Question About Start Times...

[GS Warehouse]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Feb 21 2005, 10:54 PM\']For primetime, I know when NBC started their squeezed credits in fall 1994, they had a seamless transition. However, when they aired Scrabble and Scattergories, I know they went from show to show, without a commercial.

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It's a little more traditional in daytime.  The View (ObGS: Meredith) still ends at 11:58 am; TPiR (ObGS2) at 11:57.  Speaking of Price, the last ep I taped as a whole was Rich Fields's first official day on the job, and the TRT (minus commercials) was around 39½ minutes.

BTW, ABC's lineup tonight (Feb. 22) is taking a page from NBC, with 39-to-41-minute episodes of three of its sitcoms, with According to Jim starting at the very popular start time of 9:19.  Like we've stated above, we've seen the future.

[Jimmy Owen]

Remember the CBS Late Movie and the 35 minute sitcoms and 70 minute cop show reruns?  At least nothing was cut out of the "first" feature. The 12:40 "feature" was not so lucky as full length TV movies were cut to fit an 80 minute slot after the introduction of CBS News Nightwatch.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Feb 21 2005, 10:07 AM\']This is something we should get used to.  There was an article in the paper about the practice this weekend, and the odd start-end times will probably increase in the near future.  It's all because of ratings - if "Lost" (for example) goes 2 minutes past the hour, then it's less likely viewers will switch to another network because they've already missed the beginning of that show.[/quote]
Not surprisingly, ABC tells us a slightly different story.  They say that episodes of LOST aren't any longer than any other show, but they're selling more ad time within it, and that's the only reason the shows run longer.  You'll notice that unlike the "super-sized" episodes of Friends, ABC doesn't promote LOST as a 65 minute show.  Tell you what, though, as a West Wing fan, I find it very annoying to have to miss the opening sequence of that series just because ABC can sell more soap.

[Ian Wallis]

BTW, ABC's lineup tonight (Feb. 22) is taking a page from NBC, with 39-to-41-minute episodes of three of its sitcoms, with According to Jim starting at the very popular start time of 9:19. Like we've stated above, we've seen the future.

I've wondered:  how exactly are these "super-sized" shows syndicated?  Large chunks must be edited out to fit into a local station's 30-minute time period.  Or, are these shows held back from the syndication package?

[Jimmy Owen]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Feb 23 2005, 09:12 AM\']

BTW, ABC's lineup tonight (Feb. 22) is taking a page from NBC, with 39-to-41-minute episodes of three of its sitcoms, with According to Jim starting at the very popular start time of 9:19. Like we've stated above, we've seen the future.

I've wondered:  how exactly are these "super-sized" shows syndicated?  Large chunks must be edited out to fit into a local station's 30-minute time period.  Or, are these shows held back from the syndication package?

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I'm not sure, but if I were the syndicator, I would make them 2-parters, with "scenes from the next" show at the end of the first show and a 5-7 min. recap at the start of the 2nd part.  Nothing would have to be cut from the show itself.