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Hello there, I'm just curious as to the current state of everyday American tv. I'm interested in things like the amount of advert breaks in the average hour and how this affects your enjoyment of a program, and indeed if they disrupt your viewing to the point of you abandoning continued viewing. The reason I ask is that over in the UK we do get a lot of your programs, the problem is that by the time our networks get round to showing them, we hear that they have been cancelled in the US. One of the most recent was Flash Forward, I mention this as an example not whether it was good or bad. The channel that bought the rights to show it seemed to have invested a lot of money in promoting it only to discover that it had been cancelled, no doubt costing them a lot of money. There have been other shows suffering the same fate lately and it has been an increasing trend. So I know that you lot get just as angry as we do when favourite shows are binned, do you have any thoughts for audience decline? Have I got it wrong in thinking too much ad breaks disrupt viewer continuity? In the Uk commercial stations tend to have 4 ad breaks an hour lasting three to four minutes, though when Channel four showed the first series of lost they went crazy with breaks almost every 7 minutes making it hard to concentrate!Do you think that too many ads during a program with a very involved storyline has a detrimental effect on whether you will watch it again?
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2010/11/01 19:05:09
I think the average half hour show has ~8min of commercials, IIRC.
A LOT of people have Tivo or other digital video recorders now, however, allowing us to skip commercials.
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TV shows getting canceled has more to do with over saturation (especially of prime time hours) than with commercials, especially when the shows themselves aren't always that good or may come off as repetitive.
30 show is usually 6-8 minutes of commercials. Closer to 10 for shows aimed at younger audiences.
A 60 minute show is about 12-15 minutes of commercials.
Commercials definitely deter me from watching television. I watch seinfeld everyday, and that's it. I simply cannot stand commercials.
I literally get sick to my stomach while watching commercials. They make me feel worthless and used, like I'm nothing more than a walking dollar sign.
I don't give a F**k about AT&T, or red lobster, or Pep Boys or anything. I don't want to buy your F***ing products. Go away!
So yeah, that's how I feel about television advertisements. I really just wish they'd go away forever. They prevent me from watching television peacefully.
DVRs are becoming really common, there are several commercial models and every cable and satellite provider I've heard of offers one with their service. With a DVR you just fast forward on commercial breaks, if the show wasn't pre-recorded then you switch the channel to that show, go do something else for 10 minutes (make food, take out the trash, check email), then come back and you've got 10 min of FF saved up. I'm temporarily without one and I can hardly watch a TV program, the inability to pause just drives me nuts now that I'm used to it.
I'm not really sure what you mean about shows being canceled, I know British shows get the axe from time to time too. I guess it's weird if you're getting ads for a show new to you and find out it's gotten the axe before you start watching it. Anyway, at least we don't have any shows that ran for around 20 years, then were canceled for around 20, then came back again, that's just silly.
Samus_aran115 wrote:I literally get sick to my stomach while watching commercials. They make me feel worthless and used, like I'm nothing more than a walking dollar sign.
You should see a doctor about this, getting sick to your stomach routinely could indicate a life threatening condition, and saying 'literally' indicates 'not figuratively'.
BearersOfSalvation wrote:I'm not really sure what you mean about shows being canceled, I know British shows get the axe from time to time too. I guess it's weird if you're getting ads for a show new to you and find out it's gotten the axe before you start watching it. Anyway, at least we don't have any shows that ran for around 20 years, then were canceled for around 20, then came back again, that's just silly.
That Hawaii Five-O remake is being blabbed about all over now. I know it's not quite the same, but our remakes are coming aplenty so I think everywhere gets it in it's own form.
Cannerus_The_Unbearable wrote:That Hawaii Five-O remake is being blabbed about all over now. I know it's not quite the same, but our remakes are coming aplenty so I think everywhere gets it in it's own form.
Remake, Shremake. They're not continuing the same continuity with the same characters and an in-story explanation for why the actors are different, plus they changed the name. Nope, this is one area where the UK has the US beat cold.
Yes, people are quite angry when their favorite shows get cancelled. "Lost" had a rabid fanbase that is still discussing the end and whether it was good or bad. Type "Firefly" into google and see how many nerd rages pop up.
In case you're wondering, it was a pretty good scifi with western elements, produced by FOX (maker of soon cancelled good shows, shatty long running ones, and crazy conservatives), who never showed the pilot episode, played the episodes out of order, and changed their schedule in between each episode. Needless to say, not many people watched it, so it was justified cancel-able. To any Dakka-ites, if I have gotten the story wrong, feel free to correct me.
micahaphone wrote: Type "Firefly" into google and see how many nerd rages pop up.
NERD RAAAAAGE!
God I wish that show was still in the making. I have to have watched my DVD set 25 times, at least. At least we got a movie and the new series Castle, with Nathan Fillion (Main character in Firefly) makes constant throwbacks to Firefly, not to mention Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory.
Edit: Firefly, as a basic outline, is about two seperate stories being aboard one ship. There is Malcom Reynolds, the captain of the Serenity, a Firefly class cargo ship, who was a soldier for the losing side of a galactic civil war. He now takes any job, legal or not, in order to keep himself and his crew alive and his ship in the skies. However, he is described as a "man of honor in a den of theives", and he gets into trouble with all sorts of folk, Sheriffs, Crime bosses, even the government, which he actively tries to flip the bird to and stay one step ahead of because he is still really bitter about losing the war.
The other story is that of River and Simon Tam. Simon is a rich kid, a medical genius, he was in the top 3% of his class. "Gifted, they called me. So when I say that my sister, River, makes me look like an idiot child, I want you to grasp my full meaning". River was sent off to the Alliance's "Top School", but it ended up being a bad place (they never really explained it ). Simon spends his entire family fortune getting River out of that hell hole, and smuggles her aboard the Serenity. River isn't all there, and Simon is trying to figure out how to help her, but nothing seems to work.
That's a really bad summery, if you want to know what it's like, look up the episode "Our Misses Reynolds" online and watch it. You won't be disapointed.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2010/11/02 01:46:35
I've never feared Death or Dying. I've only feared never Trying.
Slipstream wrote:Hello there, I'm just curious as to the current state of everyday American tv.?
The current state is that it's abysmal. I can't stomach anything produced in the last 5-7 years other than Dollhouse and Archer, and Dollhouse was unceremoniously cancelled. Commercials are blaring and contstant, and I haven't paid for any sort of premium video service for about a year and a half. I get by on netflix, hulu, and youtube just swell. Also, no one here has ever heard of Spaced, Flying Circus, or Max Headberg.
Slipstream wrote:Hello there, I'm just curious as to the current state of everyday American tv.?
The current state is that it's abysmal. I can't stomach anything produced in the last 5-7 years other than Dollhouse and Archer, and Dollhouse was unceremoniously cancelled. Commercials are blaring and contstant, and I haven't paid for any sort of premium video service for about a year and a half. I get by on netflix, hulu, and youtube just swell. Also, no one here has ever heard of Spaced, Flying Circus, or Max Headberg.
Look at Castle and Firefly, they are awesome series.
I've never feared Death or Dying. I've only feared never Trying.
I assume all of you caught the premiere of Walking Dead last night. That has some promise. My other favorite show at the moment is Sons of Anarchy.
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Ma55ter_fett wrote:Doesn't Nathan Fillion want to play Nathan Drake in an upcoming "Uncharted" movie.
Yes and no.
Someone started a petition for it, and he loves the idea as he's a fan of the property.
Huh. Wouldn't he be kinda old for that part? Not that I know what age Drake is, I don't have a PS3.
I do know that he is wanted to play Hank Pym (Marvels Ant Man) in the Avenger Movie. I think it would be pure win to see him and Robert Downey Jr. in the same movie like that.
I've never feared Death or Dying. I've only feared never Trying.
My favourite episode of 'Black Books' is the one in which Nick Frost makes a cameo as a security technician with 'a little man in his hair'. Funny as feth.
Actually Black Books in general is funny as feth. It tails off a little after the second series, but the first series is gold.
Here's a (badly edited) compilation of clips from the show:
When I first heard of Skating with the Stars, I wanted to hang myself.
This is a little story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.
There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.
Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.
Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job.
Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it.
It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.
micahaphone wrote:In case you're wondering, it was a pretty good scifi with western elements, produced by FOX (maker of soon cancelled good shows, shatty long running ones, and crazy conservatives), who never showed the pilot episode, played the episodes out of order, and changed their schedule in between each episode. Needless to say, not many people watched it, so it was justified cancel-able. To any Dakka-ites, if I have gotten the story wrong, feel free to correct me.
I think firefly is vastly overrated - it was an OK show with lots of goofy elements that a small but vocal crowd latched on to. It didn't just have 'western elements', the characters dressed in cowboy outfits and used cowboy guns ('no blasters' makes sense, but an AK-47 is actually easier to manufacture than the lever-action rifles they used). The setup for where the planets are doesn't make a lot of sense, they supposedly have no FTL but they also travel between dozens of habitable planets and across the galaxy in a short time.
The did some fun bits in the episodes, but I don't see the show getting widely popular even if they played the initial episodes in order. I wasn't especially enthused by it and I'm a SF fan, I don't think it had anywhere near enough appeal to attract the kind of numbers FOX wanted to keep it around.
). Simon spends his entire family fortune getting River out of that hell hole, and smuggles her aboard the Serenity. River isn't all there, and Simon is trying to figure out how to help her, but nothing seems to work.
