T.V. Commercials

[Sundance Kid]

I'm frustrated, by how much programming is being eaten up by commercial time!

Also frustrated by the fact that, when one station breaks for a commercial, all the others, seem to do the same thing.

What amount of time does the FCC allow, for commercials, in a one hour period?

I'm retired! Don't have time for commercial interruptions!

 

[d]

I'm frustrated, by how much programming is being eaten up by commercial time!

Also frustrated by the fact that, when one station breaks for a commercial, all the others, seem to do the same thing

given the quality of the programming, i'm much less frustrated by this.  i recall that commerical breaks are indeed timed to coincide -- so as to minimize the chances of someone changing channels and staying with the new program.

 

[Eagle43]

Most of them are awful; those that are good are repeated too much. Best idea is to never watch live tv, exception being sporting events. I don't do this yet, but there are several posters here who DVR everything and watch only what they want to watch, at their convenience.

 

[Bimmerbill]

I've had TIVO for years. I don't watch commercials unless I want to. Really a great service!

 

[TromboneAl]

Guys, you can't watch a show and sit through the commercials.  That's gotta be damaging to your brain.  Get a VCR or DVR and skip them.   I come from a long line of commercial haters (my grandmother always got up and turned down the sound during the commercials).

Sometimes I skip through a whole show (e.g. Olympics) at 100x normal speed skipping to something I want to see.  When you do that, you really become conscious of the percentage of time devoted to advertising.  That is, Show, Show. commercial, show, commercial, show, commercial, commercial.

When I skip through 7 minutes of solid commercial time, I usually say "I can't believe anybody would sit through this."

My last VCR detected commercials based on black air and increased volume, and automatically skipped through them.  

The ad times have to be synchronized so that the shows are formatted properly for different networks (that is, the break in the sit com action happens at the right time).

Now the networks put the commecials on part of the screen during the show.  I saw one that took up about 1/4 of the entire picture.

Did you know that when they release shows for syndication (e.g. reruns of sitcoms), they remove some of the show and add more commercials?

 

[riskadverse]

I will not watch live TV unless it involves something that is so timely that seconds matter.  Off the top of my head, only the stock market, and the initial 911 event qualify.   I have recommended TiVo to a number of my friends, and everyone who tried it, can't believe they tolerated watching TV without it.  I've tried the local cable company's DVR, and while it is better than live TV, it was a distant second to TiVo.  One problem though, you may watch more TV if you get a TiVo, because the quality of what you watch will go up.  You'll stop channel flipping too, but you still may clutch the remote to fast forward through the commercials, and adjust the ever fluctuating volume. 

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

The only downside to a DVR is that you become socially inept. For years I've had people throwing out lines from commercials and I have no frickin' idea what they're talking about.

Imagine the horror of watching everyone on your softball team yell "WASSSSAAAAP" to each other for hours on end and not knowing what it means.

 

[Sundance Kid]

Yeah, I'd say that qualifies as, "Socially Inept."

How about, communicating with your kids?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

He wont be watching any either, so we'll both be morons.

 

[Nords]

How about, communicating with your kids?

We've thought about making our kid watch DVDs of the first five seasons of "Saturday Night Live", a couple seasons of "In Living Color", and, of course, "Animal House" plus "Blues Brothers"...

She's threatening to call Child Protective Services.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

And if she did, you'd shortly be jailed.

 

[justin]

I manage to watch almost zero commercials too. I'm definitely feeling the social ineptitude. I have no idea what the latest movies are, what new shows are coming on tv, or what the latest and greatest food items, gadgets and the like are.

I imagine people think I'm a shut in. A typical conversation with coworkers is:

"Are you going to see that new movie "Cars"?" me - What's "Cars"? them - You've never heard of Cars? How about superman? me - There's a new superman movie?

Since I usually watch the week's tv shows on the weekend, I'm always behind. I stifle watercooler/lunch time discussions constantly. "Did you see last night's episode of LOST? Wow, amazing - they killed off... oh, justin, did you watch it yet? No? ok. never mind, I don't want to ruin it for you."

 

[TromboneAl]

Click here for screen shots from the Panasonic E85H DVR that gets programming info from the cable company (no phone line or monthly charges).

 

[justin]

Click here for screen shots from the Panasonic E85H DVR that gets programming info from the cable company (no phone line or monthly charges).

What does it cost? I like no monthly fees. Do you need digital cable to get the program info for the week's tv schedule?

 

[TromboneAl]

I think I got mine for about $600. I have plain vanilla cable ($10.82 per month). Click here for Epinions reviews.

Note that you can also transfer videos to a DVD if you want to save them.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Directv tivo's...free after rebate, $6 a month fee. Worth every penny.

 

[maddythebeagle]

Been renting netflix/blockbuster dvds for the last couple of years...dont miss the commercials....