More commercials, less show time this season? (1 Viewer)

[MikeAlletto]

Is it just me or do all the shows seem shorter this season on tv? I've been taping a lot of them just because there are a bunch that seem to conflict with eachother that I want to see and fast forwarding through the commercials seems to take longer and happen more often than it used to.

Tonight was Birds of Prey. It was given a 70 minute time slot but I swear there were more commercials of longer duration than in a 60 minute time slot.

Anyone else feeling this?

 

[Dustin B]

I love my PVR :p)
Watched it, didn't care for it and yes definately had longer than normal commercial times.
Shows like Leno and Letterman are aweful for commercials. Movies are the worst though. Taking a less than 2 hour movie and putting into a 3 hour time slot.
But in general with my PVR if I go do something else for 20min on 1 hour shows and 10 min for 30min shows I just about catch up by the end of the program. The only time this isn't true is with premeries or season finales that are twice as long as normal. Tend to really only be 1.5 times as long as normal and fill the rest of the time with commercials.
Did I mention I love my PVR

 

[John Watson]

I'm fond of saying that the REMOTE is the greatest invention of our era.

On the other hand, when we flick to the next channel, the odds of finding a commercial interruption there seem to be about 60% now.

My answer to the great sellebration? Buy as little of the crap as possible...

 

[Kirk Gunn]

A downward spiral - Stations have sagging revenue, which they remedy by selling more spots, which causes the viewer to not watch the station, which causes sagging revenue....

I NEVER watch movies on network TV.

 

[Kenneth Cummings]

I really hate when a channel will go to a commerisal break, but then come back to the show, which only does a one minutes bit of dialog and either end the show or go back to commerisal. Shows I know that do this pratice are House of Mouse (last minute dialog after a blasted commersial) and Conan O' Brian (goes to commerisals after just telling who on tommorow).

 

[Lew Crippen]

Right now I really don’t care about the commercials, as I switch to baseball and catch up with the game.

 

[BrianW]

I'm fond of saying that the REMOTE is the greatest invention of our era.

This was true until the PVR was invented. Commercials? What are those?

Okay, I love my PVR, too. And I have noticed a definite increase in the time I spend fast-forwarding through commercials and a marked decrease in time spent actually viewing the shows.

Most of the commercials seem to be for new shows, I've noticed.

 

[Duncan Harvey]

yet again I'm thankful for the BBC!!

but its good to have a tivo when recording off a commercial channel!

 

[Mark Kalzer]

When watching 24 on DVD, since the show's clock supposedly runs in real-time, you can tell exactly how long each commercial break ran. In the first episode, the break didn't come until long after the usual interval, but as the show went on, some breaks got as long as six minutes. Pretty bad...and makes me thank god I'm watching it on DVD...With anamorphic to boot!

 

[BrianW]

Mark, I don't recall any six-minute commercial breaks in 24 while it was being broadcast, but I could be wrong. I do remember that the clock would often "speed up" during the commercials, however, to make up for the fact that the clock wouldn't start until after the two-minute "bring-the-dumb-viewers-up-to-speed" intro, and the fact that the clock would stop before the end credits would roll. The end credits and intro often took as much as five minutes away from the actual clock time, so they made up for it by attributing more time to commercial breaks than they actually took.

 

[Mark Kalzer]

Yeah...I watched the first couple episodes on TV, but then slagged off. It was a true blessing when the series was committed to DVD!