Last night I watched A Charlie Brown Christmas, which I had captured with my DVR. This animated Christmas television classic was first broadcast in 1965. However, I had never seen it before.
The theme of the program, for those of you who have never seen it, is the overcommercialism of Christmas and Charlie's attempt to restore the true meaning of the holiday. Yet the way in which it was presented by ABC served to underscore just how commercial our entire society has become, and not just at Christmastime.
Case in point: The program was shown in a one-hour time block. Therefore I assumed that I was watching a one-hour program. Wrong. I used the 30-second skip-ahead button on my remote control to move through the commercials, as I always do, so I wasn't paying any attention to the amount of time taken up by the commercials. Much to my surprise, about 35 minutes into the program, I saw the end credits. The rest of the time period was taken up by another animated feature in which I had no interest.
What happened here is that the running time of the original program was edited to fit the time frame required by the major networks in 1965. For a half-hour program, this would have allowed about 26 minutes for the program and four minutes for commercials and station breaks. Today, however, it seems that the format for a half-hour program allows only about 20 minutes for the program and 10 minutes for commercials and station breaks--when and if station breaks are even used. Hence the program "ran over" the half-hour mark by six minutes. Thankfully, ABC didn't cut it to fit today's 30-minute time slot.
The situation is no better with full-hour programs. In the 1960s, a full-hour program had about 54 minutes of actual program content. Examples include the television specials done by Frank Sinatry and Barbra Streisand in the 1960s. Over the years, the running time gradually came down--to 50 minutes, 48 minutes, 45 minutes (on my DVDs for Quantum Leap, a program that went on the air in 1989), and 42 minutes (as in the early seasons of NCIS). Today the running time seems to be about 40 minutes.
In the 1960s and 1970s, we didn't have video cassettes, DVDs, or set-top boxes with built-in DVRs, but it was no big deal to have to sit through six minutes, or even 10 minutes, of commercials every hour. Now the broadcast networks and advertising-supported cable networks are expecting us to waste 20 minutes out of every hour watching commercials, most of which are repeated several times during the program and many of which are stupid and insult my intelligence. Some commercial breaks run as long as four minutes. I won't even get into the question of program quality (or more often, the lack of quality), but it is any wonder that these networks have lost their audiences?
There are some programs that I watch regularly, such as NCIS, NCIS Los Angeles, Hawaii 5-0 (all on CBS), and Nikita. However, I'll be darned if I'm going to waste 20 minutes out of every hour watching their commercials. I capture them on my DVR first, then watch them later, skipping over their commercials. The advertisers who have spent money to reach me with their message have wasted their money. In fact, the only programs that I will watch in real time are some sporting and news events. I'm a baseball fan, and the commercial breaks during baseball broadcasts aren't very offensive because they are limited to about two minutes between each half-inning.
My point is this: The advertising-supported broadcast networks, and many of the cable networks as well, in their efforts to get every advertising dollar possible, have gone too far. They have a right to make a fair profit, of course. What they don't have a right to do is ask me to waste 20 minutes out of every hour watching their stupid commercials. They put a value on their advertising minutes, but I also put a value on my time.
We viewers must fight back by refusing to let them waste our time. If you regularly watch advertising-supported television and you don't already have a Tivo or a set-top box with a DVR, I encourage you to get one. Just think what you could do with that extra 20 minutes every hour.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
These Christians: See how they club one another
Through all of my life, I have held to the belief that most people are basically good and just want a fair chance at a decent life for themselves and their families. I believe in trusting a person until they give me a reason not to trust them. I have worked for people who were paranoid and did not share this trust in others, but I've chosen not to live that way.
Every once in a while, however, an event occurs that shakes my belief in the basic decency of others. One such event was the decision of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, to picket the funeral of Elizabeth Edwards, who died of cancer earlier this week.
To me--and to many others as well, I'm sure--Elizabeth Edwards was a role model. In everything that she did, she showed class and dignity.
She and her husband, John, a candidate for President in 2008, overcame the death of their 16-year-old son, Wade, in 1996 and turned it into a life-changing event for themselves. She was an exemplary political wife in both 2004, when John ran for Vice President and she first became aware of her cancer, and 2008, when her cancer recurred. Even then, she stood by John and continued to campaign for him.
After John withdrew his presidential candidacy and she learned that her cancer was terminal, she became a staunch and vocal advocate of women who suffer from cancer. When she learned of his infidelities, she somehow managed to carry on. Elizabeth Edwards remained an example and role model right up to the end.
Thus it shocked me to learn of the plans of members of the Westboro Baptist Church to picket her funeral. They preach Christianity but they don't practice it. I'm reminded of a comment made by a classmate many years ago, when I was a seminarian studying for the Catholic priesthood: "These Christians. See how they club one another."
What disgusts me even more are the reasons that these so-called Christians have given for their protest. I will not dignify their ugliness and lies by repeating any of them here, but they are so cruel and hurtful that they make the Crusades look like a misson of mercy and the Spanish Inquisition look like an exchange of text messages between best friends.
Some of you may remember Senator Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin, a demagogue of the 1950s who ruined many lives by preying on the fear of Communism that was prevalent at the time and persecuting many innocent Government employees by falsely charging them with being Communists (at a time when the American Communist Party was still legal in this country, if I'm not mistaken). McCarthy was finally stopped by a landmark broadcast by Edward R. Murrow, the great pioneer television journalist, and ultimately by his own actions at the Army-McCarthy hearings, where he claimed the U.S. Army was knowingly harboring Communists.
As the hearings began to come apart when McCarthy's hypocrisy and cruelty became clear, Joseph Welch, the attorney for the Army, put McCarthy in his place with some memorable words. I would say those same words to the pastor and parishioners of Westboro Baptist Church:
"Until this moment, I think I never gauged your cruelty or recklessness....If it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty, I would do so. I like to think I am a gentleman, but your forgiveness will have to come from someone other than me....Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?....If there is a God in heaven, it will do neither you nor your cause any good."
Every once in a while, however, an event occurs that shakes my belief in the basic decency of others. One such event was the decision of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, to picket the funeral of Elizabeth Edwards, who died of cancer earlier this week.
To me--and to many others as well, I'm sure--Elizabeth Edwards was a role model. In everything that she did, she showed class and dignity.
She and her husband, John, a candidate for President in 2008, overcame the death of their 16-year-old son, Wade, in 1996 and turned it into a life-changing event for themselves. She was an exemplary political wife in both 2004, when John ran for Vice President and she first became aware of her cancer, and 2008, when her cancer recurred. Even then, she stood by John and continued to campaign for him.
After John withdrew his presidential candidacy and she learned that her cancer was terminal, she became a staunch and vocal advocate of women who suffer from cancer. When she learned of his infidelities, she somehow managed to carry on. Elizabeth Edwards remained an example and role model right up to the end.
Thus it shocked me to learn of the plans of members of the Westboro Baptist Church to picket her funeral. They preach Christianity but they don't practice it. I'm reminded of a comment made by a classmate many years ago, when I was a seminarian studying for the Catholic priesthood: "These Christians. See how they club one another."
What disgusts me even more are the reasons that these so-called Christians have given for their protest. I will not dignify their ugliness and lies by repeating any of them here, but they are so cruel and hurtful that they make the Crusades look like a misson of mercy and the Spanish Inquisition look like an exchange of text messages between best friends.
Some of you may remember Senator Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin, a demagogue of the 1950s who ruined many lives by preying on the fear of Communism that was prevalent at the time and persecuting many innocent Government employees by falsely charging them with being Communists (at a time when the American Communist Party was still legal in this country, if I'm not mistaken). McCarthy was finally stopped by a landmark broadcast by Edward R. Murrow, the great pioneer television journalist, and ultimately by his own actions at the Army-McCarthy hearings, where he claimed the U.S. Army was knowingly harboring Communists.
As the hearings began to come apart when McCarthy's hypocrisy and cruelty became clear, Joseph Welch, the attorney for the Army, put McCarthy in his place with some memorable words. I would say those same words to the pastor and parishioners of Westboro Baptist Church:
"Until this moment, I think I never gauged your cruelty or recklessness....If it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty, I would do so. I like to think I am a gentleman, but your forgiveness will have to come from someone other than me....Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?....If there is a God in heaven, it will do neither you nor your cause any good."
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