Duffy, who has been around for a while, has seen many profound changes in the television industry. Both "hardware" i.e. TV sets, and "software", i.e. programming. He has been pleasantly amazed at the technological changes over the past 50 years, particularly over the past 10 years in the incredible transformation of TV sets. Having purchased a large screen HD plasma set last year, "watching football games" has a whole new meaning. Cable transmission means over a hundred stations to choose from with more of them becoming HD every day. DVR time shifting is a wonderful invention for people with busy schedules to be able to record their favorite programs and then watch them when convenient. Wow, what a difference when Duffy remembers his father bringing home the neighborhood's first color TV (a 21" RCA) in 1958. This is definitely the Golden Age of television technology.
Duffy also remembers from the early days watching programs that lasted 30 minutes with three commercials, one at the beginning, one in the middle, and one at the end. The commercials lasted no more than a minute each and several commercials were included in that minute. Fast forward to today. Duffy never watches a program more than an hour unless it's sports as he can't bring himself to watch the multitude of commercials jammed into every program. Now eight minutes of commercials are allowed in each 30 minutes of programming with more than that allowed on cable channels. It is extremely annoying to watch 8 minutes of an interesting program and then have it interrupted in the middle by 5 minutes of commercials. Another 8 minutes, another 3-5 minutes of commercials. One of Duffy's pet peeves is seeing the same commercial at the front of the commercial break, followed by several others, then repeated again at the end of the break. Every year it seems somehow broadcasters manage to jam ever more commercials in an hour time slot.
It is Duffy's opinion that Congress, being as feckless as it is, holds hearing and passes laws on the most ridiculous subjects that usually have not very much, if anything, to do with the well being of the country. The latest example being the hearings held on the BCS system for college football. But Duffy would love to see a law passed either outlawing (probably unconstitutional) or delaying to a later time, commercials promoting prescription drugs. This is a relatively new phenomenon but has been increasing the annoyance factor. The most egregious example are commercials on erectile dysfunction in the prime 6-8 p.m. dinner slot. Duffy just imagines the scene around the dinner table when the 6 year old asks his daddy what erectile dysfunction is. But we also see commercials on drugs to treat Alzheimer's, diabetes, sleep disorders, heart conditions, you name it. All have to be prescribed by a doctor. Duffy counted 5 commercials in a row for prescription medication the other night. The drug companies spend billions of dollars hiring cute women to visit doctors to promote their latest new miracle drug. They don't need to spend billions more on TV commercials when they can spend that money instead in additional research. In Duffy's opinion, "There ought to be a law!"
The networks wonder why they are losing viewers. They ought to just count the number of commercials each hour to get the answer. Just like a newspaper can't be all ads, the television programs can't be all commercials.
Duffy longs for the day when a TV manufacturer makes a set that will automatically blip out commercials.
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