Red Dwarf X – 30-minute episodes in 40-minute timeslot.

[Ben Paddon]

Good !

Unfortunately some idiots on Twitter are complaining that this means there’ll be a single ten-minute ad break in the middle of the show. These people should be banned from, y’know, places.

Topic

[Claire]

If ads are the price we have to pay for a new series, it’s worth it.

[my brook is babbled]

Who cares about ads, it’s 30 minutes, it’s not as if people complain about some successful mainstream shows such as Downton Abbey having ad breaks, it doesn’t affect the shows.

[Alex]

I have to say, with a couple of the episodes I saw being recorded, the 3x ten minute sections to a show seemed to work quite well. Doug had clearly planned more carefully this time and tried to create three distinct acts.

[Carlito]

I doubt there will be two interruptions during the show though? Just the one surely, and bookended by ads to make up the 40 min slot?

[Ben Paddon]

I imagine there’ll be a short midway ad-break.

[Seb Patrick]

I imagine it will be EXACTLY LIKE THE THIRTY MINUTE EPISODES THAT DAVE ARE CURRENTLY BROADCASTING IN A FORTY MINUTE SLOT.

[Ridley]

That only gives us 28 hours!

[ori-STUDFARM]

Well I’ve heard* it will be a 30 minute episode in a 2 hour slot…The greedy marketing bastards!!

*I haven’t

[si]

I’ve heard* it will be a seven minute episode in a four minute slot.

*see above

[Ben Paddon]

I imagine it will be EXACTLY LIKE THE THIRTY MINUTE EPISODES THAT DAVE ARE CURRENTLY BROADCASTING IN A FORTY MINUTE SLOT.

Yeah, that’s more or less the point I’ve been making with idiots on Twitter. No responses, mind. I think they’re too busy trying to poke electrical sockets with wet forks.

[si]

Richard’s just Tweeted this:

Re #reddwarf ad breaks, we’re editing the show with one ad break in the middle approx half way. Not two.

[Carlito]

Hopefully there will be some kind of on-screen legend and/or sting to denote the end of part 1, start of part 2. The ad breaks were very jarring in BTE and not least because it cut directly from the action to an ad.

[si]

The way that bunkroom scene ends before the ads in part one of BtE, with the Cat’s yell, really annoys me for some reason.

[pfm]

Hopefully it’s edited so there’s a strong woofer going into the break. If you’re laughing going into the ads there’s more chance of you sticking with the show.

[Danny Stephenson]

Well isn’t that the ONLY take of that, as JUST after the cut, Danny goes base over apex over the doorway?

[si]

Good point, well made.

[Ian Symes]

Part of the reason the placement of the breaks were so pony for BTE was that the show was shot as a two parter, with the intended break points being completely different to where they ended up in the finished show. This time round, each episode will have been written and shot with an ad break in mind (in fact, it was fun trying to figure them out during recordings), so hopefully it’ll be better. When done with expert timing, having an ad break can actually be hugely beneficial to the pace of the show. Father Ted and Peep Show both did/do it superbly.

[si]

‘End of Part One’: like a mini-cliffhanger.

[peepingsignal]

Something like this?

[si]

Add a red ellipse, and you’re there. ;)

[Danny Stephenson]

I LIKE THIS!

[Danny Stephenson]

Father Ted and Peep Show both did/do it superbly.

Weirdly enough, i’ve noticed something about Father Ted, in as much as it seems to work better on broadcast than it does on DVD.

The DVD for pacing has cut the “Hitler dirt rant” in order to keep the scene going, whereas on tv you get more of it before the bumper kicks in.

Also the scene where Ted writes a poem for Eoin McLove, and finds that his poem didn’t win. Dougal’s baiting him, leading to a zoom in and an excellent fake-out of an ad-break that loses it’s effect on the DVD slightly.

Maybe it’s just me, though.

[peepingsignal]

Ellipse’d.

[si]

…and we’re there!

[Danny Stephenson]

did you make that original image Brayds?

[peepingsignal]

The background? No, I nabbed that from Google Images: http://wallpapers.androlib.com/wallicons/wallpaper.big-xqm.cs.png

Though I did mess around with the color and contrast, but that’s like kind of like polishing the table instead of building it.

[pfm]

The Hitler gag in Ted is exactly the kind of thing you need going into a break.

[Ben Paddon]

Channel 4 are rather good at re-editing their shows for DVD. Spaced, Father Ted, Peep Show and The IT Crowd (with the notable exception of series 1) were all re-edited as if they had no ad breaks at all. I approve.

Interestingly, the version of Spaced on Netflix US right now is the broadcast version… complete with the Spaced logo preempting and following where the ads would go. An interesting thing for me, as I’ve only ever seen the show on DVD.

[Ian Symes]

> …were all re-edited as if they had no ad breaks at all. I approve.

I disapprove, generally speaking. The pause created by an ad break is part of the original show, and is often very important to the pace. I prefer it to be like the Brasseye DVD, with the bumpers intact and a two second gap in between.

[si]

I’ve got Vic Reeves Big Night Out on both VHS and DVD – one of them has the bumpers, one’s edited, can’t remember which is which (though I suspect it’s the video which has the bumpers).

Spaced is edited well for DVD, though I’ve got my videos recorded tram the original transmission, which I’ve very cleverly edited the ads out of. The Spaced logo sweeps in, stays for a second, then sweeps off again.
I’m very easily amused…

[UncreativeUserName]

Strangely enough, at 2:00 in the morning when there’s no adverts sometimes, they do the exact same thing for Spaced. It was very surreal for me, about to go off and get something to eat, for the show to start back up immediately.

[Ben Paddon]

The pause created by an ad break is part of the original show, and is often very important to the pace

I can’t say it’s impacted my viewing of The IT Crowd, Spaced, or Father Ted, to be honest. Spaced works exceptionally well sans ad breaks.

[Connell]

>Strangely enough, at 2:00 in the morning when there’s no adverts sometimes, they do the exact same thing for Spaced.

Yes i’ve noticed this also! I believe it’s when they air it on More 4, the show seems to continue instantaneously.

[Connell]

Double post.. my irritating phone!

[Dave]

>Channel 4 are rather good at re-editing their shows for DVD. Spaced, Father Ted, Peep Show and The IT Crowd (with the notable exception of series 1) were all re-edited as if they had no ad breaks at all. I approve.

I’m pretty sure that although there is no bumper on the DVD, some Ted episodes still feature half of the musical intro/outro that accompanied it. As a viewing experience, it’s quite odd.

[Mr-Stabby]

I disapprove, generally speaking. The pause created by an ad break is part of the original show, and is often very important to the pace. I prefer it to be like the Brasseye DVD, with the bumpers intact and a two second gap in between.

Yeah i agree with this.

Who else remembers when the BBC would edit American shows like Star Trek to remove the ad breaks? As has been said, shows with adverts often are paced to lead up to the ad break. In the case of Star Trek for example, something bad would happen like Kirk is captured, then you’d see a closeup of Kirk standing still being pissed off as the music crescendos and then the picture fades to black. A couple of seconds later, we’d fade back into the action. The BBC not only removed the fade to black, but took out the music leading up to it, so you’d get this weird situation where Kirk would be captured and then suddenly stand there and stare at the camera for 10 seconds for no real reason. T’was a weird decision to edit it that way! They also used to move the cold open to after the title sequence, and put the title sequence first. The BBC were weird back then.

[pfm]

> The BBC were weird back then.

As opposed to now when they’re…..?

[Carlito]

Would it have actually been the BBC who edited those shows, or would it have been the American network or the production company?

[Mr-Stabby]

As opposed to now when they’re…..?

Weird and shite? :-D

As for who did the edits, yeah it would be interesting to find out. Was it ever played like that on stations like PBS?

[HelloMabel]

You’re right that if any American station would show anything without ads, it would be a PBS station. But if talking about Star Trek, it was never shown on PBS in any of its incarnations. I don’t think any PBS station has enough $ to pick up anything from Paramount. The DVDs will obviously have the show without commercials, but I couldn’t speak to how elegant the edits are since I don’t own those DVDs. I’d assume it’s a normal edit with a second or 2 of black screen standing in where the ads were.

[Phil]

>I’d assume it’s a normal edit with a second or 2 of black screen standing in where the ads were.

I recall this being the case when I watched a few TOS episodes on Netflix. (99% sure these would be the same edits as on the DVDs.) It’s been a while though so I could be misremembering.

[Author]

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