# What's The Deal With TV Shows Lasting 61 or 62 Minutes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 16, 2005, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tv-shows-lasting-61-or-62-minutes/304100 "2005-05-16T17:56:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tv-shows-lasting-61-or-62-minutes/304100/1 "2005-05-16T17:56:03Z")
My TV Guide has the show that follows _Lost_ starting at 8:01 CDT, and the show following that at 9:02 CDT. Clearly, ABC is up to something, but I have no idea what that could be. Is this some nefarious way of defeating TiVo? And how does ABC benefit from defeating TiVo, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![mittu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@mittu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mittu)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tv-shows-lasting-61-or-62-minutes/304100/2 "2005-05-16T18:01:01Z")
I can’t say for sure that this is what is happening in your case but sometimes in the U.K. there is a short interlude between programs for things such as the news in 60 seconds or the weather. They aren’t listed in the T.V. guides as seperate programs they are part of the preceding show. Perhaps that is what is happening in your case, _Lost_ is on for one hour then news headlines or something. Just a WAG. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tv-shows-lasting-61-or-62-minutes/304100/3 "2005-05-16T18:04:40Z")
If TV Guide knows, then TiVo knows. Doubt it’s nefarious. (But the networks wouldn’t want you skipping commericals.) ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tv-shows-lasting-61-or-62-minutes/304100/4 "2005-05-16T18:07:50Z")
It’s probably not so much for defeating TiVo as it is a ploy to keep you tuned in to ABC. Remember how WTBS used to run all their shows at x:05 or x:35? That was done so when you finished watching one of their shows, every other show was already five minutes in. Since you wouldn’t want to tune in five minutes late, you would stay on TBS (or, if you were like me, you would never bother watching TBS in the first place). As someone who watches _no_ live TV at all (DVR fricking rules), I gotta say that this would piss me off to no end, and prevent me from watching in the future (fortunately, I don’t watch _Lost_). ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tv-shows-lasting-61-or-62-minutes/304100/5 "2005-05-16T19:31:27Z")
It’s to mess up people with TiVos. Either the TiVo guide is fooled, in which case you may miss the first or last minute of your show unless you watch it live, or the TiVo isn’t fooled and therefore will bump the recording of a 9:00 show on another network so it can finish the extra minute of an 8:00 show that’s higher priority. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tv-shows-lasting-61-or-62-minutes/304100/6 "2005-05-16T19:32:37Z")
> [@Hal Briston](#): > > Remember how WTBS used to run all their shows at x:05 or x:35? Say, when did they stop that, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tv-shows-lasting-61-or-62-minutes/304100/7 "2005-05-16T20:34:49Z")
I thought the entire TBS ploy was to get an entire section just for TBS showing. ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tv-shows-lasting-61-or-62-minutes/304100/8 "2005-05-16T20:59:35Z")
This is one of my pet peeves. Alias airs right after Lost on ABC, and when I set my PVR to record the former, I got five minutes of the latter, and missed the last five minutes of Alias. And, in their infinite wisdom, Scientific Atlanta (who make the PVR) have programmed it to ignore the end time if you try to manually over-ride it (it resets 10:05 PM back to 10:00 PM). **MOST** annoying. What’s troubling about this is that on other channels, shows that start at 11:05 PM are in the on-screen guide as starting then, and the PVR will correctly record the entire show. Frustrating. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tv-shows-lasting-61-or-62-minutes/304100/9 "2005-05-16T22:39:45Z")
It also gives the network an extra minute or two of ad time to sell. It’s not like you’re gaining one or two minutes of actual _programming_. ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2005, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tv-shows-lasting-61-or-62-minutes/304100/10 "2005-05-17T03:18:45Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > It’s to mess up people with TiVos. But why? What do they gain from doing this? ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2005, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tv-shows-lasting-61-or-62-minutes/304100/11 "2005-05-17T03:26:10Z")
> [@Imasquare](#): > > But why? What do they gain from doing this? Well, if the networks can tell their advertisers that they’ve found a way to beat tivo; they’ll be more likely to go with them. In short, more $$. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2005, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tv-shows-lasting-61-or-62-minutes/304100/12 "2005-05-17T03:30:01Z")
> [@Imasquare](#): > > But why? What do they gain from doing this? It might be to get you to watch _their_ show live and Tivo the _other one_ you were going to watch live. That way you can’t FF through all their commercials. Just a WAG, but I have heard that the networks are scared about the ways people are avoiding commercials. ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2005, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tv-shows-lasting-61-or-62-minutes/304100/13 "2005-05-17T03:46:48Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > It might be to get you to watch _their_ show live and Tivo the _other one_ you were going to watch live. That way you can’t FF through all their commercials. Just a WAG, but I have heard that the networks are scared about the ways people are avoiding commercials. Sounds plausible. But it won’t work on me at least - I avoid watching commercials by not watching commercial TV at all anymore.