Whose Bright Idea was it to...

[mets82]

Some basic questions about television as of today as opposed to yesteryear.

Whose bright idea was it to:

1) Crunch the end credits at the end. Instead of hearing a tv closing theme song, we get another plug for a show, they've plugged already during the show you were watching!!!

2) Start shows off the clock. Instead of 6 pm, they start 6:15 pm etc. TV Land does this a lot. Now TBS used to do this. If TV Land is going to do this at least SAY your going to do it. At 6 pm, if I flip on TV Land I want to see the beginning of an episode, not the very end.

3) Create an abundance of Reality TV shows. I mean I watch the occasional reality show but now theres way too many. They are killing Game shows, westerns, soap operas and everything else.

4) Pop Up Ads during shows. I mean your watching a show and all of a sudden an ad for a show comes on. Its very annoying.

[Zoneboy]

I thought I read somewhere on this board that USA Network was the first to do pop-ups and I'm with you, they're very annoying.

[bencasey]

I have no problem with #2. That's the way its done everywhere in the world but the US. And there's really no excuse to run shows cut if they are not all in hour and half hour start times.

[mets82]

Ben, I understand that but when you look up the times of the shows whether it be on the internet, tv guide magazine or for me my comcast digital guide, they always have the start times every hour or half hour. 6 pm, 6:30 pm, 7 pm, etc.

[tiredmike59]

Its all about $$$$$.
They make reality shows so they dont have to pay actors or writers.

[DSfan]

Originally Posted by mets82

2) Start shows off the clock. Instead of 6 pm, they start 6:15 pm etc. TV Land does this a lot. Now TBS used to do this. If TV Land is going to do this at least SAY your going to do it. At 6 pm, if I flip on TV Land I want to see the beginning of an episode, not the very end.

TBS' off the clock was done with a purpose, though. You can't, and shouldn't, compare TV Land's off the clock treatment to that of TBS. Whereas TV Land's is a huge mess, TBS always started 5 minutes after the hour and was a strategic move to be more visible in TV Guide as it would have its own little section. TV Land does off the clock as a way to shove in more ads while TBS' off the clock was a much more intelligent strategic maneuver to try to get as many viewers as possible with more and more cable channels emerging in the mid-1990's.

[TV Knowledge Fan]

...to "scrunch" credits- or rather, replace the original closing credits of programs with their own- in September 1994, when they began a plan they referred to as "NBC 2000". Instead of 45 seconds or a full minute of actual closing credits, they created a "standard" closing credit with the names taking up a small quarter fraction on the right hand side of the screen, with promos (or "fun facts") taking up the other 3/4 of the screen. Within two years, virtually every major broadcast network was following their lead. Today, all networks have a small area of closing credits at the bottom of the screen, with promos taking up the rest of the space. And opening credits {again, blame it on NBC} for most TV shows [especially sitcoms] last no more than 10 to 20 seconds, or have a five second "transition" title at the start- the better to add more commercials.

[Zoneboy]

Originally Posted by TV Knowledge Fan

...to "scrunch" credits- or rather, replace the original closing credits of programs with their own- in September 1994, when they began a plan they referred to as "NBC 2000". Instead of 45 seconds or a full minute of actual closing credits, they created a "standard" closing credit with the names taking up a small quarter fraction on the right hand side of the screen, with promos (or "fun facts") taking up the other 3/4 of the screen. Within two years, virtually every major broadcast network was following their lead. Today, all networks have a small area of closing credits at the bottom of the screen, with promos taking up the rest of the space. And opening credits {again, blame it on NBC} for most TV shows [especially sitcoms] last no more than 10 to 20 seconds, or have a five second "transition" title at the start- the better to add more commercials.

Is this from Wikipedia?

[Regulus]

The "Pop-Ups" are the most annoying. (At least they WERE before I decided to watch Programs only if they were available on Home Video) Sometimes they are accompanied by sound effects, and they occur at the most inappropiate of times. For example, a Show you are watching has a Funeral Scene. A Preacher is eulogizing the deceased, and he asks for a moment of silence. Suddenly, you hear a ROWWWWWWWWM! as a group mof animated race cars streak across the bottom of the screen, followed by a message to watch the Automobile Race after the Movie. Or, you are watching a movie that takes place in a Foreign Country (For example let's say World War II Germany) A group of Nazi Soldiers are speaking in German. What are they saying? According to the "Subtitle" they are discussing the President's reaction to the latest Crisis, and for more info we are to watch the 11:00 News.

[LUNCH]

I know I've mentioned this on other posts before but...The amount of time allowed for television commercials in America used to be regulated and controlled.Also the content and who could advertise was regulated.When these good rules/regulations were lifted is when tv stations started going crazy with commercials,not showing ending credits,off the clock programming,pop-ups etc. etc.--It's also the reason an older half hour show made in lets say the 1970s ran over 25 minutes.New half hour shows run about 20 minutes.---As far as reality shows(junk) go ,I don't know the answer to that.

[LUNCH]

What is also crazy nowadays is cable tv stations show more commercials than free tv stations like Antenna-tv,Me-tv,RTV etc. So bascially people actually pay for commercials,and then alot pay extra for a DVR player to avoid the ads. Realistically if you pay for tv there should be less or even no ads. People in the UK for example pay for the BBC stations(by getting a tv license),and they are commercial free.And they pay far less than the average American pays for even basic cable.--What can I say,American television(once great) has become a cesspool for the most part.-----Also did you ever notice on threads like this one,you hardly ever get responses from any of the international posters outside of the US.--IMO that is because tv stations in other first world countries have not been ruined by over-advertising.

[Mr. Television]

Originally Posted by TV Knowledge Fan

...to "scrunch" credits- or rather, replace the original closing credits of programs with their own- in September 1994, when they began a plan they referred to as "NBC 2000". Instead of 45 seconds or a full minute of actual closing credits, they created a "standard" closing credit with the names taking up a small quarter fraction on the right hand side of the screen, with promos (or "fun facts") taking up the other 3/4 of the screen. Within two years, virtually every major broadcast network was following their lead. Today, all networks have a small area of closing credits at the bottom of the screen, with promos taking up the rest of the space. And opening credits {again, blame it on NBC} for most TV shows [especially sitcoms] last no more than 10 to 20 seconds, or have a five second "transition" title at the start- the better to add more commercials.

It's funny but today NBC is actually the one network that actually has a regular opening on most of their shows. Granted, it's shorter than the old days. That's the only thing I like about NBC nowadays. I don't know whats going to happen now that Comcast owns it. At least most cable series still have regular theme songs.

[tiredmike59]

Do you notice, A very high percentage of commercials are from insurance companies ?
What does that tell you ?
Maybe they're getting too big in this country ?

[Regulus]

Originally Posted by LUNCH

What is also crazy nowadays is cable tv stations show more commercials than free tv stations like Antenna-tv,Me-tv,RTV etc. So bascially people actually pay for commercials,and then alot pay extra for a DVR player to avoid the ads. Realistically if you pay for tv there should be less or even no ads. People in the UK for example pay for the BBC stations(by getting a tv license),and they are commercial free.And they pay far less than the average American pays for even basic cable.--What can I say,American television(once great) has become a cesspool for the most part.-----Also did you ever notice on threads like this one,you hardly ever get responses from any of the international posters outside of the US.--IMO that is because tv stations in other first world countries have not been ruined by over-advertising.

A little over 30 years ago, when Cable began its agressive expansion to every city in the nation (Prior to the late 1970s Cable TV was primarily used to bring TV into areas with little or no Over-The-Air TV Coverage, such as Rural or Mountainous Areas) one of the things they did to convince us to subscribe was make a series of promises. One of them was that there would be LESS Commercials than there was on Over-The-Air TV (Which, at that time averaged around 10-12 Minutes per Hour). It turned out to be a BIG LIE. With the exception of the "Premium" Channels (That's HBO, Showtime, The Movie Channel and others for those of you in Rio Linda!), most of the Channels had the same or a couple of minutes more Commercials than the Over-The-Air Channels. Still, we went along with it, many Channels had TV Shows that hadn't been seen for ages. 30 years later and the amount of Commercials, on both Over-The-Air AND Pay-TV, has more than DOUBLED, while the quality of the Shows themselves has gone to Hades in a Handbasket. And today things took a turn for the worse, one of the Headlines I read this morning stated that PBS will now have Commercial Breaks four times during the hour, as well as before and after the Program.

It is written that a House divided against itself cannot stand. This is, IMO what the TV Industry has become today. In all my life I have NEVER seen a Business that raises prices and lowers quality stay in business for long. A LOT of people I have talked to are considering doing what I did back in 2006, cancel their Pay-TV Subscription and seek their programming elsewhere. I don't know how much longer people will put up with the buffoonry that is TV, but when they decide they've had enough, LOOK OUT!

[ABC1]

It's getting to the point where I can't even READ the closing credits anymore, the screen is so scrunched up. The changes to pop ups, bugs, no theme songs and split screens do not make for happy viewing, as far as I'm concerned.