# It's All Commercials, All the Time!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-commercials-all-the-time/102566>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [April 8, 2002, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-commercials-all-the-time/102566 "2002-04-08T22:18:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Cosmopolitan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/94ad74/32.png) [@Cosmopolitan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cosmopolitan)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-commercials-all-the-time/102566/1 "2002-04-08T22:18:47Z")

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Okay. I don’t know when this started…Perhaps it’s been going on for a long while & I’m particularly unobservant. Perhaps it’s just started. One thing there’s no “perhaps” about, however, is that it annoys the living fuck out of me & many people I know. What is it?

“It” is the fact that all commercials seem to run at the same time now. You can no longer flip the channels. Let’s say I’m watching The History Channel & it breaks for commercials. I need constant stimulus so I flip to The Learning Channel. Commercials. So I flip to NBC. Commercials. What in holy hell is going on? I really don’t think it was always like this.

“So listen to the radio instead and stop bitching”, says you. I would, except guess what the fuck happens? The SAME THING. My sister & I have a 10 - 15 minute drive to college in the mornings. We get going anywhere from 9 to 10:45 AM. On the Fridays I come home with her, we leave between 1 & 1:30 PM. No matter the time, it’s the same goddamn thing; we’re lucky if we hear a song & a half from parking lot to driveway or vice versa. That’s whilst flipping amongst three stations.

This seems counterproductive for the TV/radio stations, as it only makes me want to pull an Elvis & shoot out my entertainment appliances. So, I put it to you; am I imagining this phenomenon, or is my wrath justified? :mad:

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**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2002, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-commercials-all-the-time/102566/2 "2002-04-09T10:55:02Z")

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Yeah, I’ve noticed it too. Don’t know what your wrath is like, so I can’t say if it’s justified.

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**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2002, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-commercials-all-the-time/102566/3 "2002-04-09T13:17:19Z")

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What I find highly annoying about the frequency and duration of commercials is that whenever I am going through a video tape (fast-forwarding/rewinding) and trying to determine what is on it I _invariably_ will always land on a damn commercial segment no matter where I decide to stop it and press PLAY. Happens _every_ time without fail! At this point I have to guess which way is going to be closest to the programming, so I have to decide whether I want to FF or REW (in “view” mode, which I try to avoid overdoing as I suspect it puts extra wear-and-tear on the VCR’s heads). In any case I end up having to watch the entire commercial segment, even if it’s sped up.