Do the math, broadcast networks

Reader Craig Gustafson posted a comment on Monday regarding my rant on the viability of smart sophisticatedcomedy.  I thought his comment was so incisive I’m reposting it since most people don’t read the comments.  But it’s a commentary that deserves to be read. 

 

Thanks, Craig for unknowingly becoming my guest blogger. 

 

I broke a huge rule and watched a colorized version of a black & white TV show. Why? Because the person who originally made the show supervised the colorization. And it wasn’t perfect, but it was well done.

 

So why am I now abandoning all commercial broadcasting?

 

Earlier the same day, I had the TV on. The Three Stooges. When I was a kid, there would be one commercial break in a 20 minute short. Now, there’s a break every two minutes. A *long* break.

 

After watching “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” I was mad enough to do the math. I had DVR’d the show, so I could be as anal as I pleased about it. Here’s how things went originally:

 

A sitcom ran 25-26 minutes. One commercial break after the credits, one in the middle and one before the tag. That’s it. A total five minutes (or less) of commercials. And your concentration on the story was only broken three times.

Show: 83%

Commercials: 17%

 

I timed the “Coast to Coast Big Mouth” episode. Every five minutes or so, there were over 3½ minutes of commercials.

Show: 67%

Commercials: 30%

Dick Van Dyke’s Intro: 3%

 

They cut 30% of the episode. It should have been called “Scenes from the Dick Van Dyke Show.”

 

1. How can anyone with an attention span enjoy this bullshit?

2. If I want to watch this show, why would I watch it with a boatload of commercials? There are so many other options these days.

 

The only benefit would be people becoming newly interested in the show and tracking down the DVDs. But consistently watching network TV and wasting 30% of my time? I'm out.

 

Get off my colorized lawn.

from By Ken Levine