A marketing manager?

I'm surprised you had any clients at all........

// when your trying to video something as it cuts time off the last minutes of the show when you have pre-programed your video for recording.

Freaking heck just set your video player 5 minutes early and to record 5 minutes late. I though that was common practice and sense.

Ads do get too long but hey give me TiVo and its ilk and I'm sorted.

Although my gripe is slightly different to above, I tend to take sides with Lucifer_Sam on this one. After returning from the UK after two years, I noticed that a) NZ food - and I'm talking baked beans and sizzlers with cheese chunks - is fantastic b) NZ shop attendants are ultra-friendly, to the point of being kinda scary and c) ad-breaks in NZ were awfully long... like - reaaaally long.

BBC1 and BBC2 were really great for movies - full movie, no ad breaks, no cuts. There were bits in Terminator II that I hadn't seen since watching it at the cinema. It all made a helluva lot more sense.

Although I don't think kiwi TV stations need to eliminate ad breaks entirely, there are some good arguments for reducing their length.

Maybe the sheer volume of advertising time is to hide the fact that they don't have enough good TV to fill their schedule.

its funny that you brought this up because this is EXACTLY [minus a few things] what we were talking about in my media studies class this afternoon.

the fact is: we are obsessed with tv, so much so that we could probably count the tv as a family member [no kidding there]. it's amazing just exactly how many new zealanders can plan their day around what they want to watch on tv.

eg/ last year, when TV ONE did some programme times restructuring and coronation st had a whole day taken out of it usual viewing schedule, thousands of letters where sent into TV ONE complaining about how it was "ghastly that they should change the times", "how DARE THEY???" etc etc....how crazy is that? i mean, who gives a FUCK about war around the world and what have you - wheres my coro st?

we are manipulated by tv. it's as simple as that.

senario: what would happen to new zealand as a culture if every single joe blogg in nz threw out their tv? thats one to think about.

Ill tell you a little story. I haven't watched TV once since i moved to Wellington which is going on to 4 months now. I feel much better for it. I dont have to tolerate bad music i also have given up my shortland st addiction. but i am going to miss the new series of the sopranoes....

the addiction begins.

bring on the war..then we get something real to watch. little light streaks and bright flashes flying through the night vision induced green screen. can't wait. following a missile as it makes its way towards a ventilation shaft. and then we can swicth over the friends and have a laugh at their wacky exploits then click back to the green screen then over to the latest staged 'reality' show. how come they call these survivors - bachelor type shows reality t.v. you want reality t.v. come round to my place. i go to work, i eat, i shit. i come home, I eat , i shit, i jerk off, maybe if i am lucky get some action but more often than not i jerk off some more, i sleep, wake up, go to work , i eat etc etc repeat repeat. that my friends is reality t.v cos I don't know too many guys who get to date like 30 relatively hot chicks, go on group dates with like ten of them at a time and have them all fawn over him while he slowly makes up his mind and ditches them one by one till he finds his 'perfect' bride.

The only shows I watch at the mo are SO Ed Norton and m2. I usually catch a bit of Dibly/Father Ted before ed norton's on, too. Shit that dude is funny.

Other than that, I dont bother with tv - if any appliance in my house is a member of the whanau, it's my laptop of the toaster.

Yay 24/7 of house programmes and yachting. Give me CSI any day.