Normalish

You may have been expecting a story about an unbridled midday romp, but alas I am talking about television.

I watch Mtv’s The Real World. The other day around 4:40 I flipped to Mtv and there was The Real World. I quickly realized that this was new content, but I know the show is on at 10pm.  In the upper corner of the screen was a graphic that read “Afternoon Sneak.”

I then assumed that this was just a few minutes worth of the new episode as a teaser.  I kept watching, and it continued to play for the next 20 minutes. Turns out that this was the entire “new” episode, played at 4:30. This was no “sneak,” it was the actual new episode.

Don’t you think that the very first airing of a show should be considered “when it is on.” How can Mtv say that The Real World is on at 10pm, when it actually comes on first at 4:30pm.

A somewhat related TV phenomenon is the multi-episode premiere.  How does that work? A premiere is a one-time thing.  I have seen a two-night premiere - can you have a three-night premiere , a four-nighter?

I know this is a tiny point to make, but it really drives me crazy when marketers come up with this ridiculous stuff just to make things sound better.