A bit random this post, but does anybody know why the West Wing is only scheduled for 50 minutes on Channel 4 and E4?
Now checking the episodes I have, they last 42 minutes without the ad breaks. This is the same length as ER, 24 and Desperate Housewives, yet they have an hour.
I don’t know if you watch West Wing on Channel 4 like I did today. I thought that the ad breaks were very short. Usually a break lasts for something like 3 minutes they just seem a lot short during tonight West Wing.
That might have something to do with it
Yup, there are all sorts of things that affect the length of time a programme is scheduled to be on for. One reason in this case is that there will be fewer adverts, as the Friday night slot which The West Wing has has few viewers (Corrie on the other side, etc).
You can see an obvious example without adverts every day. The afternoon edition of Neighbours is scheduled to last 20 minutes, but the teatime episode looks like it’s 25 minutes long – but both programmes are exactly the same. They just make CBBC last slightly longer, and put on more trailers to fill in the extra time.
Whilst I know that it can depend on other factors like what’s on other channels. Every single episode of the West Wing that is shown on Channel 4 or E4 is always scheduled for 50 minutes.
Um, because you’re lucky and have ten minutes less of advertising to sit through!