Most of us are probably aware that TV presentation is the UK is not at all like it is in different countries. I became aware of this a long time ago when I discovered America's odd habit of placing a commercial break right before the credits of a TV show, making me think it's completely counter-productive because nobody would sit through the break to see them. Then I learnt that the next programme would kick in almost immediately, and I understood the purpose of the "cold open" to tease viewers into sitting through the next break and watching the whole show.
But recently I've witnessed it go one further. They actually run the credits of a show while the start of the next programme begins. For example...
So it got me thinking. What other staples of American presentation are completely alien to the tea-drinking, crumpet-eating residents of Blighty?
The only ones slightly resembling UK presentation are the Scandinavian countries: everywhere else (even in Europe), things are a bit done using the "greedier" presentation approach, or the "careless" approach
Things like cut credits, no idents (just often cheesy bumpers with cheesy jingles saying the name of the channel etc.) or cheesy graphics are common: also, schedules are all over the place, with silly times and unrespected scheduled times
Of course America is the best representation of this
As for the American method of placing the ad-breaks, someone will probably remember ABC1: all the ad breaks were in the middle of the show (2 for a 30-mins scheduled show), but just an ident between the shows
Also, in the US they can cram more ads than in the UK (the British 12-mins limit is only for the kids channels, there), and as a result the presentation is much more advert-focused
ABC1 was probably an attempt to do something different as most if not all of what it showed was American imports and even then they probably didn't use the original break points in the shows.
I think a similar video was posted a couple of years ago showing exactly the same thing except IIRC it was on a TV show not a film, so its not an entirely new thing.
Does American scheduling use break bumpers or similar? Over here there is a requirement to clearly distinguish between programmes and breaks and we use break bumpers or still idents here. I seem to remember the American method was just "we'll be right back" (or similar) from the presenter and straight into an advert, so you may get caught out if you're not paying attention. I'm assuming this is still the case?
I believe the "we'll be right back" only is a requirement for kids' channels in the US, not normal ones.. I've seen a lot of times channels like Discovery going straight from the programme to the ad break or to a promo
As for the UK: is that a requirement? Because there are channels which place the break bumpers before and after the "break", rather than before and after the ad break: for instance, the likes of Viacom and the Turner channels, have no bumper before and after the ads, but the Disney channels have a bumper before and after the ads but not one when going into a break (in the middle of the show) or back to the show
Well, the other thing you could mention that appears in that clip is the TV ratings system. It has to appear at the start of each programme and means that late night shows rated for general audiences end up going out censored even though it’s past 11pm, because they don’t have a watershed as such. So much so that when they’re allowed to swear, because they’ve been given a higher rating for whatever reason, it’s a big event!
(Though ironically this clip has been censored from the original broadcast because it’s been put on YouTube)
But recently I've witnessed it go one further. They actually run the credits of a show while the start of the next programme begins. For example...
And it's not a new idea either, I first saw it on a visit to the US in 1989 !
The bizarre thing for me is something CNN have done for yonks, fade up a burst of music and then straight down again, as the video is faded to black for a commercial break.
On the odd occasion I've watched an American TV channel, the transition between advert and programme is barely noticeable. When the commercial ends, the programme is back in a split second, which is in stark contract to the British way of doing it that typically involves either a brief pause or a break bumper to indicate that the adverts have stopped.
The Conan clip is interesting, because Charlie Brooker explained that the terrestrial networks are never allowed to broadcast any offensive language, regardless of what time it's on, and sued HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm as an example of how they could freely air the word c**t. Conan's show airs on TBS, which is "basic cable" in American telly terms, so I don't know what restrictions are in place. There's a joke on Family Guy where Peter's eyes light up when he's about to watch the film Showgirls, but he's let down when he realises he's watching TBS.
As for the UK: is that a requirement? Because there are channels which place the break bumpers before and after the "break", rather than before and after the ad break
Broadcasters must ensure that television advertising and teleshopping is readily recognisable and distinguishable from editorial content and kept distinct from other parts of the programme service. This shall be done by optical (including spatial) means; acoustic signals may also be used.
Which I take to be as long as its signposted in some way it's a case of it ain't what you do its the way that you do it. Of course back in the days before trailers started being inserted after adverts we could (and did) have just "<name of show> End of Part One", fade to black, adverts, three seconds hold and straight back to "<name of show> Part Two".
Of course back in the days before trailers started being inserted after adverts we could (and did) have just "<name of show> End of Part One", fade to black, adverts, three seconds hold and straight back to "<name of show> Part Two".
The Brass Eye episode Decline has the fake one (That was the one they used in all the other episodes) then after the Channel 4 News clip another simpler one.
"End of Part X" captions vanished quite a while ago now, I think Emmerdale were the last to use them that I can remember, and they were using them for a few years after everyone else had stopped. They've tended to just had the show's name on since the late 90s/early 00s.
"End of Part X" captions vanished quite a while ago now, I think Emmerdale were the last to use them that I can remember, and they were using them for a few years after everyone else had stopped. They've tended to just had the show's name on since the late 90s/early 00s.
Not sure about Emmerdale, but “end of part X” captions lasted into the 00s. In fact repeats of Heartbeat were re-edited in the early 00s (with an extra break) and these had “end of part three” and “part four” captions. It would be interesting to know when these type of captions were last used on new (or re-edited) material.