The thing I hate about commercials is how
loud they are. It's unbearable.
That's why I enjoy shows such as Doctor Who. Nearly a full hour of tv, sometimes longer.
Actually the average Doctor Who episode is around 45 minutes including credits. This is specifically done to maximize sales to international commercial markets.
Something else to consider is the narrative of a subscriber cable show and a network TV show is much different.
I'm so glad someone pointed this out. There's a reason HBO wins so many awards; commercial interruptions definitely impact structure.
Well TV in general has gotten bad. What ever happened to good shows and sitcoms? Stuff like Fresh Prince of Bel Air and dare I even say Full House.
We tend to only remember the better aspects of the past. I guarantee you that if we posted the full 1985 network schedule you wouldn't recall most of the shows. But while we're here I'll just point out the two shows you list are absolute garbage and I truly despair if we're now holding them up as examples of what modern television should aspire to.
But back on point, commercials don't seem to be any more frequent then they were when I grew up watching the tube.
They are definitely longer. An hour show has lost around 10 minutes of story time over the past 25 years. You can see this for yourself by timing archive programming on DVD.
The BBC model is a load of crap, in this country at the current rate of exchange it's £130/$189 dollars per year.
The BBC model is brilliant. It costs a pittance compared to what you get spread across television, radio and the Internet. The BBC is considered the premiere news organization on the planet and this is down in large part to its funding and ability to ignore commercial concerns. Meanwhile the corporation has created some of the best programming ever made (and a fair amount of crap as well). In fact many commentators hold up HBO as an aspirational goal and yet all that is is the BBC model in miniature.
The anti-BBC movement is largely motivated by political concerns.
The large proportion of the BBC programming is composed of repeats.
The bulk of every network on the planet is composed of repeats. And that includes America.
As much as I like Doctor Who and some of the British programming, it seems like they probably import a lot more tv shows from America than America imports from them.
Only because we make more shows. Most of the big UK programs make their way here. Much of ours make their way there. You might be surprised to learn however that US imports are generally niche viewing with low ratings. Just as in the reverse case!
That may be because advertising dollars earned from airing commercials means more money to make better shows.
I don't think the television landscape bears that out. In fact it's exceedingly difficult to think of the last time US television produced a Singing Detective or State of Play.
