Shows start and end just off the half-hour

Posted on Monday, January 17, 2005 by MegaZone

Network efforts to get viewers to stick around for the evening are annoying some of their most passionate fans.

Spotted in jwz.livejournal.com. My solution – I stopped watching most network television. If ABC wants to screw with their schedule, I really just don’t need to watch ‘Lost’. I’ll either just never watch it, period, or I’ll wait for syndication on some channel that doesn’t dick with their viewers. With TiVo there are plenty of other shows to watch.

About MegaZone

MegaZone is the Editor of Gizmo Lovers and the chief contributor. He's been online since 1989 and active in several generations of 'social media' - mailing lists, USENet groups, web forums, and since 2003, blogging.    MegaZone has a presence on several social platforms: Google+ / Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / LiveJournal / Web.    You can also follow Gizmo Lovers on other sites: Blog / Google+ / Facebook / Twitter.
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  • jccohen

    Seems to me that Tivo could also change its service a bit with the next software version… allowing viewers to choose if its willing to let shows be clipped.

    I, for example, wouldn’t mind losing the credits of one show to see the start of the next.

  • brakusjs

    Another solution would be for TiVo to (FINALLY!) allow negative padding so that we won’t have to worry about shows conflicting with other shows.

  • tricia_rva

    I’ve often wondered why the networks don’t fill thier overnight hours by rerunning thier prime time shows from 2 to 5 am. Instead of like what ABC does by running world news now. Sometimes I have been interested in checking out a new show but if it conflicts with something I already watch I usually just pass.

    At least NBC has gotten somewhat good about listing their times as the actual times, if the show starts early (like er often does) it’s usually reflected in the tivo listings, that’s better than recording something and then watching it and seeing that the end or the beginning has been cut off.

  • gladstone

    I’m just going to wait for the inevitable DVD release and rent it from NetFlix.

  • megazone

    True – partial recording and negative padding would be welcome additions to the TiVo service, and would help with this somewhat. But that still makes me jump through hoops just to watch some network TV. The more they make me work for it, the less likely I am to bother.

    Most of the shows I like are on cable anyway – Cartoon Network (Full Metal Alchemist and Stand Alone Complex both kick ass), SciFi, History, Science Channel, Discovery, etc. Basically the networks have been encouraging me to look elsewhere for my entertainment – and I’ve found some good shows that I’m happy with, without having to play games.

    *And* cable channels tend to repeat shows a couple of times a night (east/west), and often several times in a week, making conflicts a non-issue.

  • glenn66

    I think they are afraid of diluting their income from advertisers, if someone only has one chance to watch a show (and with lack of summer reruns anymore, many replaced with reality TV it is the one chance) they will try not to miss it. But if the show is on again from 2 to 5am, people may ignore the primetime viewing and drop ratings and they would have to charge less for the advertising time. But like you said some shows may benefit from the additional viewing time, especially if it introduces a bunch of new viewers to the show…

    BUT, it seems that DVDs are coming out pretty quickly now, so if you are willing to wait a year you may be able to watch them the most pristine way possible anyway…

  • tricia_rva

    ha… I am axiously waiting for the 3rd season of the dead zone to come out, since my series 2 with all the episodes from that season died. :-( (but still under the 1 yr warranty)

    By the way glen, I miss your hysterical comments in but I just dont have the time to keep up with that group as much as I would like to.

  • brakusjs

    Same way with me too. Also — you ROCK for watching and enjoying Full Metal Alchemist. That series (and many other anime series) beats the pants off off what passes for live-action network programming these days!

    As a matter of fact, there are very few shows on my Season Pass List that are even broadcast on my local stations. Those shows in particular aren’t in futzing-around time slots (like TPiR and Millionaire). Thank God for digital cable, lots of choices, and TiVo. I’m telling you I never knew how I got along without TiVo.

  • brakusjs

    Psst, FMA comes out on DVD on February 8. The starter set is cool – nice tin case and it comes with the 1st OST. ;-)

  • megazone

    Hmm, I might have to hit BestPrices.com…

  • brakusjs

    Oh – how did you generate your Season Pass list to post on your website?

  • megazone

    I look forward to FMA and GitS:SAC every Saturday night – even though I’m buying the Special Edition SAC DVDs as they come out, mainly for the bonus stuff like the CDs, etc. :-) I haven’t actually watched the DVDs yet – but I will, since they have extras not shown on TV.

    I record some anime.

  • megazone

    Manually. :-)

    Though, if you have hacks like TiVoWeb installed, there are ways to extract things like that. (I haven’t bothered.)

  • dangermouse74

    huzzah! another one for negative padding! :-) i thought i was the only one constantly bitching about this (and even writing Tivo about it)

  • dangermouse74

    that works great for cable and honestly, i watch almost no network tv. but i am addicted to the simpsons, so when fox plays 2 episodes in a row and starts one early, if i try to start the season pass early voila, conflict because now the second show tries to start 5 minu early while the first show is now taping for longer than 30minutes. I *HATE* this :-( i deal with it by missing the intro on the first episode and seeing the intro to episode number 2 on the tail of episode number one, but if i wanted to save them on dvd for example, that is screwed up, and this shouldn’t be a difficult feature to add, so i don’t think it is unreasonable to have expected tivo to add it by now.