TV Blocks
Recently, I talked about the major networks moving their shows around so that they could keep people from switching channels, and so that they could screw up DVRs. The way it works is, the networks will make a show last two or three minutes longer, so when one show is finished, people don't want to change the channel, because they might enter a new show late.

ABC scheduling chief Jeff Bader said, "It's not my job to make it easy for people to leave our network. Our whole goal is to get people to stay with us from 8 to 11." So, effectively, making viewers angry is not as dangerous as letting viewers change the channel. Screw the viewers, as long as the ratings stay up and the ad revenue rolls in.

I started thinking about this line of reasoning, and I figure they're not going far enough. I mean, if you decide that keeping your viewers happy is secondary to keeping your viewers watching, you could go a lot farther with this.

For instance:

Ten-minute episodes. Break up an hour long episode into four parts (each one 10 minutes long), then shuffle them together so that it works like this:

6:02 PM Alias
6:12 PM Commercials
6:17 PM Desperate Housewives
6:27 PM Commercials
6:31 PM Lost
6:41 PM Commercials
6:46 PM 8 Simple Rules
6:56 PM Commercials
7:02 PM Alias
.
.
.

See? Now, if you were an Alias fan, you would have to watch from 6:02 until 9:02 to get 40 minutes worth of an episode! Also, it would give viewers exposure to shows they might have otherwise not known about (in fact, if you juggle them from one week to the next, people will have to check their TV Guides to make sure they don't miss their favorite shows). Now that I think about it, the very fear that they might miss their shows could be enough to keep them locked on your network!

Also, since most of your 10-minute episodes will need a "previously on . . ." segment at the beginning of each episode, you can cut down the actual episode time to only 9 minutes (or 36 minutes per "hour long" episode). Did you notice I even managed to squeeze 20 minutes of commercials in there!

You could even use it as a marketing campaign, "Get four times the comedy in ABC's Laugh Block! There's something for everyone in the Laugh Block, with 8 Simple Rules, Complete Savages, America's Funniest Home Videos, and According to Jim, all together in one block".

Sure, some of you might think that this would be horrible, that forcing people to watch TV for four hours just so that they could get one whole show is evil and manipulative. But if you think that way, you're probably a viewer.

Screw the viewer. "Our whole goal is to get people to stay with us from 8 to 11."
- posted by BrandG @ 5:06 PM