Afraid that is true, that all channels do it, one way or the other.
Consider "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" on Sci Fi; it wasn't like the original in the 70's, but instead rather bland. When I compared what was being shown to the Columbia House tapes I had, I realized that they had cut out various parts that built the tension through the show. It was the same story with The Twilight Zone "Passage on the Lady Anne". A snip here, a snip there, perhaps not noticed by themselves, but necessary for the overall quality of the show.
Ever see Star Trek: TOS "The Paradise Syndrome"? On consumer tape, there is a scene where we are shown the stern of the Enterprise, hurtling through deep space, Spock making a log entry about how their delay has caused the need to push the engines. One feels the tension for the mission building, the adventure of what it means when a starship can move like that through intersteller space.
But in syndication TV, that scene is often snipped away. One moment the landing party is returning to the ship, the next the ship is coming up on its objective. Sure, it may not be crucial to the telling of the story but it is vital to the execution of it.
Hence is the reason why I stopped watching syndicated TV and went off and bought various series in DVD and tape. Maybe I did not feel like I was being cheated with these watered down versions but I did not like the feeling that I was being led along.
Unfortunately, the effect has spread to even first run shows and it is one of the reasons why I have essentially given up on TV altogether; now I almost only watch "canned".
I'm a fan of "Charmed", I love it, but it hurts to watch it, compare it to Star Trek:TOS, to see what it means when a show has 42 minutes of story vs one that has 50 minutes. In the former, there is the teaser, the threat analysis, the search (tension builder).......and then, it is solved, they wrap it all up, in a minute or two, and the show ends. The rapid conclusion is rather a let down.
Perhaps one of the last shows I watched before I "turned off TV" was "ER". Toward the end, they replaced the opening of where they introduced each player with images of them in action to a blip of "ER" and then cut to the commercial. The cast names were then shown as the story started up. This was especially fatal to me for with the new (and last) blood of the final seasons, I didn't know who anyone was. Production no longer introduced them anymore. It had been sacrificed for more commercial time.
It is true that in the US, without commercials, there would be no TV. Who would pay for this show or that? But after decades of being jerked around as an audience member, I am fed up and the butchery for more commercial space is just one more nail in the coffin. I'm done with TV and the commercials, for whatever they may be for, can exist watchless in the ether for all I care.
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robert4770
10 years ago
Since TV Land has starting airing BH again the editing is the WORST I have ever seen. I timed too different episodes this week and the commercial/Show split was 15/15 one night and 14/16 the other. The episode where they take cousin Pearle sightseeing had 2 major scenes missing and other mostly gone. I know this is the norm now to add more commercials but this makes the show unwatchable.
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vestdennis
10 years ago
TVLand cuts apart every show they air (except their own crappy sitcoms). The Andy Griffith Show is cut to pieces. Most 30 minute shows are now given a :38 minute running time- of which maybe 20 minutes is the program we are trying to watch.
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