprised Judy's dead. She dated guys she met on a dating site, and never checked 'em out. It took me just two minutes on line to discover her latest boy friend spent six years in prison for assaulting his first wife, and his second wife has a restraining order on him. Oh, yeah, and he's still married."