OMG, Those Commercials!
All of a sudden, I found American network TV almost impossible to watch due to the irritatingly frequent commercial breaks. I somehow got used to the commercials when I lived in the U.S. a few years ago, but it seems to me that they came on even more often this time.
For example, I watched an episode of Desperate Housewives and I swear the program was interrupted every 10 minutes. That’s five commercial breaks in a one-hour show. Needless to say, I didn’t try watching another episode. If I’m not mistaken, Prima TV that airs the Desperate Housewives in the Czech Republic interrupts each episode only once, approximately in the middle, for about seven minutes. TV Nova shows commercials every 20 – 25 minutes for about three minutes per break, so a one-hour show is interrupted twice. I can pretty much live with that. Now if only they would stop bothering me with laundry detergent, yogurt and free calling minutes over and over again! A bit more variety wouldn’t hurt, guys!
Dana:
It must be some time since you’ve been to the US, These days we get barely 18 minutes of programing in every 30min, and that includes cable as well as PBS (Public Brotcasting)– The only commercial free programs are the “religious” paid programing –much like a infomercial–Everyone is selling something at all times!!!Viktor
Hi Viktor,
I’m referring to my last month’s stay in the U.S. You’ll get some context from my post at http://jwphosting.wpengine.com/2007/02/27/back-from-the-us/.
I can’t think of ever watching a commercial-free program in the U.S. I remember how angry I was when the live broadcasting from the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony was interrupted by commercials just as the Czech Republic team, which Jeff and I were looking forward to seeing, was entering the stadium during the procession of the athletes. I left the room and never came back to watch the rest of the ceremony.