Some shows are bigger than others

Fear the Boot speculated recently about the length of TV shows and the number of commercials networks are inserting per episode. While talking about Hulu, and the relative unobtrusiveness of the three minutes or so of commercials that are included per hour, they wondered aloud if shows did indeed have less commercials "back in the day."

I wondered that as well. On a recent trip to Baltimore, I had occasion to watch broadcast television for what must have been the first time in several months. Not for the first time, I was struck by how annoying it was to be interrupted every few minutes by a massive block of advertising. Was I just getting spoiled by Hulu, Netflix, and DVDs, or were commercials really fewer and farther between in my youth?

Thanks to the very media I now consume, the answer was easy to come by. I pulled out a DVD of Taxi - the second season from 1978. Each "half hour" show was 24 1/2 minutes long. Over at Hulu, I checked in on Newhart - also 24 1/2 to 25 minutes per episode.

Then I checked current shows like The Office, The Daily Show, My Name Is Earl, and Family Guy. All of these "half hour" shows were significantly shorter. The longest was 22 minutes, most were about 21:45, and some were as short as 20 minutes and 45 seconds. That's 8-9 minutes of commercials per half hour! It's no wonder that, with an ad-to-content ratio of 1 ad minute for every 2 minutes of entertainment, people just don't much feel like watching broadcast TV anymore.

When we were kids watching TV, one minute of advertising would get you five minutes of show. Now you get just two minutes. I wonder how much longer "old TV" has to live.