‘Too many commercials’: Readers weigh in on 10 p.m. shows’ sinking ratings
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This week’s Channel Island column about the decline of 10 p.m. shows on the broadcast networks generated plenty of reader feedback.
Our story suggested that mass DVR recording of programs earlier in the evening may be leading viewers to blow off programs at 10 p.m. And judging from the e-mails, some readers seem to be doing precisely that.
‘I can’t stand the commercials anymore,’ one reader wrote. ‘I DVR everything that I want to watch. On any given night I have 2, sometimes 3 shows that I record, and then I watch them throughout the week. Most of us are probably recording the 10 pm shows and watching an earlier show that we had recorded.’
Commercial-bashing was indeed a favorite theme. ‘Everyone is in total agreement that there are just too many commercials,’ another reader wrote. ‘The sponsors may not think so, and the networks and TV stations may not think so, but this is a major reason for the drop-off of viewers. It is so difficult to sit through any program nowadays because of the number of commercials in an hour show. Most 60-minute shows are on 42 minutes, so it seems a TV show’s only purpose is to break up the commercials.’
(This guy should be watching Fox’s ‘Fringe,’ a 9 p.m. show that’s experimenting with reducing the number of commercial interruptions.)
Others wondered whether the 10 p.m. decline is because of viewers hitting the hay earlier these days. One reader actually mentioned L.A.’s ever-worsening morning rush hour as a factor pushing people to bed early. That might be true locally, but such a theory doesn’t explain why 10 p.m. viewing has declined nationally.
As for the quality of what’s on at 10 p.m., our correspondents couldn’t quite agree. While one reader dubbed the offerings at that late hour as ‘not very inviting,’ a different view came from a reader who reported that ‘My husband and I usually enjoy the 10 p.m. shows far more than [those in] other timeslots. It is always loaded with the most dramatic and well-written and -acted fare.’
She added: ‘We are not fans of most of the reality TV, by the way.’
-- Scott Collins
