I was watching PTI and as they do 3x a day they went to commerical.. nothing surprising there.. Commericals last 2 to 3 mins and they go back to the show... When they "tape" the "live" show, do the hosts hang out for 2-3 mins, or is the break longer, or shorter? What is the "real" time of a TV break? Is it the same across all shows?

Commercials only 3x a day?

What channel is that?

I meant 3x a episode

When we play back taped stuff on CNN the anchors don't sit there for the duration of the break... they just go on to the next section.

On the other hand, Letterman takes a break while the band plays their song. The break might not be exactly the same length, but he doesn't move straight into the next segment.

Also, PTI is broadcast live, isn't it?

is PTI live??? I know Around the Horn is delayed a bit

No, PTI isn't live. I think TK goes to the TV Studio after he's done w/his radio show at 1 pm est.

I think they play xbox sports online.....

or maybe they download porn?

I know on the WWE they either continue a match if it is in progress or show commercials on the Tron for the live crowd.

On PTI, in between commericials is when everybody is serviced by the fluffers.

PTI is taped about an hour before broadcast, but will go live for a segment if there is breaking news to be mocked.

a lot of the time there will be back and forth communications between the booth or some prep for the next feature bit.

I've attended two Late Show tapings, and the shows occurs in "real time". Paul and the band play during what are the commercial breaks, but the show picks up right when returning from the break with rare exception. The one hour show takes one hour to tape.

For those of you that are obviously idiots (like me) PTI is Pardon the Interruption on ESPN.

We taped Jerry Springer in "real time" as much as possible too, actually doing nothing in the spaces commercials would be inserted.

This time was used by the union guys to set up the chairs for the next guests and by Jerry to talk to the exec producer about how the show is going so far.

I know Late Night w/ Conan O'Brien does it like how the Late Show does it as mentioned above. The band starts playing a song to go to the commercial break and as the song wraps up they go back on.

During the break Conan and the guest usually just go on chatting away, but the mics are off so the audience can't hear what they're saying.

Leno is also taped in real time. The band plays, Leno goes to the back for a moment, Edd Hall will usually signal the crowd to let them know when they're coming back, etc.

But yeah, the commerical breaks are built in most of the time.

thanks guys