dwhitney@uok.UUCP (11/24/84)
I would imagine you have already tried this, but just in case, I find a moderate amount of success can be had only if you talk to the program director of the station; the poor nimrod at the receptionists desk knows only the number of the station and the address of the station's network affiliate... :-) dwhitney David Whitney ctvax!uokvax!uok!dwhitney
uhclem@trsvax.UUCP (11/30/84)
<Send this message in Code 2...> Re: Attack of the TV Station Program Hackers We have a similar problem with our Star Treks in the Ft. Worth/Dallas area. TV episodes from the 60s and early 70s are about 50 minutes long, including Star Trek. (Programs for TV today are made 48 minutes long to handle the extra commercials and Newsbreaks they want to put on.) For NBC, that used to be 5 seconds for network id, 10 seconds for local id, 15 seconds at the half hour for local id & sync-up, and 9:30 of commercials in 5 chunks. ([1]After opening titles, [2]after first set of closing titles, [3]after first major crisis is discovered, [4]after major (second) crisis is dicovered, and [5]after Kirk/McCoy/Spock/Enterprise are attacked, killed, toasted, diced, captured again, doomed or whatever disaster can be straightened out in the 8 remaining minutes of the program.) Anyway our local station adds one to two extra commercial breaks, typically interrupting in mid-sentence. The print they are using is good, but its on videotape which has been slightly crinkled. Anyway, I clocked the number of minutes of commercials, newsbreaks, and reminders about what we were watching. (You know the "Star Trek will continue in a moment" for those who have forgotten what they were watching.) For three nights it came to 13.5 minutes. Now 60 - 50 - 13.5 = -3.5 minutes You can just guess where the -3.5 are going to be taken from. "Less Taste! More Filling!..." - Old TV Slogan As to why your local station keeps running the same several shows over and over again, well perhaps the local videotape club didn't have any others that day. "Thank you, Uh Clem." Frank Durda IV @ <trsvax!uhclem>
zubbie@wlcrjs.UUCP (Jeanette Zobjeck) (12/08/84)
Not to long ago I saw a piece, i think it was on REAL PEOPLE about a gizmo used at TV stations to compress the time of programing to make room for commercials without cutting any of the program. I am sure this tool is not in use universally because of cost but I feel that many of the larger stations probably use it with a will. It might be an idea to check with the TV station in your area airing ST episodes and see if they have this peice of equipment (no, I don't know it's official name) and ask if they ae using it ( if they have it) on ST programs. If it is available perhaps they might be willing to employ it on Star Trek considering the number of Trekies out here =============================================================================== From the mostly vacant environment of Jeanette L. Zobjeck (ihnp4!wlcrjs!zubbie) All opinions expressed may not even be my own. ===============================================================================
linwood@jett.UUCP (12/14/84)
. >Not to long ago I saw a piece, i think it was on REAL PEOPLE about >a gizmo used at TV stations to compress the time of programing to make >room for commercials without cutting any of the program. I recently saw an uncut version of Trouble with Tribbles, a few weeks later I saw it on TV, and i noticed several places where stuff was missing. I do not know if the uncut version is different from the one relesed to TV or not, but in the uncut version it was clear where the comercial break was. I do not know if KJCT Grand Jct. Colorado is in the habbit of cuting out stuff or not, but there were several places missing, notable the begining. - Linwood Varney (Jett Unix System, Huntsville, AL) {ihnp4|akgua}!jett!linwood "Kirk to Enterprise.......Come in Enterprise.....Kirk to Enterprise!!..."
Anonymous@rna.UUCP (12/19/84)
In NYC on WPIX they always cut something out, usually one of the best parts. For instance, in City on The Edge of Forever they hacked out the bum accidentally killing himself with a phaser that looks like a shaver. Or in I, Mudd they ripped out a chunk of the best bit of theater ever put on by the crew of the Enterprise, namely when they try to short circuit Norman with zany, illogical, behavior. The original episodes were x minutes long with (1hr - x) being the time alloted for commercials. Now all of these stupid independent stations want to cram in more advertising so who suffers... you guessed it. This is bad enough but to make it worse they seem to have taken the ennie mennie minne mo approach rather than trying to pick the least painful 2 or 3 minutes. In reference to the speeding up a film, it is rumored that this is done with commercials. It tends to have desirable (from the advertiser's point of view) subliminal effects. I have never heard of this being done with reruns. (I don't think the fools at WPIX have the imagination). -I think I'm dead, Jim Serge Sretschinsky