Green Screen Living

I just saw a TV commercial where I'm pretty sure the people in it were nowhere near each other. The editors (or compositors, or whoever) did a really decent job, but there was a moment when they were supposed to be looking at each other and they very obviously weren't.

Earlier today, I was looking at some promo pictures for one of the "weekly wrap-up" talk-show-type shows, and noticed that everything they do is in front of a green screen. Not that I'm really surprised by that, but it was just kind of strange to see everyone standing in a big green room. After all, when you watch the show, they seem to be in a basic sound studio. And, really, how much more expensive is a basic set when compared to all of that green fabric?

Would that little bit of reality really throw them off so much that they have to do it all in a virtual world? Or is there some deeper meaning in it all - the infinitely-reflecting mirror showing that the show reviewing the reality shows is also not real?

And then, of course, at the heart of it all is the most pressing question of all:

Why green?