Average Length of a TV Show w/o Commercials?

The great Sellebration, what a farce.

Since Canadians pay taxes to support our CBC (a bit like Brits pay a license fee) I do not understand why CBC TV is as jammed with commercials as its competitors.

 

By the way, all three main commercial networks in Australia have "morning shows". These generally run from 9am to 11:30 (after a "Good Morning America" style show ends on two of the three channels) and feature celebrity gossip, "The View" style conversations, interviews and, of course, commercial breaks.

Why do I mention this? Because, as part of the actual program, these also include infomercial segments! Not as part of the commercial break. As part of the show. I'm almost certain that in the two and a half hours these shows run, there is less than one and a half hours of actual program.

And these are on all three network's primary channels, seven days a week. Talk about cheap programming. I remember when TV channels used to play various re-runs in that time slot. How much do studios charge for old shows if this rubbish is cheaper?

 

I wonder if the same average lengths I describe for the live-action TV shows also applied to Saturday morning cartoons (from Hanna-Barbera and other studios) at the time?

On my Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm DVD set, for example, each episode runs about 20 minutes long, which means the 1980s syndicated prints were used. Being a 1971 series, I think the original Saturday morning run (on CBS) was about a minute or so longer w/o commercials.

~Ben

 

yes, I've noticed 42 minutes seems to be the marker these days; The Walking Dead is a prime example...but I've seen it go to 44..

 

In the early 80s, Worldvision timesped all of their syndicated shows, such as The Fugitive, Ben Casey, One Step Beyond, Combat, etc. At least when CBS released The Fugitive on DVD, after getting past the music debacle, the show was restored to its original speed and running time. Since Combat was licensed out, they never bothered to do it and what Image released were the old 46 minute Worldvision tapes. I A/B'd one with an episode I have off film and it wasn't cut, just sped up to gain the four minutes for commercials. In the 50s, half hour shows ran 26 minutes, hours 52 minutes or so. By the early 60s, that decreased to 25:30 and 50-51 and that stayed that way for at least 10-15 years.

 

It makes you wonder what's the lesser of two evils -- the chopping out of scenes or time-speeding the prints. At least with the latter, we're seeing the entire episode.

I read that the recent Region 1 Blu-ray of The Avengers is slightly fast (MacNee and Rigg's voices are pitched). The early-2000s Emma Peel Megaset (re-released in 2013) at the correct speed, but uses the older, inferior quality film prints. Go figure...

 

Back in the 1960 or so time frame, an hour of network television was constructed like this:

00:00 - 02:00 2 min Opening credits and a teaser or program start
02:00 - 03:00 1 min Network commercial
03:00 - 15:00 12 min First main program act
15:00 - 16:00 1 min Network commercial
16:00 - 29:00 13 min Second main program act
29:00 - 31:00 2 min Network commercial and 1 minute local + station ID
31:00 - 43:00 12 min Third main program act
43:00 - 44:00 1 min Network commercial
44:00 - 57:00 13 min Fourth min program act
57:00 - 58:00 1 min Network commercial
58:00 - 59:00 1 min Closing credits
59:00 - 60:00 1 min Local + station ID

This scenario results in a 53 minute program with 7 minutes of commercials. In reality though, sponsor bumpers were taken out programming time and resulted in around 52 minutes of program with 8 minutes of advertising. Various programs were constructed to allow for show personalities to do commercials for the sponsors, some had longer bumpers than others, etc. But that was the way things were back then. The 1 minute commercial breaks were often of the full minute length, but as time wore on, the 30-second commercial began to be popular, so a network break might have two commercials of 30 seconds each.

Local breaks sometimes were used for whatever the local TV station wanted to insert - promo for upcoming news broadcast, or a bunch of short commercials plus their station ID. ID's were almost always a static slide with an announcer.

As time wore on, more commercial time was needed, so an additional 30 seconds was inserted somewhere or other, making the typical length of shows like STAR TREK or THE FUGUTIVE clock in at around 51:30.

 

On my last rewatch of The Fugitive on DVD, I was amazed at how the episodes consistently ended at -- indeed -- 51:30...

 

I watched my All-New Super Friends Hour (1977-78) DVD recently, and here is the breakdown:

00:00:00 to 00:02:00 // opening credits and preview of the day's segments (2 minutes)
00:02:00 to 00:03:00 // commercial break 1
00:03:00 to 00:10:00 // Super Friends segment 1 (team-up) (7 minutes)
00:10:00 to 00:10:10 // Wonder Twins preview (10 seconds)
00:10:10 to 00:11:10 // commercial break 2
00:11:10 to 00:11:40 // Safety or Health tip (30 seconds)
00:11:40 to 00:15:40 // Wonder Twins (4 minutes)
00:15:40 to 00:15:50 // Super Friends segment 2 preview (10 seconds)
00:15:50 to 00:16:50 // commercial break 3
00:16:50 to 00:17:20 // De-Coder Clue (part 1) (30 seconds)
00:17:20 to 00:27:50 // Super Friends segment 2 (act 1) (10 minutes, 30 seconds)
00:27:50 to 00:28:20 // De-Coder Clue (part 2) (30 seconds)
00:28:20 to 00:30:20 // commercial break 4 and station IDs
00:30:20 to 00:40:50 // Super Friends segment 2 (act 2) (10 minutes, 30 seconds)
00:40:50 to 00:41:20 // De-Coder Solution (30 seconds)
00:41:20 to 00:41:30 // Super Friends segment 3 preview (10 seconds)
00:41:30 to 00:42:00 // Magic or Craft (part 1) (30 seconds)
00:42:00 to 00:45:00 // Super Friends segment 3 (team-up with a guest) (act 1) (3 minutes)
00:45:00 to 00:46:00 // commercial break 5
00:46:00 to 00:46:30 // Magic or Craft (part 2) (30 seconds)
00:46:30 to 00:49:30 // Super Friends segment 3 (act 2) (3 minutes)
00:49:30 to 00:50:30 // commercial break 6
00:50:30 to 00:51:00 // Safety or Health Tip (30 seconds)
00:51:30 to 00:53:30 // next week preview and closing credits (2 minutes)

Let me know what you remember of this (when on ABC).

~Ben

 

Yep, this phenomenon is one big reason why I don't pay for TV anymore. We pay more and more each year for less and less actual content. No thanks.

Of course, some of the free streaming apps aren't much better, but at least they are FREE. For instance, every time I watch a show on the CW app I have to sit through the same exact commercial from Verizon four or five times in a row every 5 to 7 minutes. No exaggeration.

 

If I know correctly, in the original days, they would time act 1 to end around the :12 minute mark, and act 2 to start at the :15 minute mark.

Around 1965, for a half-hour program:
00:00 to 02:00 / Teaser/Opening Title or Opening Title/Prologue - 02:00
(02:00 to 03:00) / first commercial break
03:00 to 14:00 / Act 1 - 11:00
(14:00 to 15:00) / second commercial break
15:00 to 26:00 / Act 2 - 11:00
(26:00 to 27:00) / third commercial break
27:00 to 29:00 / Epilogue/Closing Credits - 02:00
(29:00 to 30:00) / Local and Station IDs
Approximate total time w/o commercials: 26:00

Circa 1976 (Happy Days, ABC):
00:00 to 01:15 / Opening Title - 01:15
(01:15 to 02:15) / first commercial break - 01:00
02:15 to 14:45 / Act 1 - 12:30
(14:45 to 15:45) / second commercial break - 01:00
15:45 to 25:15 / Act 2 - 09:30
(25:15 to 26:15) / third commercial break - 01:00
26:15 to 27:55 / Epilogue - 01:40
(27:55 to 28:15) / Promo for next series - 00:20
28:15 to 28:50 / Closing Credits - 00:35
28:50 to 30:00 / Local and Station IDs
Total time w/o commercials: 25:30

~Ben

 

I've never understood why reruns of old shows have to shoehorn in crazy amounts of commercials. Weren't the production costs fully funded during the original run? Why do I have to sit through 20+ minutes of commercials to watch an episode of Combat.

 

I guess you don't understand how television syndication works. A channel or network buys an older series to air reruns. They pay X dollars to whomever owns the series and is distributing it. They then make their money by selling advertising when they air the show. Unfortunately, in the U.S., there aren't rules as to how many ads they can run in an hour, unlike other countries which do have limits. This is why older shows often times are BBB (Butchered Beyond Belief), as a late friend of mine used to say. Things have actually gotten better recently. GET-TV will often run an hour show in a one hour and 15 minute time slot. This way, they can load up their commercials without having to cut the show. When Antenna TV started, if they got a show uncut, they would run it that way. They've gone to **** now, squeezing opening and closing credits in the DVE.

 

MeTV, H&I (Heroes & Icons), and Decades all run full start and end credits of shows. H&I runs all of the STAR TREK shows and runs fewer commercials during classic STAR TREK so the episodes are not edited. Some shows on some of these channels may be time-sped, but I believe that is done by the syndicator, not the channel itself. And some of these shows on some of these channels are widened to about a 1.66:1 ratio, by both chopping a bit top & bottom, and by stretching a tiny bit - but only some shows.

 

I think-fifty minutes for a one hour show,of course that was back in the day before they ran[ten commercials]at a time.

 

Because they can. Greed knows no limits and many people have no taste.

 

Perry Mason on Me-TV:
00:00 - 00:40 for opening credits (0:40)
00:40 - 01:10 for first commercial break (0:30)
01:10 - 04:10 for first segment (3:00)
04:10 - 04:40 for second commercial break (0:30)
04:40 - 14:40 for second segment (10:00)
14:40 - 17:40 for third commercial break (3:00)
17:40 - 20:40 for third segment (3:00)
20:40 - 23:40 for fourth commercial break (3:00)
23:40 - 30:40 for fourth segment (7:00)
30:40 - 32:40 for fifth commercial break (2:00)
32:40 - 42:40 for fifth segment (10:00)
42:40 - 44:40 for sixth commercial break (2:00)
44:40 - 54:40 for sixth segment (10:00)
54:40 - 58:40 for final commercial break (4:00)
58:40 - 59:10 for epilogue (0:30)
59:10 - 59:55 for closing credits (0:45)
Total time w/o commercials: 44:55

But on DVDs...
00:00 - 00:45 for opening credits (0:45)
00:45 - 12:45 for first segment (12:00)
12:45 - 25:45 for second segment (13:00)
25:45 - 37:45 for third segment (12:00)
37:45 - 50:45 for fourth segment (13:00)
50:45 - 51:45 for epilogue (1:00)
51:45 - 52:30 for closing credits (0:45)

~Ben

 

I recently purchased and watched Seasons 1 & 2 of Mannix (late 60s 1 hour show) and Season 1 of Cannon (early 70s 1 hour show). Each episode is approximately 52 minutes long including the opening and closing credits. I also recently watched Season 5 of Supernatural which is a more recent show. Each episode of Supernatural is 41-42 minutes including the opening and closing credits.

Scott

 

I notice the TV shows "The Doctors" and "Dr. Phil" doing this too... With "The Doctors", at least it usually has something to do with health issues, but still annoying at times... "Dr. Phil" is a worse offender, alloting 5-8 minutes at the end of the show for Phil's wife to push her beauty cream line...

 

What's the DVE?

 

Not quite. It depends on the comission. There's a slot duration and a program duration. EastEnders for example is 29 minutes in a 30 min slot. Top Gear in its Clarkson guise ran to a variety of odd times.

 

Digital Video Effects. When they push the programme into a box to run promos.

 

Vintage Sponsor Spots - Television Obscurities

Here's a site that mentions some of the average lengths of TV shows, and contains breakdowns of two shows from their original runs with commercials included.

~Ben