tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post4719120161521883788..comments2023-11-03T06:02:02.128-07:00Comments on By Ken Levine: Do the math, broadcast networksBy Ken Levinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17305293821975250420noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-59905087539328947512020-07-22T16:25:08.278-07:002020-07-22T16:25:08.278-07:00Last time I tried to watch a movie on basic cable,...Last time I tried to watch a movie on basic cable, it was commercial breaks every 10 minutes, and it felt like the breaks were longer than the actual movie segments.<br /><br />I subscribe to streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, but I find myself watching Pluto more than anything.BGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-79855950622798819072020-07-12T17:56:45.057-07:002020-07-12T17:56:45.057-07:00I've been watching "Big Bang Theory"...I've been watching "Big Bang Theory" on DVD and have been stunned to see that there are often episodes that are only -- no exaggeration here -- 18 1/2 minutes long. Sometimes there are episodes that stretch up a little past the 21-minute range. Odd that the episode segments aren't a little more consistent in length.David G.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-63349458082641070422020-07-12T08:38:17.339-07:002020-07-12T08:38:17.339-07:00My "favorite" commercial break moment wa...My "favorite" commercial break moment was when 2001 was aired on TBS or something. The ape throws a bone into the air for what would be one of the greatest jump cuts in movie history. Nope! It fades out. Commercials galore, and then back to a spinning spacecraft. I hope Kubrick wasn't watching. Barry Rivaduehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02398166395997803552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-65135757692519638812020-07-09T16:11:55.374-07:002020-07-09T16:11:55.374-07:00I was watching the movie, “The Blues Brothers” on ...I was watching the movie, “The Blues Brothers” on a local station. Ray Charles was singing “Shake a Tail Feather “ and the station went to a commercial after the first verse. After several minutes of commercials, the movie came back and the song finished. Never watched a movie on that channel again.MGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-48417770300401911962020-07-09T14:04:52.655-07:002020-07-09T14:04:52.655-07:00I have the same problem with commercial radio: &qu...I have the same problem with commercial radio: "Continuous music — 20 songs in a row without interruption!"<br /><br />Sure! But when they do interrupt, it's for a 10 to 12 minute long "stop set" of ads and promos. How'd you like to be the third car dealer in that stop set? Who's still listening after they've heard ads for two of your competitors?<br /><br />For that matter, who's still listening to the station at all after the second commercial?<br /><br />I understand the need to sell soap, but the idea was always for the sale of the soap to pay for the content that people want to watch or hear. <br /><br />There's a part of me that wonders how much of the way ads are programmed is greed (most of it, surely), and how much is simply laziness or desperation on the part of account execs who are selling time based on low price and volume, not quality and value.<br /><br />Indeed: Get off of my solid-state, instant-on, compatible color lawn!Jay Thurber Showhttp://www.jaythurbershow.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-57775655234673400282020-07-09T10:06:35.345-07:002020-07-09T10:06:35.345-07:00The New York Times just posted a tribute to Carl R...The New York Times just posted a tribute to Carl Reiner written by Steve Martin.<br />It can be found at<br /><br />https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/movies/steve-martin-carl-reiner.html?action=click&module=Editors%20Picks&pgtype=Homepage<br /><br />scottmcnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-28522453621675072002020-07-09T10:03:11.313-07:002020-07-09T10:03:11.313-07:00Duh, must be getting senile!
Here is the link to R...Duh, must be getting senile!<br />Here is the link to Reiner/Brooks Hollywood Palace (if you remember that far back) bit.<br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-BD4eECEKU&t=197sRon Rettignoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-16571327034606738842020-07-09T09:34:34.459-07:002020-07-09T09:34:34.459-07:00This is nothing new under the sun. A previous read...This is nothing new under the sun. A previous reader mentioned Stan Laurel. I still remember that in the summer of 1974, a local TV station in Illinois (I won't name names) ran Laurel & Hardy feature films in a one-hour slot every Thursday night. Now, most of L&H's feature films already ran for an hour to start with. So how did the TV station work their ads in? Why, they simply lopped off the first 15 or so minutes of the movie, so that its broadcast would begin in mid-plot! Unbelievable.Steve Baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07460010481523481647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-79622374205290511862020-07-09T09:07:19.819-07:002020-07-09T09:07:19.819-07:00Bumpers.
Anybody here remember those?
That's ...<b><i>Bumpers.</i></b><br /><br />Anybody here remember those?<br />That's what they called that 1-2 second gap between the show and the commercial, and then back again.<br />I'm a '50s Kid, so I'm old enough to remember commercials that lasted a whole minute;<br />That sold <i>one product</i>;<br />That were sometimes done by the Star of the Show;<br /> … You remember, all the things Alfred Hitchcock made fun of (which is why we all loved him while we were growing up).<br /><br />Once the Madmen took over full-bore (circa 1960), all of this changed:<br />- The commercial minute began to divide: two 30-second spots in a minute, followed not long afterwards by <i>three</i> 20-second spots;<br /> - The bumpers started to shrink, a half-second at a time;<br /> - The sponsor billboards ("Brought to you by … !") vanished;<br /> - Opening title sequences slowly shrank, and ultimately all but vanished;<br /> - Credits shrank as well, eventually becoming all but unreadable.<br /><br />And all the while, ads of varying speeds came to fill in the newly-created gaps - to the point that soon there were no gaps.<br />Try fast-forwarding through a modern-day DVR: you're never sure of when to slow down or stop, meaning that you invariably overshoot and have to backtrack - which means that the show you're trying to watch takes as much time as if you simply watched it as is.<br /><br />Isn't Progress Wonderful?<br />*Yes, It Isn't … *Mike Doranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14427528138598549103noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-64091442118512144822020-07-09T08:57:17.430-07:002020-07-09T08:57:17.430-07:00I'm with the time-shifters. Who watches networ...I'm with the time-shifters. Who watches network TV live anymore? Breaking news is pretty much the only thing I watch unrecorded anymore. Commercials are for fast-forwarding through. Why watch live?D McEwannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-50489005129986543052020-07-09T06:00:33.815-07:002020-07-09T06:00:33.815-07:00@ Cecil Newson
If you watch the Bears, you'd b...@ Cecil Newson<br />If you watch the Bears, you'd be better off switching to the commercials.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-1494929502445200532020-07-08T21:15:46.774-07:002020-07-08T21:15:46.774-07:00Ken, Here is a "Hollywood Palace' bit wit...Ken, Here is a "Hollywood Palace' bit with Carl Reiner & Mel Brooks.Ron Rettignoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-82983230522057474462020-07-08T20:29:19.899-07:002020-07-08T20:29:19.899-07:00I left broadcast television several years ago for ...I left broadcast television several years ago for the same reason. At the time a 30-minute television show had 10 minutes of commercial. Now it's worse.<br /><br />Older television shows are cut to pieces because they are longer than 20 minutes and have to be made to fit that time frame.<br /><br />I now only watch non-commercial shows, meaning that I rarely watch anything on television that isn't streamed.<br /><br />I still watch the Bears.Cecil Newsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-44372992053648450182020-07-08T19:57:44.657-07:002020-07-08T19:57:44.657-07:00@ Douglas Trapasso
You weren't far off. Swift...@ Douglas Trapasso <br />You weren't far off. Swift has been announced to light up the screen in Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-49204096479649347432020-07-08T19:36:00.058-07:002020-07-08T19:36:00.058-07:00One of the reasons live sports has become more pri...One of the reasons live sports has become more prized in terms of ad revenue in recent years is you can't fast scan through the ads, and the shows themselves (as the sports channels are finding out during the current COVID suspensions) are perishable -- fans get excited to watch live events, but are pretty 'meh' about ones they already know the results of, or can find out with a cellphone Google search.<br /><br />But even there the networks have pushed things too far in recent years, to where ratings dips have been ascribed to too many ads annoying people to the point they stop watching. Going to Ken's sport, baseball games get stretched out to 3 1/2-4 1/2 hours in part because the one-minute commercial break every half inning's turned into two or 2 1/2 minute ad breaks, while even in-game things like pitching changes earn their own live reads (AFAIK, foul balls have yet to earn their own sponsorship). The NFL and the networks had to readjust their ad placement two years ago because ratings were on the downturn, and they eliminated the score-ad break-kickoff-ad break-return to play formula that managed to stretch about 10-15 seconds on the time clock into 5-6 minutes of real time (they haven't cut the ads in the past two seasons, but went to split screen ads, where the game is muted, but you can still see activity on the field during a time-out. Marginally better, but I'm waiting for them to decide it's OK to start running ads on split screen during live action).<br /><br />You'd think the suits would get that if they can't even retain viewers for live events because the commercial break glut is just too annoying that it would absolutely kill entertainment shows (or AM and FM radio stations), given the alternatives viewers and listeners have nowadays. But they seem hidebound to the idea that the answer to diminishing ratings returns is more of the type of scheduling that caused those diminished returns in the first place.J Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15175515543694122729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-58865212527535603832020-07-08T18:52:14.931-07:002020-07-08T18:52:14.931-07:00Response to @Anonymous - No part for Taylor Swift?...Response to @Anonymous - No part for Taylor Swift? She has some momentum since her small part in that documentary last Christmas about cats.Douglas Trapassohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18348522207945522495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-85596839114587386662020-07-08T17:36:40.020-07:002020-07-08T17:36:40.020-07:00This is why I DVR programs to fast forward through...This is why I DVR programs to fast forward through the commercials. An extreme example is the Ovation channel. They show Midsomer Murders (which I can watch uncut on Britbox) an excellent British crime show which runs 90 minutes. But Ovation shows it in a 2 1/2 hour slot. An hour of commercials? That has to drive viewers away.James Van Hisehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06658381884799398658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-83193548944028148132020-07-08T17:31:21.502-07:002020-07-08T17:31:21.502-07:00suek2001, it sounds like you need AdBlocker. For ...suek2001, it sounds like you need AdBlocker. For all the reasons cited I've given up on most TV and watch (and listen to) YouTube. I no longer need to worry about a commercial rammed between phrases of a Mozart symphony, and that is no exaggeration. AdBlocker is free (you may contribute if you want) and if it existed for television, I would pay anything.<br /><br />www.adblockplus.org<br /><br />Download takes less than a minute and no, I don't work for them.Buttermilk Skyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-11889266132001216622020-07-08T16:30:02.161-07:002020-07-08T16:30:02.161-07:00I used to DVR award shows so I could lose the comm...I used to DVR award shows so I could lose the commercials but now I cannot stomach them.<br /><br />But here's what will win the gold when the time comes. <br /><br />Somehow a movie will credit Hollywood with curing COVID (probably by Affleck). English or Australian actor will play Trump. Streep will toss another Oscar on the heap as a COVID-denying right-wing but strong and determined journalist who test positive by defiantly going to her church, suffers just enough to add makeup effects to become haggard and get that all-important transformation so vital for the statuette, then is cured by Affleck (who uncovers the vaccine hidden through some conspiracy) and fiercely fights for the truth about COVID and mask-wearing. Let's throw in Chris Cooper as her husband. Zac Efron offers his shirt to make the first masks. They also make many friends of color along their personal journey. Sondheim's first hip-hop tragic-comedy-irony-inverted-tone poem (co-written with Miranda) picks up Best Song.<br /><br />"What a night, ladies and gentlemen... ladies and gentlemen...? Hello...?"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-86066299894492831182020-07-08T15:31:53.561-07:002020-07-08T15:31:53.561-07:00Since everything is time-shifted anyway, why don&#...Since everything is time-shifted anyway, why don't they decide to run old 30-minute shows in 35-minute slots? No cutting the shows, and you get the ads in.. There may be networks already doing this. Roger Owen Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05298172138307632062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-14415470409111244002020-07-08T14:44:31.028-07:002020-07-08T14:44:31.028-07:00Ken, will you be reviewing Greyhound, the new Tom ...Ken, will you be reviewing Greyhound, the new Tom Hanks WWII film that he's also written? It's getting solid reviews so far. Troy McClurenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-58691352542370813462020-07-08T14:35:53.255-07:002020-07-08T14:35:53.255-07:00I'll do you one better- I DVR NFL games, and s...I'll do you one better- I DVR NFL games, and start watching an hour later. I catch up near the end of the fourth quarter. I can go even faster if I use the 30 sec skip between plays, but some teams play faster than that.MikeNnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-85939613740429271812020-07-08T14:05:59.318-07:002020-07-08T14:05:59.318-07:00I've long been of the opinion that a major rea...I've long been of the opinion that a major reason that people pirated TV shows before the paid streaming services became available is that the people doing the illegal copying/uploading helpfully cut the commercials out. (In the US. Outside the US it was more commonly for earlier access to the shows.)<br /><br />wgWendy M. Grossmanhttp://www.pelicancrossing.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-68626549253373177632020-07-08T13:29:35.334-07:002020-07-08T13:29:35.334-07:00I always read the comments. That is until they go...I always read the comments. That is until they go above forty. After that I just sort of skim through them. <br /><br />I still watch broadcast TV because it's FREE. That's why I put up with commercials. I've said all this before, but I will give up television before I'll pay for it. Buying series on DVD is the exception. I love "South Park," but I'm boycotting them since they switched from free syndication to HULU. <br /><br />It's not just television. I'm constantly being solicited by my phone apps to "upgrade" to ad free (paid) versions. F#!" that! <br /><br />I'm not a conspiracy guy or a socialist, but I really believe that this is all being fueled by corporate greed. What better way to force people to switch to a network owned pay service than to virtually destroy FREE TV. You know they've had accountants comparing revenue streams. <br />Sports, too. In the past, depending on the season, you could watch a weekend game on broadcast TV. But now anything worth watching is only on cable. One day, and I'm not making this up, the only sport on was women's, college rugby. That's the kind of thing that used to be filler on ESPN2. <br />I'm also sure that various sports leagues have bean counters trying to figure out if it's feasible to make the SUPER BOWl or the World Series pay-per-view. <br /><br />As far as YouTube, I have friends that love it. But, I fear that this type of thing could mean the demise of the showbiz unions. I'm SAG/AFTRA. Mostly because I have to be; not necessarily because I want to be. My point is why would anyone hire a union writer if they can get an amateur to write a script? Why pay union wages for actors or crew when anybody with an iPhone and a laptop can produce relatively good product? Just think of how much money the networks could save going that route. <br /><br />M.B.<br /><br /><br />Mike Bloodworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04755626259169126800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-23685260598138087012020-07-08T13:02:17.998-07:002020-07-08T13:02:17.998-07:00The networks are actually very good at math, even ...The networks are actually very good at math, even for the simplest form:<br /><br />REVENUE:<br />a. ST: Ads and station fees<br />b. LT: Syndication or video<br /><br />COSTS:<br />c. Production costs<br />d. Transmission costs<br />e. Editing / "splicing" costs<br /><br />R(a,b) has to be greater than C(c,d,e) by a set return percentage or they can't make it/air it.<br /><br />When D+E go down and B is flattish, the only two variables left are A and C. If C keeps going up, and it does, then A has to go up too. Can you charge an arm and a leg for one 30 second spot? Nope. You're not the Super Bowl. Can you have Thursday Night TV brought to you by (x)? Nope, nobody will pay that much. <br /><br />The only way to get more money in A to cover C is to run more ads, even as the increase drives down your marginal revenue curve/average commercial fee. It's basic microeconomics.<br /><br />P.PolyWogghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05239033481272527855noreply@blogger.com