Question About Start Times...

[curtking]

I picked up a DVD recorder today to dub a bunch of tapes to DVD.  While I'm at it, I'd like to record some stuff from GSN directly off my DirectTV feed.

Other than the screwed-up Saturday night schedule (it's 10:07CST and Greed's still on), is there anything I should know about the start times on GSN programs?  Do they stray very far from the top and bottom of the hour?

Thanks!

Curt

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'curtking\' date=\'Feb 19 2005, 11:09 PM\']

Other than the screwed-up Saturday night schedule (it's 10:07CST and Greed's still on), is there anything I should know about the start times on GSN programs?  Do they stray very far from the top and bottom of the hour?

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I've started taping for the two minutes before and the two minutes after, for the rare occasions I tape GSN. They are pretty good about starting things at least within a minute of the scheduled time

[GS Warehouse]

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Feb 20 2005, 07:31 AM\']I've started taping for the two minutes before and the two minutes after, for the rare occasions I tape GSN. They are pretty good about starting things at least within a minute of the scheduled time

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Marathons and other blocks that contain wraparounds are the only things you have to watch out for on this network.  Back in the hayday of Nickelodeon in the late-80s, shows did tend to start a minute or two off either way.  Sometimes, Boomerang, the Cartoon Network spin-off channel that runs without commercials (for now at least), doesn't always start programs right on the hour or half-hour.  (In fact, as I type this, Boomerang started Shirt Tales at 9:58 this morning.)

Of course, the broadcast networks have been doing this a lot this season.  ER has started at 9:59 for years, but lately ABC's Wife Swap and Boston Legal have been starting at 10:02, and NBC used to be notorious for making its Thursday sitcoms 40 minutes (according to rec.arts.tv, 6 of the 10 extra minutes are extra commercials).  If this keeps up, the days of 30- and 60-minute programs may be numbered.

[WhammyPower]

[quote name=\'GS Warehouse\' date=\'Feb 20 2005, 09:15 AM\'] If this keeps up, the days of 30- and 60-minute programs may be numbered.

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Then maybe a PYL revival is due back on the air without a bunch of sloppy edits.

[Steve Gavazzi]

Where the hell did THAT come from?

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'GS Warehouse\' date=\'Feb 20 2005, 10:15 AM\']Of course, the broadcast networks have been doing this a lot this season.  ER has started at 9:59 for years, but lately ABC's Wife Swap and Boston Legal have been starting at 10:02, and NBC used to be notorious for making its Thursday sitcoms 40 minutes (according to rec.arts.tv, 6 of the 10 extra minutes are extra commercials).  If this keeps up, the days of 30- and 60-minute programs may be numbered.

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I've been wondering about this for awhile. I think the average half-hour show is about 22 minutes of material, and an hour-long show is about 44 minutes or so, compared to the 70s, when it was about 25 and 28 mins, respectively. I'm waiting for the day when half-hour sitcoms will become 45 minutes, and hour-long dramas will become 90 minutes.

[Thad Dixon]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Feb 20 2005, 01:21 PM\']I've been wondering about this for awhile. I think the average half-hour show is about 22 minutes of material, and an hour-long show is about 44 minutes or so, compared to the 70s, when it was about 25 and 28 mins, respectively.[/quote]

Don't you mean 25 and 48 minutes, respectively?

[SplitSecond]

Each network has different delivery requirements for shows when it comes to program time, but 22 minutes per half hour is pretty close to the standard nowadays.

By way of example, VH1's current delivery requirements for a half-hour show include 21 minutes and 30 seconds of program time, including end credits.  WB's current program time requirements for an hour show are 43 minutes and 50 seconds, not including end credits.

[wschmrdr]

Having DISH Network at my perm home, I can tell you GSN's start time is pretty much synchronized with the clock system that they use.

I know that on BBC America I see 40-minute programming. Also during B&W Overnight they used to do 40-minute shows.

I don't think the days of 60-minute programming will be numbered anytime soon. Though, advertising may come to a point where it goes down to 18 minutes of program time during a 30-minute show.

Usually now when movies and marathons are done, they're seen as "fundraising" opportunities.

[trainman]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Feb 20 2005, 10:21 AM\']I think the average half-hour show is about 22 minutes of material, and an hour-long show is about 44 minutes or so, compared to the 70s, when it was about 25 and 28 mins, respectively.

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It was a shock when we closed-captioned some first-season "Hill Street Blues" episodes a couple years ago:  they were 51 minutes.

Daytime shows have always been shorter than prime-time shows, and that continues to the present day.  "Days of Our Lives" has shrunk by a couple minutes over the past five or six years, to the point that it's now only 40 minutes and 20 seconds (including closing credits, the mid-show bumper, and an in-show promo).

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'Thad Dixon\' date=\'Feb 20 2005, 07:28 PM\'][quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Feb 20 2005, 01:21 PM\']I've been wondering about this for awhile. I think the average half-hour show is about 22 minutes of material, and an hour-long show is about 44 minutes or so, compared to the 70s, when it was about 25 and 28 mins, respectively.[/quote]

Don't you mean 25 and 48 minutes, respectively?

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Thanks...math never was my good subject. ;-)

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'trainman\' date=\'Feb 20 2005, 10:51 PM\']Daytime shows have always been shorter than prime-time shows, and that continues to the present day.  "Days of Our Lives" has shrunk by a couple minutes over the past five or six years, to the point that it's now only 40 minutes and 20 seconds (including closing credits, the mid-show bumper, and an in-show promo).

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And I think TPiR is also at 43 or so minutes.

Now the thing I find interesting is that shows could probably get in a little more air time if they didn't use the generic "squeezed" credits everyday. Or at least the daytime shows. For example, I know CBS' shows (Price and soaps) did the full credits maybe once or twice a week before they squeezed credits. On other days, they'd just do the show's logo, "Videotaped at CBS Television City," and copyright. I'm sure they'd save a little more time if they just went back to standard credits, although I like ABC's just fine.

[Ian Wallis]

Of course, the broadcast networks have been doing this a lot this season. ER has started at 9:59 for years, but lately ABC's Wife Swap and Boston Legal have been starting at 10:02, and NBC used to be notorious for making its Thursday sitcoms 40 minutes (according to rec.arts.tv, 6 of the 10 extra minutes are extra commercials).

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.

[roadgeek]

[quote name=\'curtking\' date=\'Feb 19 2005, 11:09 PM\']Do they stray very far from the top and bottom of the hour?

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My VCR's set to change to the half-hour during the last 15 seconds or so of the previous show's credits, and thanks to GSN's consistency, I haven't had any issues with episodes getting cut off.  Not sure how close GSN time is to, say, the US Atomic Clock, but GSN dependably sticks to its own network clock, IMO.

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Feb 21 2005, 09:07 AM\']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.

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Back when TV had an extra commercial break between the previous show and the next, this wouldn't have even been an issue.  How long has the trend been to segue from one show into the next? (There are a few networks that don't do this, but I find they're getting more rare.)

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'roadgeek\' date=\'Feb 21 2005, 10:24 PM\']Back when TV had an extra commercial break between the previous show and the next, this wouldn't have even been an issue.  How long has the trend been to segue from one show into the next? (There are a few networks that don't do this, but I find they're getting more rare.)

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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.