THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 21, 1995 TAG: 9506210063
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
SHAME ON WVEC for slicing and dicing one of Hollywood's best films, ``Sunset Boulevard,'' to wedge in as many commercials as possible.
While showing the 1950 classic about a fading silent film star on ``Cinema 13'' one Sunday not long ago, the ABC affiliate inserted commercials by the truckload. Once, the film ran for only four minutes before it was interrupted for a sales pitch.
Four minutes!
Another time, the movie re-started at 12:03 a.m. and was stopped just 10 minutes later for another Lowell Stanley voice-of-the-victim commercial. Ten minutes to commercial!
Disgraceful.
If ever there was a movie that deserved to be treated with respect, it's ``Sunset Boulevard.'' The film builds frame by frame to the smashing finale when Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) descends the staircase of her decaying mansion to tell director Cecil B. DeMille that she is ready for her close-up.
WVEC butchered ``Sunset Boulevard'' by slipping commercials in the middle of scenes, often interrupting the actors as they spoke their wonderful lines.
``We didn't need dialogue. We had faces.''
A number of readers including Billy Parker of Knotts Island, N.C., have called me on Infoline (640-5555, Category 3333) recently to rant about the glut of commercials on TV.
``It seems that on any show I'm watching, the commercials come along every five or 10 minutes,'' said Parker.
Good thing Billy wasn't tuned in to ``Sunset Boulevard'' on Channel 13.
The movie started up at 11:57 p.m. Then it stopped at 12:01 a.m. for a commercial. Four minutes!
That's viewer abuse.
After taking Billy Parker's call, I started to pay close attention to the amount of commercials in local and national programming.
If you think it's a lot, you are right. A sampling:
On David Letterman's ``Late Show'' on CBS recently, the program began with Letterman's monologue and funny-stuff-at-the-desk bit that ran for 17 minutes and 24 seconds. Never again during ``The Late Show'' was there that much time between commercials. At the top of the hour, Letterman took a four-minute-plus break during which nine commercials spilled out of the tube.
WAVY's 6 p.m. local newscast one night last week was delivered in segments of nine, three, four, three and one minutes. That makes for 20 minutes of news and 22 commercials in a half-hour local newscast.
NBC ran a movie on Monday night recently that started out fine. The first commercial didn't pop up until 22 minutes after the hour. But after that, when NBC thought you were hooked on the plot, the breaks came more often.
I counted a blitz of 11 commercials during one interruption.
I checked with the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates broadcasters, and the industry's conscience, the National Association of Broadcasters, only to be told there are no regulations that limit the number of commercials - except in children's programming. In that area, the maximum is 10 1/2 commercial minutes per hour on the weekend and 12 minutes every hour on weekdays.
Poor adults are at the mercy of the networks and local stations.
The other night on NBC, the Peacock Network beamed out the ultimate affront to viewers. It was ``An All-Star Word from Our Sponsor,'' a show which was nothing but commercials. Sixty minutes of commercials. Commercials that followed commercials.
On that show, they were singing about wanting to be an Oscar Meyer weiner. And hailing Schweppervescence.
The commercials in amongst the commercials came along every 20 minutes or so. Sure, it was murder. But it could have been worse. It could have been ``Cinema 13.'' by CNB