# sports pre-empting regular programming **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 8, 2004, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-pre-empting-regular-programming/278667 "2004-12-08T02:21:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-pre-empting-regular-programming/278667/21 "2004-12-08T08:21:09Z")
> [@continuity eror](#): > > Don’t go dissing Futurama. It’s the most intelligent show of this decade, so far. Absolute horseshit. You’re entitled to your opinion, of course. But if enough people wanted to watch that show, it would be scheduled later to ensre it was run in its entirety. And I’ll second calling bullshit on **Hazel**. NYC is not the center of the universe. Trying to give the biggest state in the union a half-assed chance of seeing televised games without asking them to tune in at 8am instead of 9am will lose a shitload of money. Money spent airing your precious little sitcom. Face it, the NFL is a HUGE moneymaker for the networks. Ever wonder why they pay the NFL such astronomical amounts of money for the contracts? If that doesn’t show it, maybe compare ad costs for playoff games as well as the granddaddy of them all, the Super Bowl, to what Fox gets even for a spot on _The Simpsons._ ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-pre-empting-regular-programming/278667/22 "2004-12-08T09:14:20Z")
> [@continuity eror](#): > > Don’t go dissing Futurama. It’s the most intelligent show of this decade, so far. hehheh, I couldn’t resist. > [@](#): > > I think the reason many people on this thread are pissed off is that, for non-sports fans, sports are SO freakin’ repetitive and boring. It’s the same thing over and over: dude catches ball, dude takes ball somewhere else, people talk for twenty minutes, blah blah blah make it stop. Funny, that’s pretty much exactly how I feel about reality television. And Futurama. > [@](#): > > And they’re always on. There’s no drama in sports for me, no passion, just the same boring crap over and over. Understandable in that it is all basically white noise to you. I could say the exact same words about Harry Potter, for instance. > [@](#): > > Certainly you’re free to think differently, and obviously a lot of people do like televised sports, but I find a love of professional sports hard to comprehend. Millionaires playing a kid’s game does not interest me whatsoever. Ah, so you definitely don’t like television shows or movies, where the same millionaire complaint could be leveled at the actors playing dressup and make believe. As an added bonus, scripted entertainment has no element of the unknown. Neither does reality television, for that matter. Do you watch the Olympics? Would you have the same complaints about Futurama being delayed for the Olympics? Millions and millions of viewers tune into each of the 16 NFL games every week and feel the same way as you presumably do about the Olympics. But hey, those Olympians are just playing kids’ games too, right? At least they aren’t millionaires, like those pesky actors. > [@](#): > > It also seems that televising sports adds nothing to the experience that you can’t get listening to the game on the radio, or reading a play-by-play feed about it on the Internet. But that’s just my perspective as a non-sports fan. How is that different than saying you can get the same effect by simply reading a transcript of the show you wanted to see? > [@](#): > > Also, I only watch four or five shows a week on average. Sunday night Fox is one of my few “must-watch” nights. It’s really frustrating that two of the four Fox programs (Malcolm and King of the Hill) are constantly pre-empted. Yeah, maybe it’s selfish of me to want these shows to be broadcast instead of sports, but I feel really cheated that the only shows I watch are always interrupted. Can’t they do it on another night? This is my night! Okay, now I get it. Seriously, I get it that that must be annoying as hell. The good news is that the NFL has actually done some things to help folks like you out. MLB I have no idea, but this info may help you in the next few weeks at least. The 1:00pm game is scheduled until 4:15pm. There is no 4:00pm game, despite what the guide says. It is a 4:15pm game. If the 1:00pm ends early, or on time, they cut to other games until 4:15pm, when the late game starts. A football game is almost guaranteed to be about 3 hours and 5 minutes long. That puts the end at around 7:20pm. They then pad with 10 minutes of wrap-up, and so you get back to real tv at 7:30pm. So even though it says 60 minutes starts at 7:00pm, it’s a sure bet 7:30pm will be the real start. Unless they have a _big_ story, like Bob Dylan this past week, at which point CBS will refuse to schedule a late game, leaving a firm 7:00pm starting time to 60 minutes. Fox has no such issue, so they usually start at 7:30pm. > [@](#): > > Basically I just hate the way the world stops when there’s a sports event going on. I feel like a Jew on Xmas. I could say the same for 90 minute episodes of _The Biggest Loser_ bloating out and preempting _Scrubs_, or _The Apprentice_ preempting _ER_. It is annoying, but I recognize that since millions of Americans are into it, them’s the breaks. > [@Hazel](#): > > Here’s an example of the problems caused by these sports things. On CBS, on Sundays, when a game runs past 7:00 pm, they start 60 minutes whenever the game ends. If 60 minutes starts 30 minutes late, all of their other shows for the rest of prime time also start 30 minutes late. There’s never any explainaton. Turn on the TV at 9:00, you find the 8:00 show still on. They don’t tell you a thing. Why can’t they run text across the bottom of the screen to tell us when the 9:00 show will actually start? Do they think everyone knows what happened earlier? Many don’t. Figure all start times are 7:30pm is there is a late game. Easier to check the guide than run a crawl non-stop. Wouldn’t you find that annoying? > [@](#): > > The other problem is that if one watches the late-starting 8:00 pm show, one misses the first 1/2 hour of any 9:00 show on another channel. Okay, yeah, that is a pitworthy gripe. Unfortunately, due to the cutthroat nature of the networks, there’s no incentive to fix that. So everyone in this thread hates the Olympics, huh? All those children’s games interrupting the nightly sitcoms and whatnot. In all seriousness, sports have intrinsic _value_. They are usually just fluff and fun, but occasionally real social change can be affected. Allow me three examples to illustrate: The Miracle on Ice gave Americans back our sense of self respect. When the hostages were freed from Iran, the state department showed them a video catching them up on the year they missed. It ended with the Miracle on Ice. The hostages had tears in their eyes recounting how it had restored their faith in their country to see that, and they knew nothing about hockey. Name me any other form of entertainment that could have managed that. A while back, racial riots erupted in Detroit, with much loss of life and property damage. The city was damn near anarchy, but then the Tigers won the World Series, which unified the city and united people of all colors throughout the city. End of riots. I’d like to see The Amazing Race do that. What was one of the first major signs that life was resuming after the World Trade Center? When the NFL resumed play. The country was mourning, but a feeling of normalcy returned in much sharper focus then a few awkward jokes on SNL and the Letterman show could ever hope to achieve. Like it or not, sports is the one and only unifying, emotional commonality we have in this country. Whether you are a Red Sox fan or not, who couldn’t appreciate 80+ years of futility being overcome in dramatic fashion? Just try to get Christians, Jews, and Muslims together in celebration of any other thing. Futurama? _That’s_ the child’s game. And don’t be too quick to dismiss the NFL as a bunch of millionaires. They get a 5 year career, followed by a life of pain, difficulty walking, and likely several surgeries. They are the lowest paid athletes – by far – of all the major sports, including the largely unwatched NHL. There’s a total of 90 million allowed to each team for payroll, and they have to split that between 53 players. Compare that to the tens of millions MLB and NHL players get. NFL players earn every cent of their money, far more so than any actor ever has. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-pre-empting-regular-programming/278667/23 "2004-12-08T09:30:06Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Why this sucks in one word: Futurama. > > Excellent show ruined by mindless, meaningless football. > > Fuck you, FOX. Don’t blame the NFL or football in general. Fox programming executives were the ones who put Futurama in such a poor time slot. Heck, even when there wasn’t a game you couldn’t count on seeing Futurama. Marc ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-pre-empting-regular-programming/278667/24 "2004-12-08T12:44:37Z")
> [@MGibson](#): > > Don’t blame the NFL or football in general. Fox programming executives were the ones who put Futurama in such a poor time slot. Heck, even when there wasn’t a game you couldn’t count on seeing Futurama. > > Marc FOX programmers had it in for Futurama from the beginning since Matt Groening wouldn’t give them full control over it. If lacrosse was as popular sport as football, you’d have seen lacrosse matches running over the 7pm time slot. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-pre-empting-regular-programming/278667/25 "2004-12-08T13:01:46Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > FOX programmers had it in for Futurama from the beginning since Matt Groening wouldn’t give them full control over it. If lacrosse was as popular sport as football, you’d have seen lacrosse matches running over the 7pm time slot. Pick whatever sport you want, it still comes down to what garners the larger viewing audience. If curling were more popular than football, you’d see grown men sweeping ice instead of an updated version of _The Jetsons_. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-pre-empting-regular-programming/278667/26 "2004-12-08T13:17:36Z")
Malcolm is now scheduled for 7:30, but never starts on time. The 4:15 game always runs past 7:30. Just being clear about the schedule. ---
**Author:** ![beergeek279](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@beergeek279](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beergeek279)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-pre-empting-regular-programming/278667/27 "2004-12-08T14:35:55Z")
The thing I love about these threads is the implicit smug self-righteousness of non-sports watchers (not that some sport watchers are much better, mind you, but…). I watch sports (football and especially hockey if it ever gets back) and if it makes me a drunken, inbred Neanderthal, then so be it. Personally, I’m sick of moronic, carbon-copy reality shows taking out better programming (though I did agree with the rants about the Fox 7 PM hour), so anything that cuts them off, all the better. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-pre-empting-regular-programming/278667/28 "2004-12-08T14:45:25Z")
> [@Ellis Dee](#): > > So people without cable get to see no sports in your plan? Good thinking. :rolleyes: If it’s OK for Futurama and Malcolm in the Middle fans to miss their shows, it’s OK for sports fans to miss theirs. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-pre-empting-regular-programming/278667/29 "2004-12-08T15:12:22Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > If it’s OK for Futurama and Malcolm in the Middle fans to miss their shows, it’s OK for sports fans to miss theirs. Des not compute. Futurama and MitM are on network TV. They were discussing putting all sports on pay TV. How in the fuck is that fair to people who can’t afford cable? ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-pre-empting-regular-programming/278667/30 "2004-12-08T15:12:31Z")
Bah, local news pre-empted my MNF game this week. Another Chicago high-rise on fire. Contained to the building. No one dead. A whole lot of ‘we don’t know’ or ‘we haven’t learned anything new’. An update every 15-30 minutes would have done the trick. Thankfully thousands of people called up in protest and they showed the second half of a phenominal game with a split-screen update every 15-30 minutes. The poor folks who wanted to watch shows on the other networks were screwed and we lost something like $1 million in local ad revenue. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-pre-empting-regular-programming/278667/31 "2004-12-08T15:17:19Z")
> [@continuity eror](#): > > I think the reason many people on this thread are pissed off is that, for non-sports fans, sports are SO freakin’ repetitive and boring. It’s the same thing over and over: dude catches ball, dude takes ball somewhere else, people talk for twenty minutes, blah blah blah make it stop. And they’re always on. There’s no drama in sports for me, no passion, just the same boring crap over and over. Certainly you’re free to think differently, and obviously a lot of people do like televised sports, but I find a love of professional sports hard to comprehend. I’m feeling a strange urge to bear your children. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-pre-empting-regular-programming/278667/32 "2004-12-08T15:19:09Z")
Actually, I have a better idea. Why don’t we move all this insipid reality TV to it’s own cable channel? That way, we sports watchers won’t have to worry about them cutting off a game with 10 minutes left because the special 300 minute season premiere of My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss is coming on shortly? ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-pre-empting-regular-programming/278667/33 "2004-12-08T15:36:07Z")
> [@Zap\_Rowsdower](#): > > I have wanted to start this rant several times myself, but never got around to it. I absolutely hate the fact that sports so often pre-empt other programs. I feel the decision in the “Heidi incident” was correct, and if part of the game is not shown, tough. Eh? It’s never a good idea to upset a large part of your veiwing audience. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-pre-empting-regular-programming/278667/34 "2004-12-08T15:36:50Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > You can lay them blame at Heidi’s feet. > > Trust me on this. > > It’s her fault. This deserves a little [explanation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Game). > [@](#): > > The game was broadcast on NBC and was the lead-in for the network’s new movie, Heidi. The game started at 4:00 pm allowing three hours before the scheduled start time for the movie at 7:00 pm. > … > NBC had instructed Dick Cline, NBC’s Broadcast Operations Supervisor, to cut to Heidi at 7:00 whether the game was over or not. However, as the game approached its exciting ending they wisely decided to air it to its conclusion and make Heidi wait. Unfortunately, so many viewers were calling the network pleading with them to not cut from the game—or asking if Heidi would air on-time—that the executives could not get through. Cline, received no late instructions otherwise so when the network came back from commercials Heidi started on schedule. > … > The Raiders scored two touchdowns in nine seconds and held on to win, 43-32, in what has been voted by fans as one of the 10 most memorable games in American football history. > > The Jets were stunned but the fans were furious. At 7:20 a crawl across the bottom of the screen announced the dramatic ending to the game. So many fans called NBC to complain about missing the fantastic ending (and to make various and sundry threats) that the switchboard was literally blown. When they couldn’t get through to NBC they started calling the police and the telephone company. At 8:30 NBC made a public apology and the next morning the fiasco was recounted on the front page of the New York Times. The reaction to the Heidi Game resulted in the NFL demanding the current policy of never cutting from a game until it is over. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-pre-empting-regular-programming/278667/35 "2004-12-08T15:38:49Z")
> [@Zap\_Rowsdower](#): > > I feel the decision in the “Heidi incident” was correct, and if part of the game is not shown, tough. Actually, as I just posted, the ultimate decision was to air the game in its entirety – except that decision could not be communicated to the broadcast operations supervisor. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-pre-empting-regular-programming/278667/36 "2004-12-08T15:56:03Z")
Holy christ, what a load of whiners. You all realize that all your favorite network TV shows are repeated, right? Either later that night, at which time you can set your VCRs or Tivos, or endlessly during the summer. I can’t think of a single sporting event that has ever been replayed in its entirety. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-pre-empting-regular-programming/278667/37 "2004-12-08T16:11:36Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Holy christ, what a load of whiners. You all realize that all your favorite network TV shows are repeated, right? Either later that night, at which time you can set your VCRs or Tivos, or endlessly during the summer. > > I can’t think of a single sporting event that has ever been replayed in its entirety. Exactly. While you can see repeats of games on ESPN Classic, they don’t sit there and show you every single pitch of a baseball game, for example. They’ll show an inning, skip a couple when not much happened, show another couple innings, skip some more. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever seen pro football on ESPN Classic, just college. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-pre-empting-regular-programming/278667/38 "2004-12-08T16:39:11Z")
> [@Lord Ashtar](#): > > Actually, I have a better idea. Why don’t we move all this insipid reality TV to it’s own cable channel? That way, we sports watchers won’t have to worry about them cutting off a game with 10 minutes left because the special 300 minute season premiere of My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss is coming on shortly? I’ve been watching that show, and there’s no way to honestly finish that with sentence “and actually, it’s…” ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-pre-empting-regular-programming/278667/39 "2004-12-08T17:02:17Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I can’t think of a single sporting event that has ever been replayed in its entirety. Would you be interested in seeing that? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-pre-empting-regular-programming/278667/40 "2004-12-08T17:48:15Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Holy christ, what a load of whiners. You all realize that all your favorite network TV shows are repeated, right? Either later that night, at which time you can set your VCRs or Tivos, or endlessly during the summer. > > I can’t think of a single sporting event that has ever been replayed in its entirety. The OP was complaining about missing The Amazing Race, not a single episode of which has ever been replayed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-pre-empting-regular-programming/278667.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-pre-empting-regular-programming/278667.md?page=3)