On Nov 4, 7:10 am, Jon Delfin <[email protected]> wrote:
> These are, presumably, the edited-for-PBS versions of the shows?
>
> Grrr. Bad enough that BBCA does this; at least they have the excuse of
> needing to insert ad breaks. Shame on you, PBS.
It's sorta the same thing.
While BBC station breaks are one minute long (two minutes for the
digital "yoof" channel BBC3, which in some cases includes a one-minute
newscast), PBS station breaks are three to four minutes long. I
haven't recorded a PBS program in a while, but I will time the station
break at the end of the first installment of "Circus." Of course, the
reason the break is so long is to give time for "support for WPBS/1's
programming is made possible in part by..." and "enhanced
underwriting," which walks like a commercial, talks like a commercial,
looks like a commercial, sounds like a commercial, but supposedly
doesn't contain pricing information, product comparisons or "calls to
action" ("Try Krunchie-Munchies today--they're taste-errfic!").
So you already 2-3 minutes cut from what aired on the Beeb in 89
minutes. With the "Masterpiece" titles, funding plugs, Alan Cumming's
intro, "we'll be back with more about 'Masterpiece,' but first..." at
the end of the episode, the PBS promo (which stations can cover with
their own promos--WGBH shows inevitably run the "bedtime story" promo
with Jim Lehrer, Arthur and one of the "Antiques Roadshow"
evaluators), the web site plug, the offer for a DVD, if used (which
makes one wonder if the DVD of "Sherlock Season 1" is the uncut
version) and the added WGBH names to the credits crawl (the BBC
credits part of the crawl run 35 seconds, I assume, as that's the
limit the Beeb gives to credits) knock another three-to-four minutes
off.
PBS may not run 20 minutes of spots an hour, but they still have to
cut BBC shows to make their stations happy and bring in revenue. But
of course, if we had a license fee for TV sets to pay for PBS and NPR
programming like the one that funds the Beeb, the Republicans would
call it a "TV tax" for Communist homosexual perversions that real
Americans don't watch. Oh well. (And it seems to me that some
Canadians and Brits would rather have pledge drives, particularly some
Canadians that want to force feed high culture back on the CBC instead
of "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy!")
--
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