TV: The 41-minute Hour

[Darren Dirt]

The 41-minute Hour
by Bob Greenberger, "Notes from a Final Frontiersman" (August 01, 2005)

Over the weekend, Robbie expressed a desire to see Stealth. I told him it was an old story, better told by Star Trek. After dinner last night, we were looking for something to watch and Deb suggested we show him the episode...

One of the things I noticed about the show was that the characters talked to one another. It wasn?t just exposition, but the characters discussed their feelings, their doubts and fears about man being replaced by machine. Even Spock got off some interesting observations such as his desire not to serve under a machine.

I delighted in letting the characters breath, so to speak and then I was reminded of an article I read the other week. David Kelly, the terrific producer of Boston Legal, etc. lamented that going into the new season he had maybe 41 minutes to tell his story every week. He lost time to opening and closing credits but the vast majority of the remaining 19 minutes was devoted to commercials.

The Star Trek episode, with credits, ran 51 minutes. So, since the late 1960s, producers have lost 10 minutes of storytelling time. Who suffers? Well, the actors for one who generally don?t get a lot to do. The writers also are hurting because they need to strip down their stories or worse, dumb them down.

Obviously it can be done. We?ve delighted in Aaron Sorkin?s use of language and theatrics for several seasons and lately there have been Battlestar Galactica, Gilmore Girls, and yes, even Boston Legal which seem to rise above the time constraints.

Still, Kelly complained that at this rate he would have to look to the basic cable or pay cable channels to get more time for his stories. After all, when HBO says you?re getting an hour program, you?re getting as many as 58-59 minutes of that hour most weeks...

- - -

Reason #42 why Darren doesn't watch network television anymore

[Shayne]

By not watching network television does this mean not on the TV, or do you still watch it but downloaded with stuff removed?

[Mr. Analog]

"If you can't find something good on TV, you're not looking hard enough"
-Me, 2006

Seriously, watch Battlestar or something and as Arnie says "Quit your whining".

[Shayne]

Lots of good TV on these days.  Lost, House, Heroes, BSG, SG:A, Supernatural

[Darren Dirt]

Lots of good TV on these days.  Lost, House, Heroes, BSG, SG:A, Supernatural

Disclosure: I guess I'm basically wary of getting "hooked" into a new show, only to find my initial warm feelings turn into cold disinterest and/or feelings of "betrayal". It seems the "good" shows either encounter an early "retirement", and/or they eventually (often in season 2 or 3) fade away from the early brilliance/focused vision/creative concept (e.g. "Lost", according to many zealous fans, has essentially "run out of ideas" ; "House" according to a few, is like Law & Order but without the unpredictability of a jury verdict -- and BTW I watched 7 out of the first 10 episodes of House thru BT and enjoyed them immensely, however I could already see how an episode pattern was forming, sadly).

By not watching network television does this mean not on the TV, or do you still watch it but downloaded with stuff removed?

Overall the networks are becoming more and more underwhelming in their offerings compared to "cable", and heck even the indies on the 'Net. I guess the "41 minutes" realization is like a wake up call to the increasing amount of commercials (presumably, because there are so many more alternatives for info/entertainment out there now!?) -- so ignoring all the other issues, the idea that if some of us don't want to spend ALMOST HALF of the hour duration of an "hour-long" program watching car and beer and tampon commercials, then we have to resort to the iffy territory of downloading in order to watch a first running of a well-written/acted/produced show.


I'm not really trying to whine, I guess -- just observe what others have observed, that a 51-minute hour-long show has now become a 41-minute hour-long show, and the economics (and outdated mindset of the Network Suits) seems to hint at a future of 35 or even 30 minute hour-long shows. Just sad, izall.

Why don't these networks WAKE UP and realize that people are willing to support a NEW mindset, one that supports (not penalized) those who embrace "new" technology!? There's a reason that "TIVO" has sold so many units


PS: My brother is now "hooked" on "Heroes" and he doesn't have TV I initially refused his offer to borrow a DVD with the first 4 eps on it -- don't wanna get attached. I'll prolly regret asking, but should I give it a try? :p

[Shayne]

I have been hooked then betrayed on a few shows (Threshold, Invasion) but I still enjoy the 41 minute escape from reality.

I don't see how Lost has run out of ideas, ever episode pushes the story to new limits, granted it does frustrate me a few times, i still enjoy it a lot.

House is totally turning into a CSI type show.  I know the ending before it begins, but its more about interaction of the characters as opposed to the puzzles.

[Darren Dirt]

House is totally turning into a CSI type show.  I know the ending before it begins, but its more about interaction of the characters as opposed to the puzzles.

Good to hear -- the CHARACTERS are what kept me watching the show -- some have called them the "Ducklings" but it was amusing how often their own outside-the-box creative thinking led the Mother Duck to the puzzle being solved.

Escapism, good point. That's really why we dive into these false worlds of creative minds -- and why we strive to create our own. No shortage of destinations to which we can journey, in this day and age... To quote NapDyna, "Yes, I love technology..."

[Thorin]

Heroes is great thus far.  Unless they significantly alter the plot line exposed in the early episodes, though, it will die simply because the ending has been reached (with New York blowing up).  If you're not interested in watching the show with commercials, NBC now offers the episodes for download directly from their site http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/.

Yes, advertising is stupid.  Yes, it's getting everywhere.  No, it does not convince me to buy things, and I'm working hard at getting my kids to understand that just because something is for sale doesn't mean they need to hand over their money for it.  In the meantime, I continue to visit stores that have good customer service, good products, or low prices, regardless if they have good advertisement or not (eg Paradise Pets, Source for Sports, Mission Fun and Games, Hong Kong Delight, Chicken for Lunch, Olive Garden, Walmart, Sears).

[Thorin]

Took a bit of searching; here's the episodes online: http://www.nbc.com/Video/rewind/full_episodes/?show=heroes.  Gahh!  Still with ads <sigh>.  Well, you could find a torrent...

[Tom]

Find? I have it set to auto download via an RSS feed. Wide screen, HD format. I think ep 6 is ready to watch

And 41? Last I checked it was 44 Oh well. Though it seems Heroes 6 is 42.something minutes.

[TheDruid]

PVR has changed the way i watch TV.
I don’t mind the 41 minute show as long as i can fast forward though the commercials.

Really, it use to be a big undertaking to watch all my shows, especially when i ralize how much time i was wasting to just commercials. Watch an hour of this, switch tasks do something for an hour, but not really accomplish anything significant, watch a half hour of something else... etc.

Now, i just set up to record all my watched TV series. It saves me so much time, i can spend time with my wife now, run errands, clean up, play xbox, and when im ready, sit down and watch "3 hours" worth of TV in a little over 2 hours after i forward through all the commercials. If a show is a re-run, no problem, the PVR don’t record it and that’s an extra hour of gaming.

Not to mention start watching something ad-hoc that you found on TV, doze off for 10 mins because its late at night then wake up. No problem, just rewind or hit save and it will package it so you can watch it later.

[Tom]

I'd still prefer they make a show in time increments that make sense. Like this one british show I was wathing, supernova or something. its actually 58-59 minutes long. Why can't the CBC work more like the BBC and skip all the damn commercials? What does the CBC get tax money for when they make us watch commercials?

[Shayne]

I still can't see the value in a PVR.  As Druid has said before that once you have one you wont know how you lived without, currently i do it the same way Tom does, RSS feeding utorrent.  I don't channel surf, and I only watch shows that standout from the crowd.

I'm also a much bigger fan of getting my TV seasons in DVD format a few months after the season ends.  While some shows downloaded kick major ass, at times sound is out of sync for segments, etc.

TV should be easier   What we really need is the ability to subscribe to channels we want at a price premium.  I would gladly pay $2/m per channel that I want.

Also advertising really doesnt phase me anymore, its everywhere and to the point that it sorta blends in to the scenery

[Lazybones]

I have to say having a PVR is a great thing. I find it more most useful for impulse or throw away shows. Do you really want to watch a Mythbusters episode more than once? What about DailyPlanet or any of the Techtv shows? Surfing around the channel list and spot a move you don't own and have the urge to watch it, but don't have time till later?

I still have shows that I would prefer to down load but the PVR is great, nothing like being in the middle of a show and the phone rings, just pause the live TV and start right back where you left it.

Purchasing an older Single Tuner PVR however has shown me how much better it must be to have a dual tuner unit. I ran watch other prerecorded content while it is recording something, but I can't skip to anything else that is live without aborting the recording.

[Tom]

Also advertising really doesnt phase me anymore

I've been watching so little tv with advertising, that I almost can't stand to watch them. its painful.

Do you really want to watch a Mythbusters episode more than once?

I will if its been a while I love watching their antics