Feel like there are more ads during your favorite shows? ABC has been logging tons more complaints this year about excessive commercials but ad chief Mike Shaw says no, they have had the same "ad load" for the past three years, and there have been no changes. He also says better programming leads you to notice the huge ad blocks more than normal.Remember when they used to put ads in between shows? Shaw says that old way was stupid, and the new method of running tail to nose is better no matter what your silly bladder says to the contrary. Shaw also says Desperate Housewives reels in $5 million an episode, thanks to a whopping 18 minutes of commercials - which is almost enough to pay for his fondness for ponies carved out of crack rocks. (OK, he never said that last part.)
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-13-2005 @ 10:11AM
Brad said...
I personally have no problem with commercials. TV stations and companies need to make a profit off of something that is meant to be free, and the commercials really add to the suspense of a show when the break happens between scenes or that sudden, abrupt stop needs to occur in the show to keep you watching.
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10-13-2005 @ 11:00AM
Tammy said...
"Starting this fall, ABC required all drama producers to carve up each episode into six portions."
There may not be more commercials, but there are more commercial breaks. Three- and four-act performances are ingrained in our society, so I think the switch to six acts may be difficult to get used to.
And let's not forget about those utterly annoying ads that play on the bottom of the screen while a show is running. While I have no problem with commercial breaks, I do have a problem of graphics flying across the screen during an episode, especially when they are paired with irritiating sound effects.
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10-13-2005 @ 1:50PM
B said...
I was watching some cop show, I forget which one, and I noticed they've slipped in an extra commercial break right before the mystery is revealed. But the break is only one commercial long.
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10-14-2005 @ 12:59PM
slagar said...
yes, they have the same amount of commercial time as they have in the past, the usual hour episode runs about 43 minutes. what they have change is the frequency when they run the adds and the amount of time tose ads run. it used to be fairly reliable times and with the breaks being the same interval, the second commercial break being longer then the others.
this season i've notced they've varied that so if you walk away from the tv, when in the past you could have time it to come back, this season it varies. it's a very insideous change that you really don't notice unless you've been one to walk away from the tv during commercials.
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