Tonight I saw that Aladdin was playing on CBC starting at 7pm. Oh wait... on your channels it was probably at 5pm but we in Pang get our CBC feed from Edmonton so we are on Mountain time rather than Eastern as we should be. But anyway... Since Aladdin is my favorite Disney movie I thought I'd let Oliver stay up past bedtime so we could watch it together.
So, the movie began at 7. At 7:13 there was a 4 minute commercial break. (is it just me or is 4 minutes way too long?) The movie played again for 7 minutes and there was another 4 minute commercial. Then 10 minutes followed by 5 minutes of commercials this time. In total there was just a touch over 30 minutes of selling going on during a 90 minute movie.
Ok, I'm not oblivious to the fact that you should expect to be sold something while watching TV. The reason I'm blogging about this? CBC has the nerve to call it Family Sunday. A quote from commercial break number 2: "What you're watching might just bring your family closer together". I doubt it! How many young kids do you know easily sit through a 90 minute movie at the best of times? To expect them to sit through these overly long breaks after only a few minutes of the actual show is a formula for distraction and frustration on every one's part. It's a joke.
On top of having too many breaks, the same ads are played over and over and over again. Even outside of tonight, this has always been one of the most annoying things about watching CBC. If I'd ever thought of watching 'Heartland', seeing the trailer 8 times in the span of one movie is certain to change my mind. And how many times do I need to see that woman's thong on the 'In Security' trailer? Steven and Chris, Best Recipes Ever.... 8 times in two hours? I don't want to watch any of these shows now.
It should be no surprise that O lost interest quickly and ended up in bed at the usual time. And he's a kid that will usually sit through a movie. After the second commercial he asked where the show went and asked to go read a story instead. We did Tivo it so perhaps we'll try watching it next Sunday while they show Pocahontas. At least I'll be able to fast forward the commercials. Maybe then it will keep every one's interest and actually have a chance of bringing the family closer together. Thanks to Tivo, not CBC.
6 comments:
I agree!!! We only have cbc in this house and we have given up on Family Sundays. As a kid that was huge in our house to stay up and watch that cbc movie. At least their kids cartoons in the morning are commercial free.
Ah CBC! Our tax money so well-spent! SInce they obviously have so many advertisers one would think they would survive quite well if they were severed from the government teat.
It's not just CBC. US tv has the same problem. The one that really cheeses me off is when they play an add, then another and repeat the first. Same add twice in a few minutes. I LOVE dvr(same as tivo)We always record shows we know will be comercial heavy so we can fast forward.
Dave, sure it's on every channel, but it's only CBC we have to pay for on our taxes.
This is why I love Netflix. Understandably this is not an option for you...yet lol. I'm so done with normal TV.
lol heartland, yuck. I'm loving all those AMC shows, now that's TV.
We get netflix, on the Wii. I like that you can find a lot of older movies and Tv shows.
I wish I had known that...the commercials do suck, but I would have done the same and taped it - Paige would have loved it!
Post a Comment