I'm sure they'd be happy to cut the show down to 30 minutes, if you were still willing to watch the hour of commercials.

Posted by: Stephen McKenna at March 1, 2004 11:20 AM

Some of those commercials were pretty good...but I agree with you, it is all about the advertising.

You'd think that those actors, who are stuck there for three and a half hours could split the difference and pay those advertising dollars to shorten up the show. Everyone benefits.

If Tom Cruise and Will Smith spit up some of their well earned(?) cash, and Oprah, who was certainly bored matched their donations....half hour show...tops.

Posted by: davidissimo at March 1, 2004 11:33 AM

You know, as I watched Cadillac SUV after Cadillac SUV break through all sorts of invisible water barriers, I was wondering, "What are the people who are actually there at the Oscars doing during these commercial breaks? They can't need to pee every three minutes..."

Seriously, what do they do? Listen to the band play full orchestrations of "Smoke on the Water"? Endure Billy Crystal's non-start comedy? I think it'd be worse to be in the actual the audience than the TV audience. At least I got to eat snacky-treats throughout....

Posted by: alex at March 1, 2004 12:33 PM

I was in the audience of the Conan O'Brian Show once, and if that is any barometer, you just sit there for 3 minutes and do nothing.

Posted by: Davidissimo at March 1, 2004 01:25 PM

Some shows were made for Tivo. We watched the Grammies for the first time since the last time Prince was on it (prolly like 1986) and it was actually tolerable. Now we watched it the next day and completed it in like 30 minutes thanks to good ol Tivo.

Other ideal Tivo shows:
* Oscars, Grammies, any awards shows
* Most Extreme Elimination Challenge
* American Idol, or so other people say...heh heh
*

Posted by: Jason at March 24, 2004 10:56 AM