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TV episodes too short! (rant)

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  • #1

    TV episodes too short! (rant)

    That came to my mind when I recently started to watch Babylon 5 episodes on DVD (yes, I haven't seen them all before because they do not re-run B 5 as often as the various StarTrek shows here on tv, and yes, I only recently decided to get a DVD player).

    However, those B 5 episodes run only ca. 40 minutes! On tv, including advertizing they go usually over a full hour, so the ads are ca. 20 minutes long? Is 40 minutes standard length for tv episodes?

    Well, I do not really know why I posted this, but I guess the finding lasted so heavy on my soul that I had to share it. I feel a lot better now
    Blah
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  • #2
    If I remember rigth, then 40 min was the size they had on swedish TV4 and they don't have ads inside a program, so it's some lousy channels you have with 20 min ads pr hour.

    PS Not much imagination when you opened your new DL account : Brobeo - that you could have made better.
    With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.

    Steven Weinberg

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    • #3
      It's better in the UK. There are laws that govern the amount of commercials you're allowed to show per hour of TV on terrestrial channels, so you usually only end up with less than 15 minutes worth of ads. On the BBC of course, there are no ads, which actually makes scheduling programmes very difficult for them, especially when 24 ends up only taking 42 minutes instead of an hour.
      mssv.net - After Our Time - Six to Start

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      • #4
        Originally posted by BlackCat
        If I remember rigth, then 40 min was the size they had on swedish TV4 and they don't have ads inside a program.

        TV4 allways have ads in their programs

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        • #5
          Re: TV episodes too short! (rant)

          Originally posted by BeBro
          However, those B 5 episodes run only ca. 40 minutes! On tv, including advertizing they go usually over a full hour, so the ads are ca. 20 minutes long? Is 40 minutes standard length for tv episodes?
          American ones, yes. Not all are that short, however. I've noticed that the HBO co-productions with the BBC ("Band of Brothers" and "Rome" are longer- usually clocking in at over 50 minutes.

          BBC sole productions are frequently as long as 58 minutes, due to the fact that there are no advert breaks to be accommodated.
          The genesis of the "evil Finn" concept- Evil, evil Finland

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Illur



            TV4 allways have ads in their programs
            They have between the programs - not inside, unless it's som 3 hour film. Are you sure that you're not mixing them up with TV3 ?

            A dane talking "expert" on swedish tv to a swede - I don't watch that channel too much, ususally only when there are a film or the other channels are lousy - you may be right
            With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.

            Steven Weinberg

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            • #7
              yes, i'm sure, TV3 is much worse!

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              • #8
                Illur is right about TV4. Ridiculous hobbit Dane
                The enemy cannot push a button if you disable his hand.

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                • #9
                  Re: Re: TV episodes too short! (rant)

                  Originally posted by Lazarus and the Gimp


                  American ones, yes. Not all are that short, however. I've noticed that the HBO co-productions with the BBC ("Band of Brothers" and "Rome" are longer- usually clocking in at over 50 minutes.
                  Like the BBC, this is because there are no commercial breaks. Just promos for other HBO shows and films in the couple minutes between programs.

                  Yet another reason why HBO is better than regular TV.
                  "My nation is the world, and my religion is to do good." --Thomas Paine
                  "The subject of onanism is inexhaustable." --Sigmund Freud

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Adrian Hon
                    It's better in the UK. There are laws that govern the amount of commercials you're allowed to show per hour of TV on terrestrial channels, so you usually only end up with less than 15 minutes worth of ads. On the BBC of course, there are no ads, which actually makes scheduling programmes very difficult for them, especially when 24 ends up only taking 42 minutes instead of an hour.
                    We have two main "public" and various regional tv stations that have no commercials after 20.00, at least not within a movie, only before as "sponsoring" (like "Rocky XXII is presented by blah"). The others are all private stations which have ads all day long.

                    Unfortunately in the rare cases when I really like a certain tv show it appears often on one of those private stations, so I can't get around the ads, except by taping the episodes to fast forward the break ups later when watching them.

                    Ok, you can get lots of pay-tv channels without ads by paying extra money, but currently that isn't high on my wishlist.
                    Blah

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                    • #11
                      TV shows tend to be about 40-44 minutes long. (The first season of 24 had 40 minute episodes, IIRC, but the second had 42 minutes - I think part of the reason the first season had short episodes was because they had more episodes - 24 rather than the usual ~22).

                      I think some shows were still 47 minutes long into the mid-90s.

                      And yes, some cable shows will be longer.
                      "I read a book twice as fast as anybody else. First, I read the beginning, and then I read the ending, and then I start in the middle and read toward whatever end I like best." - Gracie Allen

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                      • #12
                        If we had more effectively targeted ads, we probably wouldn't have so many, considering that 20 minutes of commercials an hour really is a huge turnoff, and drives us to the green fields of Bittorrent.
                        I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891

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                        • #13
                          Re: TV episodes too short! (rant)

                          Originally posted by BeBro
                          That came to my mind when I recently started to watch Babylon 5 episodes on DVD (yes, I haven't seen them all before because they do not re-run B 5 as often as the various StarTrek shows here on tv, and yes, I only recently decided to get a DVD player).

                          However, those B 5 episodes run only ca. 40 minutes! On tv, including advertizing they go usually over a full hour, so the ads are ca. 20 minutes long? Is 40 minutes standard length for tv episodes?

                          Well, I do not really know why I posted this, but I guess the finding lasted so heavy on my soul that I had to share it. I feel a lot better now
                          sucks doesn't it?
                          To us, it is the BEAST.

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                          • #14
                            Re: Re: Re: TV episodes too short! (rant)

                            Originally posted by Guynemer
                            Like the BBC, this is because there are no commercial breaks. Just promos for other HBO shows and films in the couple minutes between programs.

                            Yet another reason why HBO is better than regular TV.
                            True, but broadcast and cable TV in the US have seasons of 20-22 episodes, while HBO has maybe seasons of maybe 12. BBC has seasons of 6 episodes. And when the series of HBO and BBC will return is anyone's guess (ask Soprano fans of that). At least regular TV comes back on regular intervals.

                            Then again, the number of episodes usually makes the quality of writing suffer for a good number of episodes per season. Makes something like "Seinfeld" that much more impressive.
                            “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
                            - John 13:34-35 (NRSV)

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                            • #15
                              I believe the run time is even getting shorter

                              When I watch "LOST" tv'od show, I had up the minutes

                              its encrouching on 28 minutes of commercials

                              agree with the rant
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