Both WEtv and TNT have Law and Order marathons and they usually roll the last 20 seconds over into the next episode. I notice because I DVR them all and watch it this way. Why do they do this?
EDIT: actually it is more like 5 or 10 seconds but they almost allways do it
More time for commercials, I suspect.
I have notice other networks doing the same with back to back episodes of the same show.
Not to be rude but yes, of course, but how does that actually make an extra 10 seconds for commercials, if you have to just stick those 10 seconds into the next hour?
I think they are actually trying to frustrate people who DVR the episodes, and thereby bypass the commercials. You’re being “punished” for not watching the commercials. It’s not just L&O, and not just these stations. A lot of stations either let shows run, say, until 9:31 instead of ending at 9:30. If the reported end time is 9:30, you miss the last bit, and if you program your DVR to run a minute past the end time, it’s harder to have something else recording simultaneously, so you are more likely to watch live, assuming you are there to watch.
i had considered it might be that… particularly the starting the show at 9:31 instead of 9:30
One of those channels play some kind of commercial over the credits and mutes the L&O theme, only to un-mute it just in time for the “Lone Wolf” howl, thereby causing a fucking dog riot in the back of my house.
Oh, the dog riot. Chief causes are “*Rabbit!”, “Mouse!”, *the Jeep starting up and fucking “Law and Order” credits. Sometimes food.
I watch too much TV, and have too many dogs.
The intent is to hold your attention over the last commercial into the next episode, rather than giving a convenient break in the flow. You watch the last 15 seconds and then a new episode starts immediately.
It is the same justification for programming the 1 minute overlaps.
The practical effect is to make DVR programming and channel swapping more difficult because the overlaps don’t coincide on all channels.
Yes, it is annoying.
Same reason competition shows over-summarize and show way too many promos. Promos are evil.
The purpose of the promo is to suck in viewers who don’t watch the show, so they want to show them the fun and excitement and great lines. The downside is when you watch the show, the promos have killed the drama and the surprises.
The other driving factor is in-show activities - promos and post commercial summaries that are required to fight the no attention span generation. They want to hit you with something right before the commercial to inspire you to stay on the channel and not channel flip, and they summarize on return to update the people who channel-flipped onto the show to suck them in.
God, I hate it with a passion, but it’s a necessity in today’s TV world. I watched my 11 year old nephew flipping between 3 programs trying to watch them live. That’s also frustrating. Then he wonders why he doesn’t know what’s happening. :smack:
i have one dog but he is with me all day. i dont work so he is my constant companion.
Yeah, going straight into the next episode reduces the opportunity to go get a snack or see what’s on the other channels. The commercial that would have gone between the shows has been pushed back after the opening of the show. And I also get tired of the constant recaps. Watching a DVD of “Dogfights!” I was annoyed how many times I had to listen to t he narrator describe the situation. Yeah, I know Bob is flying a Phantom in Vietnam and has been jumped by three Migs. You told me twice already. AND I know what he’s about to do next because you spoiled it before the (non-existent on a DVD) commercial break to entice me to return.
yeah, the recaps are just to eat up time and save on production costs… if they total 2 minutes for the whole show and every minute costs 20K to produce…
We call this the “Law and Order Vortex”. Very difficult to pull away once inside the vortex!
My Tivo (All Praise Tivo!!!) lets me program shows to start recording early and/or end recording early. Not just Law and Order, but lots of channels and shows mess with time a little bit, just to make DVRing a show a little more difficult.
Comedy Central has their internal clock set to where the moment of Zen at the end of The Daily Show was almost cut off. Now that my settings are to end the recording 2 minutes “past” the end of the show, I get it all. Fuck you time shifters!!!
Did I mention I love Tivo? Far and away the best UI out there of the DVR brands.
Every DVR I’ve ever seen (including Windows Media Center) has had this feature.
Our dogs sat in front of the TV and watched this year’s Puppy Bowl intently.
Every show that I DVR I make sure that I extend it by a minute. If I don’t it cuts off the last minute of the show and frustrates the hell out of me. It beats watching the show on ON Demand and having to sit through the same commercial over and over with no fast forward functions as an option.
My DVR does that, too. The problem is if I’m running two recordings and I want to pick up two recordings following, and one program runs a minute late and the other program is on a different channel, I’m stuck with an overlap.
Sometimes if one of the shows is on USA, and they run a later repeat showing, I can go grab that one instead. But not always.
Lexus commercials sometimes cause my Amazon Echo (a/k/a Alexa) to burst into song or to tell me she’s sorry but she doesn’t understand what I am asking.