Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Ben on November 28, 2012, 10:49:01 AM
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I knew he had something to do with food, but otherwise knew nothing about him and never saw his show. This was linked on another site and I thought it was a good read.
Besides the ethics, it's also interesting to see how television is handling the "DVR generation". I've noted that a lot of shows, especially on cable, are now sticking 1-2 minute segments in between commercials so that you have to stop fast forwarding, then rewind to catch the segment, which causes you to see parts of the commercials on either side of the segment. I wonder how much more those "bookend" sponsors pay for a spot versus the ones in the middle of my commercial fast forward? :)
http://anthonybourdain.tumblr.com/post/35577815503/fighting-mad
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I've noted that a lot of shows, especially on cable, are now sticking 1-2 minute segments in between commercials so that you have to stop fast forwarding, then rewind to catch the segment, which causes you to see parts of the commercials on either side of the segment.
That's proof that show producers don't know jack about the DVR generation. If they did they wouldn't be thinking about putting in mini-spots arranged in whole-minute increments. Instead they'd be using a random time span. Thos of us who are the DVR generation have learned to use the "Skip" button to FF in 30 second increments. Mine? I automatically tap the button four times. Still commercials? Two more times. Still commercials then two more times and set down the remote. (Yes, some networks have four minute commercial segments. Discovery Channel leads the pack...) It's a gleefully evil feeling to jump past four minutes of commercials in eight or nine seconds.
What I find interesting is that a lot of payTV channels have gone to a 40-minute-per-hour format vs the "free" networks' 44 minute per hour model. For the math challenged that means a full third of every program you watch on Discovery, Science, Learning Channel, etc is advertising, usually to promote the same stinkin' program! If I'm already watching 'Dirty Jobs' I don't need to see a commercial for it every four minutes. Seriously?!
[rant off]
Brad
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I'm still using a VCR - what is this DVR of which you speak? ;)
Seriously, commercials are WAY out of hand - I've counted as many as fourteen - 14! - commercials in one segment. Get some DVDs of old TV shows and you'll be amazed at the length of the show they put into a 1-hour segment a generation or two past.
Sometimes when there's a movie or program I'm interested in seeing, I just go ahead and tape it to watch later when I have the FF button on the remote available, even if I'm home and not doing anything in particular at the time; I simply won't waste that much of my life watching commercials.
. . . full third of every program you watch on Discovery, Science, Learning Channel, etc is advertising, usually to promote the same stinkin' program! If I'm already watching 'Dirty Jobs' I don't need to see a commercial for it every four minutes. . . .
One of my pet peeves is the self-promotion on the local evening newscasts - they spend more time during the broadcast itself telling you they're GOING to report on something, than they do in actualy REPORTING of that story.
Then they wonder why viewership is declining.
Idiots.
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There is the question of "can you?"vs. "should you?"
Our current state of greed seems to lean heavily to the "can you?" side.
Morality still applies to making a buck IMHO. I never liked his show much, but I respect his position on this.
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I'm still using a VCR - what is this DVR of which you speak? ;)
Seriously, commercials are WAY out of hand - I've counted as many as fourteen - 14! - commercials in one segment. Get some DVDs of old TV shows and you'll be amazed at the length of the show they put into a 1-hour segment a generation or two past.
Sometimes when there's a movie or program I'm interested in seeing, I just go ahead and tape it to watch later when I have the FF button on the remote available, even if I'm home and not doing anything in particular at the time; I simply won't waste that much of my life watching commercials.
One of my pet peeves is the self-promotion on the local evening newscasts - they spend more time during the broadcast itself telling you they're GOING to report on something, than they do in actualy REPORTING of that story.
Then they wonder why viewership is declining.
Idiots.
I have old DVDs of shows like Star Trek and Naked City which have aruntime of 51 minutes, New shows like Criminal Minds often have a runtime of 43 minutes.
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I'm a casual viewer of No Reservations and try to catch it whenever I can. I like how Anthony presents new places and different dishes. I especially remember an episode from western Montana (Kalispell maybe?).
I wish he could move his show to Netflix or Amazon original content. No commercials, no product placement, still make a profit. Its a better business model to boot.
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I have always wondered why they spend so much effort advertising other shows. I figured it meant they couldn't sell that air time to a paying advertiser and needed fluf. What is the business model for that? Advertise other shows so we can have more viewers watch the ads on that show which are for other shows.
I seem to recall that even the Superbowl (which is supposed to be super expensive) had a large portion of the ads that were for other programs.
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I have old DVDs of shows like Star Trek and Naked City which have aruntime of 51 minutes, New shows like Criminal Minds often have a runtime of 43 minutes.
I "have this pattern."
I recently went to see which episodes of Bones were available on Netflix and Hulu. I'll have to go back and check again to be sure, but it seemed to me that the earlier episodes were longer. The more current ones are in the low 40s.
That's nearly twenty minutes of crap out of an hour.
It wouldn't take much to convince me to move my primary viewing to Hulu/Netflix on Roku . . . except that Roku's Hulu (or is it Netflix) has started injecting non-skip-able advertising into the episodes. That's all that keeps me using the DVR. If the DVR commercials become unskippable, then I'm not sure there will be any reason to continue with "live" TV at all.
I, too, have noticed this trend -- especially on "news" channels to do in-show promotion teasers telling you that "after the break" (and which break is never specified) they're gonna tell you about that 80-car pile-up, or that gang home invasion, or the village that fell through the ice, or whatever. They'll spend ten minutes worth of air time telling you that they're gonna tell you something, and then the actual segment is three minutes long.
Yea, verily, I am fed up unto my eyeballs with that crap.