Oh, when I was visiting my father for Christmas, he had a new TV with Live Football Mode, which is just a fancy name for upping the contrast, saturation, and making it look 'smoother' doing what you mentioned. During sports it's actually fine, but he turned it on during a different tv show or movie and it looked horrible, like it was turning the tv show into a soap opera. It has its place, but in general I trust the designers of these shows, networks, manufacturers, and everyone in between to know what they're doing more than me and besides changing a dull looking picture due to something like a different colored light (contrast, warmth/coolness, saturation settings) I wouldn't mess with other settings.

That's a big peeve I have as well. The photographer/videographer/musician/artist has spent many hours getting things just right, and my equipment decides to pump everything up to 11? It's an insult to the creator.

I'm so glad to know I'm not the only person that is driven crazy by this. It's hard to put a finger on why it bothers me, but to me it makes everything look "amateurish" and I find that so distracting.