Re: Hawaii Five-O DVD Set $29.99 at Costco

> Actually it's 102 minutes. Watched Cocoon and the first two episodes
> (which were 51 minutes). Back in the late 60's and I guess the 70's
> the commercial times were much shorter. I know when I watch NCIS and
> Crimianl Minds dvd they are around 42 - 43 minutes.

You bet they were... it was all about serving the viewer in those
days, but it's all about advertising dollars now. The greater the draw
(payola). the more demand on (sacrifice of) show time. For instance,
the first season MASH photoplays on DVD run a little over 26 minutes,
but by season 8, they'd been reduced by more ads to 22. The episodes
still aired in syndication barely scrape 20.

That's a large bite out of a 30 minute time slot, so a third of an
hour doesn't surprise me at all. In fact, think about that for a
minute. That's absurd amount of time to contribute to sponsors. It
means an annoying break every 6 to 8 minutes for a barage of LOUD and
insulting ads. Frankly, I don't know how anyone can stand it -- let
alone pay monthly fees for it.