Why is this allowed?

Why is this allowed?

It's more cinematic

Because content creators and owners can modify and release any version of their content they choose to, and the marketplace will decide if it's a valid choice.

What I would give to watch it in its originality

Black bars trigger normies

inb4 the widescreen version of malcolm in the middle with fake dewey

But we all know consumers are generally too stupid to even take note, or worse, to consider "HD widescreen" better by default without the knowledge to know any better.

Even The Wire was subject to this bastardization.

Give an example that isn't a dialogue heavy comedy. They didn't do this on the TNG or TOS remasters.

16:9 crops are pure cancer
any crop is pure cancer

Oh boy, it's another episode where Jerry fucks some sexy shiksa and strokes his victim complex

Actually, I pretty sure the Wire was shot on open mattes so for the widescreen they merely added to the sides of the frame without cutting off the top and bottom.

Hitchcock did this often, intending to matte it in post. Just because it was shot doesn't mean you're supposed to see it.

Remember when they used to crop 16:9 to 4:3 because normies didn't like horizontal black bars on their 4:3 tvs? Now they're cropping it the other way because normies don't like vertical black bars. What the hell? It's always what they want.

It's like cheez-whiz - just because people are making it doesn't mean you have to buy it.

Serves you fags right for requesting 16:9 for everything. Remastering it in 4:3 is fine.

Exactly this

Am I crazy or is this image terrible quality?

wut

...

You're perfectly sane, don't worry

not him, but I think there were some shots in malcolm in the middle where you would see - if you watched it in 16:9 - that they used a different child actor for dewey for some scenes, because you didnt see that it wasnt him in 4:3.

It was shot open matte on film, which means more of the frame is exposed than the end user is expected to see. They do this for various reasons, but mainly because the aspect ratio of the negative isn't the same as tv screens or movie screens.
The show was intended to be shown on SD 4:3 televisions. Flat screens with wide format weren't even a thing they were worried about at the time.
When they went back and remastered for a wide screen HD home release, they just went back to the negatives and cropped them 16:9 instead of 4:3.
It's not a problem usually, but occasionally you see things you weren't supposed to see. Like a crew member standing at the edge of the shot. Or in this case, Dewey's stand in. The way it originally aired, you only ever saw his arm at the edge of frame, so you don't waste your shooting time with a child actor for a shot like that, so they get someone who looks like the character from the back to use in place of your main actor.
In the scene, Not-Dewey is clearly standing there, and it's just creepy and fucking weird.

So sorry ....