Looks like BSG will be shown on BBC-A this Summer.
Doctor Who is going well, although I didn't think I'd like the newer guy. There's no replacement for Tennant, Eccleston was also almost as good, but I'm liking the new guy now too. A lot of "convenient" plot turns, but simply an enjoyable show with a loads of imagination.

I guess you don't know why shows are 45 minutes in the first place then? Having 15 minutes of commercials has been standard for about 25 years. Prior to that, it was 10 minutes per hour (look at the original ST series or even the early years of Moonlighting). In fact, that's not the standard anymore. I think the standard length of an episode of BSG in its last couple of years was 41 minutes. Also, TV shows are no longer 4 acts, they're now 5. So instead of the old way of commercials at the 15, 30, and 45 minute marks (plus between shows) and just making them longer (because people might leave or flip channels), they keep the breaks the same length but now do them at 12, 24, 36, and 48 minutes and just run one show's end credits right into the next's opening.

Another casualty is opening credits/themes. Older shows had openings lasting as long as 90 seconds, then they dropped to 45 seconds, and now they have maybe a 10 second blip with the name of the series, then the opening credits are shown over the actual show. Lots of them also have the end credits running underneath as the show wraps up, especially the 30 minute shows, because they're down to just over 20 minutes!



The Jedi Master

Yeah I noticed the difference in episode length between different shows as I watched them on dvd for the first time and subsequent times. X-Files episodes were roughly about 45 minutes during its entire run, Babylon 5 eps are also about 45 minutes, ST: TOS episodes are 50 minutes and like Jedi Master said, BSG episodes by season 3 and 4 were about 41 minutes and change. Of all the 1 hour dramas I've seen on dvd, BSG definitely has the shortest eps.

It's been nice lately on BBC-A that they've been showing some full length Top Gear episodes on Mondays. 1hr 20 min. It was obvious before that they had trimmed a lot to get down to 1 hr, often cutting some nice parts from bits and interviews, and creating really bad transitions. Good to see the longer eps now to see what we've been missing.

...I strongly urge people to download the original Top Gear eps from Usenet then.

It's also happening in the Netherlands, these ridiculously long commercial breaks. Wish people would do something against it. Protests, a law, whatever. It's my time they're stealing with their winged women's convenience thingies, cars I don't want to buy, etc. etc. etc.

Speaking of BBC America, the season 6 premiere of Dr. Who had great numbers!

http://airlockalpha.com/node/8454/doctor-who-struggles-in-uk-soars-in-us.html

Actually, people HAVE done something about it...the numbers of people watching network shows has plummeted. With over 300 million people in the US, few shows get over 10 million viewers. Most get under 5 million now.

The reaction to this drop in ratings has been to increase the length and number of commercial breaks.





The Jedi Master