Something's wrong with WMAQ's SD feed. Normally, all programming should be letterboxed like it's been since the debut of the new graphics in December. This week, however, WMAQ keeps switching between letterboxed and 4:3 cropped based on the program. Today, Days of Our Lives, and Meredith Vieira are 4:3 cropped while local news, Steve Harvey, Ellen, and NBC primetime shows are letterboxed as they should be.
During the shows like Meredith Vieira where the NBC 5 time/temp bug is on the screen, almost the entire bug is cut off on the right side, so clearly this constant aspect ratio switching isn't intentional. I wonder why it keeps switching between shows. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it since some network programming is cropped while some is letterboxed, and some syndicated programming is cropped while some is letterboxed.