10 Responses to “My New Year’s Resolution: NO MORE TV ADS”

1. Kate,

   Count me in. There are some commercials I like, but for the most part, they are annoying and some don’t even make any sense. Syndicated channels are the worst. I can always tell when one of my shows is butchered to death (Note to self: Interesting book title idea), and it’s mostly because of the commercials in syndication….apparently, it costs more to show them in syndication, hence more commercials. I kid you not, I once saw a commercial that might as well have been an infomercial. It went on for about 10 minutes. At first, I thought it was another commercial after a while, but then I realized I was seeing the same one. That’s just ridiculous.

   by Traci on January 6th, 2008 at 3:25 am
   
   

2. I’m sure someone who works in TV can tell you the exact number, but I remember reading that an hour long TV show is actually something like 46 minutes long, with the rest being ads.

   I don’t watch ads. But then, I don’t really *watch* tv–I tend to listen to it while I am working on my computer–so since it’s mostly background noise anyway, I don’t so much notice ads.

   Years ago, I had a Replay TV unit (DVR–way, way cooler than Tivo) that had an “auto-skip” feature. You set the preference, and it would simply skip all the commercials in a show. You never saw them. Sonic Blue, maker of Replay TV, was nearly sued out of existence by all the major network and cable companies and had to remove the feature in subsequent versions of the machine. They still have a “30-second skip” button, but you can’t just set a preference never to see ads on recorded shows.

   I’ve often said I’d be perfectly happy to go to subscription tv where you only paid for shows you watched. But that hasn’t happened thus far and I doubt it ever will–piracy is too prevalent; tv networks want the ad money because they can’t be guaranteed people actually *will* pay for the shows they watch.

   by Laura on January 6th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
   
   

3. Does anyone remember when a half-hour show was longer than 20 minutes? The ads just keep getting longer and longer. You can go make yourself a sandwich and walk the dog during a commercial break these days.

   My twenty-something daughter has started training us to mute the dreck, thank goodness. Like Laura, I tend to just blank them out.

   by Sheila Connolly on January 7th, 2008 at 10:57 am
   
   

4. I don’t remember when half hour shows were 20 minutes. I think the last I counted was something like 23 minutes. Now, it’s probably down to 15 minutes of show and 15 minutes of commercials.

   by Traci on January 8th, 2008 at 1:53 am
   
   

5. What I don’t get is why there aren’t good commercials anymore? How about creative ones that make you laugh? I don’t mind those. The Brits are much better at commercials than we are. If I see one more car commercial during my viewing of Man vs. Wild, I’m going to scream! I’m hitting the Mute button, Kate. Let’s start a revolution!

   by JB on January 8th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
   
   

6. I particularly resent the stations that run the old movies. The first part is practically commercial-free, then, once they know they have you, the “exciting conclusion” is interrupted about every three minutes.

   I do agree with JB that there are few good commercials, although I’ve noticed that even when a commercial is memorable, I remember the commercial but have no idea what product it was advertising.

   To me, though, the worst is when we’re made to sit through commercials for the various “men’s complaints” before the station will condescend to tell us the weather forecast. Way more information than I want, especially before breakfast!

   by Karen on January 10th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
   
   

7. Hey, does anyone else remember when AMC used to be commercial free? I used to love AMC for that reason. That’s one of my biggest complaints…I used to be able to watch/tape movies commercial free on that channel, which I loved…but no more. How long before PBS starts showing commercials (besides their own, which I have noticed have been getting more and more)? Pledge is a whole nother topic.

   by Traci on January 11th, 2008 at 1:27 am
   
   

8. Some of the funniest moments on TV were clever ads — one of my favs was the woman who wanted a cell phone but got a waffle maker, and when the family car breaks down, she pretends to call for help on it. But those ads are hard to find now.

   I remember when AMC was commercial free. Now, forget it. Cable ads are almost worse than regular TV ads in length. I can wash dishes during commercial breaks. In fact, I always get up and do something instead of sitting there, waiting for the show to come back on.

   I hope it doesn’t get worse. And Traci, you’re right. Those “pledge” breaks are terrible. I know they have to raise money to stay on the air but there has to be a better way. I always think of the Simpsons show, where Homer calls in and pledges ten thousand dollars to make them go away, which of course he doesn’t have. I’m sorely tempted to do the same sometimes.

   Then I just get up and do something else instead.

   Kate

   by Kate Collins on January 11th, 2008 at 11:09 am
   
   

9. The best commercials are the “retromercials” that are on TVLand. Those I don’t mind. But I love the one commercial (I think it’s for Car insurance). It’s Chatty Cathy. “Pull that string again, I dare you”. LOL! I love it! I usually go get a snack or a cup of tea during commercial breaks. Heck, I can remember when you could cut out commercials easily because the screen would go black when the commercial was about to start and then when the show was about to come back on. Made it real easy to tape stuff. Now it’s hard to cut out commercials.

   Kate, what drives me nuts about the pledge breaks these days is after the first run, they are pre-recorded. I am always watching/taping the Daniel O’Donnell concerts and every single time they run pledge, it’s the same exact one….like the employees don’t want to bother doing a pledge drive (which I can’t blame them for, but hey, it IS their job). Not only that, but they used to run pledge 3 times a year or something like that, for a week. Now, practically every time I turn PBS on, they are running pledge. I know they need money, but this is getting out of hand. I’m tempted to do what they did on The Golden Girls once where Sophia calls in to pledge a certain amount if Rose will stop singing. I can just hear it now…”Hello, yes, I will pledge $200 if you will shut the heck up and put the show back on!” We even had a show taken off because they weren’t getting enough pledges, which I found ridiculous.

   And I’m glad I’m not the only one who remembers when AMC was commercial free. Did your area do a campaign when it was dropped from the cable system like ours did?

   by Traci on January 12th, 2008 at 3:21 am
   
   

10. Traci, we still get AMC, but I hardly watch it. Because of all the commercials, I’ll usually search the independent movie channel and the like for commercial-free movies. And btw, Fox is another station that uses so many commercials, I can vacuum the house during the breaks! Where will it end?

    by Kate Collins on January 12th, 2008 at 9:16 am
    
    

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