Is there a list of shows known to do this crap? This issue is really starting to piss me off.

NBC is notoroius for this.

ABC is doing this as well.

Yup, it happened with last week's episode of Desperate Housewives.

I've now set my DVR to record the show after it each week, just in case.

Rob

Lost also ran over.

ER does this regularly. I have to switch frrom CSI the second the episode ends, skipping scenes from next week to catch start of ER.

Last week LOst ran over. I was recording, since I was out, and had VCR set to switch to West Wing at 9:00..

CBS Football always runs over, they laughably think people watch 60 minutes, so it makes Cold Case run over, leaving a problem for Desperate Housewives and L&O:CI (I watch one, record the other). I wish they would scrap whatever 60 minute segments can't finish by 8:00. (Actually, I wish they'd scrap 60 Minutes)

Those are the ones currently pissing me off. There are probably more that don't impact me.

This is, indeed, a very frustrating issue! I wonder if it's an intentional action to try and "force" people to not switch stations (who knows what them whacky TV execs think of??), or if it's just poor quality control. One would think that a promo could be kicked in order to maintain the time schedule, but NooOOOoo! I think we should petition the FCC to make stations abide by whatever laws there are concerning this. (*cough cough*)

It might be easier to post a list of shows that don't run over. It seems like ever since Tivo became more mainstream networks are love messing around with the start and end times.

and even then ER has gone past the pre credits scenes and is halfway through the opening creidts

I don't really understand why they do this. It just makes me mad to have a show cut off, but it doesn't help the network--especially if Tivo doesn't catch it. If they are trying to keep people from switching the channel, they will ultimately lose the people who prefer the second show over the first. They'll also lose the people who tend to boycott when they get pissed off.

I gave up on Friends last year with all the supersized and held over episodes. I did try to watch the finale--but lost the last few minutes since it went over. Maybe they wanted me to buy the dvd which came out just a few days later. I would never buy that though because I felt like they screwed me over by going past the hour mark.

I lost the end of the season finale of Nip/Tuck but caught it again later and padded it. Then it happened to Desperate Housewives and Lost. I watched the beginning of Lost and it started early.

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/cgi/go...gi?action=home
abc plays the minutes games
five series now to regularly run over/under an hour

'desperate housewives' to run 61 minutes >>
'boston legal' to run 59 minutes >>
'lost' to run 61 minutes >>
'the bachelor' to run 61 minutes >>
'wife swap' to run 58 minutes >

Any more?

This is the first time i've noticed ER going OVER, but they've been starting earlier for a while. Tivo even has it starting at 8:58.

Whats even more annoying is you can have Tivo start earlier, and also recording longer, but you can't make it start later or record shorter. Very annoying.

They do this for a reason. Now that Video on demand/TiVo systems are getting more popular, it's to keep people from watching on those tivo systems and watching it live. This way they secure your viewership for the paid commercials that is the life blood of Broadcast television.

Ad companies think you aren't watching, they don't pay stations as much to put the ad on the program. Something along those lines. They want you viewing it live, when it airs. All in an attempt to throw your tivo viewing a bit off.

Except for things like baseball, my network viewing is probably down to about 10 hours a month. There are simply too many alternative entertainment options for me to put up with all that crap.

It sucks that ABC is now joining NBC in this practice.

What also sucks is that sometimes NBC does the reverse - they list something as 61 minutes and it is still the normal 60 minutes so they use the extra 1 minute for commercials and promos. This really fucks with the DVR folks.

This sucks. I missed the begining of Desperate Housewives this week, since TiVo didn't record it because Dead Like Me has a higher priority. I tuned in manually about 2 minutes after the opening credits, so I missed the teaser and part of the first act.

I also record West Wing, so I've got problems between 8:00 and 8:01 on Wednesdays.

My thougts exactly.

Perhaps Tivo should have a few people watch the shows live and update the schedule accordingly. Those with a broadband connection could get instant schedule updates. It would not cost much and would provide a valuable service to their customers.

My strategy to avoid this is to give shows that repeat (most cable shows, including Dead Like Me) lower priority than shows that don't (most network shows, although ABC has been repeating Desperate Horsewives on Saturdays). That way, if I lose something, it'll be something I can get back within the week (if not sooner).

That's what I do, and luckily it has worked so far. After Lost, I want to watch Mythbusters on Discovery, but luckily it is replayed several times during the week, so my padding on Lost works just fine.

And when push comes to shove, I'll miss the last minute or so of a program. After all, it is only TV, and I can catch up on the internet the next morning when I hit the forums!

Yeah, this crap is exactly why my Tivo has TWO network shows left on it -- Joey, Will & Grace -- and both are expendable if there is something better on. I have to check every week to make sure it's not a "SuperSized" episode or some other crap and pad Will & Grace by 5 minutes to try and prevent missing anything.

Ad companies need to realize that there are a lot of people who aren't compelled to buy products because they see them on network television.

Every week I'm out there buying things without regard for whether I saw it on TV or not!

At the moment the only thing that saves me is that all the good shows are gone. The only thing that seems to be airing is reality shows so I luck out that the few shows I do watch don't overlap. So I have season pass setup to start 5 minutes ahead and end 5 minutes after.

As annoying as I think this is I'm wondering how the "commercial haters" think networks should pay for the programming they are watching. Are you planning on sending money in?

For the record, I think we'll eventually either get half the screen taken up with ads OR more of a transition to paid subscription television.

I don't get it. No ads = no advertisers = no revenue = no programs = no TV.

Maybe, but I don't have the time and energy to independently keep up on the world of bathroom deodorizers and dental care; I find it much easier to hear about new products on TV. To each his own.

I bet you do and don't even realize it. Do you always buy the cheapest price item or a certain brand?

example:

most pople use kleenex to blow their nose. Now the brand name may be Puffs or whatever, but people call them kleenex. Kleenex is a brand name. The generic name is facial tissue, but most people don't refer to them as kleenex.