The relationship between the viewer and the network is one that requires a delicate balance. As the numbers for DVR penetration continue to climb, it's pretty clear that a great many of us are successfully dodging more and more commercial breaks. And the networks continue to push back, trying different things to get eyeballs on ads. Some are merely annoying. For instance, as much as I like both Kyra Sedgwick and The Closer, I'm annoyed every time Brenda walks out of the corner of my screen while I'm watching another show on TNT.
While that one is annoying, this latest adventure from TBS crosses a line. During an episode of Family Guy (video after the jump), Bill Engvall walks out on the screen, much like the Brenda spots for The Closer. The difference is that Bill holds up a remote and actually pauses the episode before heading into his pitch for his show. When he finishes, he unpauses the show, which runs for two more seconds before going to the regular commercial break. Please, if it's not too much trouble, strap on your sturdiest combat boots and join me in sending a theoretical kick to the crotch of anyone at TBS that didn't think this was the dumbest idea since starting everything at five minutes past the hour.
Seriously, what are they hoping to gain from this? That ad is not going to get me to watch The Bill Engvall Show. In fact, it's more likely to do just the opposite. I'll now go out of my way to not watch TBS out of spite. This spot is at the precipice of a very slippery slope. It's just a Family Guy rerun, and it was just two seconds before going to commercial anyway. But that leads to the middle of a first run My Boys segment. And before you know it we have NBA games getting paused mid play so Tom Arnold can sell us toasted subs.
I know, that sounds crazy. But did you ever think that a network would have the nuts to pause an episode for a commercial? Screw that. There needs to be a backlash for this to define the line. Link the video on your blog, your livejournal, myspace, facebook, and whatever other web 2.0 social site that I'm too square to have heard of yet. With any luck, the stank of all the bad press will send the appropriate message. And yes, TBS and TV Squad share corporate overlords, for what it's worth.
[ via kottke, thanks Adam and Wil ]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
6-05-2008 @ 10:13AM
LOs said...
You know what the sad thing is more than anything? I liked the Bill Engvall show, I really did. While I know this was no fault of his, I can' watch this show or this network anymore with this ridiculous idea of advertising.
What's next? Beer companies calling a time out in the Super Bowl to trot a Clydesdale onto the field and ask everyone to buy Budweiser?
Seriously and the networks wonder why people would rather record and watch something on their DVRs or download it instead of watch it on the live run. I just bought a DVR and I'm slowly learning the joys of that.
You know it's funny because I can go to ABC online and watch Lost with less commercials than aired on the live run. That's the right direction.
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6-05-2008 @ 10:25AM
h8rain said...
"You know it's funny because I can go to ABC online and watch Lost with less commercials than aired on the live run. That's the right direction."
I completely agree with you. I missed an episode of Big Bang Theory, and watched it online. It still had the same "commercial breaks" but there was a total of like 4 commercials. 1 in the beginning and 1 for each break. It was unobtrusive, quick and I had no problem with it. If commercial breaks were only 1 or 2 commercials, then I would not skip them (unless they are just awful).
6-05-2008 @ 10:42AM
lorenzo said...
unf*ckingbelievable......
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6-05-2008 @ 11:13AM
mello one said...
There are a bunch of things about tv that have pissed me off over the years:
1) The PERMANENT logo on the corner of your TV (Sometimes animated.) I know what F#¢KING CHANNEL I'M WATCHING!!!
2) The volume of the commercials that get jacked up around 25% louder than the show I'm watching. Just because it's friggin' louder doesn't mean my desire to buy something will increase 25%.
3) The animated mini-commercials that block one third of the show I'm trying to watch. For example, I was watching a rerun of "Angel" & the scene was a flashback where they were speaking french with subtitles. Then out of nowhere, a nascar race car screeches to a stop on the bottom third of the screen with a pit crew changing the damn tires?!?!? And to top that off the volume of that commercial was super loud muffling the french that I don't understand but that didn't matter since the commercial COVERED THE SUBTITLES!!!!
4) Shows that are 2-5 minutes longer which will have their endings cutoff when I DVR them.
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6-05-2008 @ 11:29AM
Keith McDuffee said...
I think the commercial volume is the fault of your local affiliate, but I could be wrong. They are running the ads from a separate feed/tape and didn't have time to balance the volume with the show they're broadcasting.
6-05-2008 @ 1:34PM
Jennifer said...
You know, the more obnoxious the ads are to GET YOU TO PAY ATTENTION TO THEM!!!1111!!!!!, the more people will somehow manage to ignore them.
Seriously, this is reminding me of my volunteer job, where they noticed that the volunteers have "sign fatigue" because there are so many instructional signs taped everywhere that we stop reading them.
6-05-2008 @ 1:28PM
Eric Cotton said...
I couldn't agree more. This is getting ridiculous! I'm inching ever so closer to ditching commercial tv altogether in favor of online and DVD viewing. In a time where networks are quickly losing viewers in droves, what do they do? Come up with more ways to further alienate their audience. While I recognize that commercials are what pay the rent, there's a limit to what is acceptable.
6-05-2008 @ 2:21PM
dukrous said...
It's funny you say that, Eric. My contract with DirecTV is up in November at which time I'm going to look at either building an HTPC, buying an Apple TV, or decide to continue with DirecTV. I figure if I buy the shows a la carte without commercials, I will probably save a lot more money and watch less useless TV.
6-05-2008 @ 4:22PM
Eric Cotton said...
dukrous... I'm a long-time DirecTV customer and considering *seriously* cutting back on the channels I receive. The money saved would go to DVDs and online content.
Oh, and if you ask me, with all the "creative" advertising, networks should be paying me to watch!
6-05-2008 @ 11:35AM
Matthew said...
I love it when MTV runs commercials halfway through the screen, so there's no way to avoid it. This is why I gave up cable in favor of watching things online.
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6-05-2008 @ 11:59AM
Rogphi said...
It is Infuriating! coupled with the credits at High Speed in a tiny corner of the screen and the annoying pop ups for other show s or coming up next promos I think they are slowly driving more and more viewers away to the Internet downloads
Note to executives, I have never bought anything from watching one of your commercials 2. I know whats coming on next. 3. I would Like to watch the program without interuptions during the broadcast and I would also Like to watch the credits at very least, the cast!
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6-05-2008 @ 12:05PM
Tacocartguy said...
TBS has been using that tactic (to promote only the Bill Engvall show, oddly enough) for a while now, as I remember that happening last season too.
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6-05-2008 @ 12:06PM
Thomas said...
Irrespective of the overall number of people watching each week, do you think that TV companies will ever realise that there are far too many channels on TV nowadays? You can't watch everything. Trying to shove advertising (necessary as it may be) down our throuts is not the best way to go things. They're never going to get the ratings of old. They need to really rethink the whole thing.
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6-05-2008 @ 12:18PM
CygnusTM said...
This is not new. They've been doing this for a long time. They pulled this same crap last summer when this show debuted. I'd like to say that this is the reason I'll never what that show, but I never would have watched it anyway.
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6-05-2008 @ 12:31PM
htchkr said...
Has anyone ever been persuaded to watch an existing show because of of any sort of advertising? If I didn't watch the show before the annoying ad, it's even less likely I'll try after an intrusive ad. Frankly most existing shows I see for the first time only because I'm channel surfing and something in the show itself catches my attention.
Hint to advertisers and networks, the audience might be bigger if you'd stop canceling shows after only a few episodes and kept shows at the same time each week. I spend more time just trying to figure out where shows went, than watching. Thankfully I've got a DVR that takes most of the work out of catching shows I want to watch.
A bad show will be just as bad no matter what time it is shown, and no amount of advertising will make it any better. How about you put all the effort you put into "creative" ads into the shows themselves? As dumb an idea as that might be, it seems to be the one thing no network has tried.
And can someone please tell me why I'm expected to pay for basic cable and still sit through the extra ads? If we count the bottom of the screen ads, I figure that a half hour show now contains close to twenty minutes of ads, not counting the product placement ads in the shows themselves.
What's next a network that's ninety-five percent ads and five percent entertainment content?
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6-05-2008 @ 2:25PM
Edd said...
Outraged.
I've only been using torrents for ALL my TV for the last three years, and as a result I feel phobic of watching live TV anymore.
That's absolutely pathetic TBS, don't insult your viewer's intelligence. Hell I'm gonna send an angry email to them just so it's added to the pile.
I adore Torrent TV, it's the mot beautiful thing in the world and I'm glad I've experienced the 'Golden Age', before it becomes commercialised. Also, using torrents has introduced me to so many shows, such as Arrested Development, which in that show's case led me to go out there and buy the DVDs ASAP (altho I still only watch my torrents, I just wanted that crew to have my money)
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6-05-2008 @ 3:37PM
bruce said...
I have a policy of permanently boycotting all products that employ or otherwise benefit from intrusive advertising. Adding another TV show to my list...
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6-05-2008 @ 6:37PM
bluefunnel said...
They did this for the same show last season as well during old episodes of "Everybody Loves Raymond." They even paused it right before a punchline so it completely ruined the moment. My wife was furious.
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6-05-2008 @ 8:29PM
ac said...
Seriously what is next with ad pop-ups. The ones during Family Guy started right before the break but now they in in the middle of the damn punchline! By the time Bill unpauses the show I forgot what the joke was because I just got annoyed by the pop up ad.
The pop up ads are bad enough. During a Kill Bill showing on TNT, Kyra Segwick shows up on the bottom of the screen and was blocking the subtitles.
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6-05-2008 @ 10:53PM
Galley said...
It was bad enough when they ran promos for "Frank TV" every five minutes during the MLB playoffs last year.
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