Dear sports, it’s time you and I have a long overdue and serious talk.
Many people watch sports each week, especially if their team is playing. But there’s something else that airs each week that also has a loyal following.
It’s TV shows. And, as an avid TV watcher, I’m tired of their start times being pushed back – or even not being aired – because games take too long to finish.
Why should a show that’s advertised to start at 9:00 on a Sunday night get pushed back to some wonky time like 9:34 because a game showed way too many commercials or a coach wanted to use all of their time outs, even when a team had no chance of winning and the coach wanted to stall the game?
Why should a show that airs every Tuesday night on a major broadcast network not get shown because people have to watch the World Series game instead? What if, like me, people just want to know who the Red Devil is on “Scream Queens.” Some people, again, like me, don’t care that the Royals beat the Mets.
It doesn’t seem to matter if people buy tickets and watch games on TV. Sports teams don’t get canceled by owners or the amount of games they play each season gets cut down because people don’t pay attention to them or go to their games.
But it’s different for TV shows. In order for shows to be renewed, they rely on good ratings. If show times start at different times, it makes it hard for people to tune in and watch their shows.
If you miss “the big game,” it’s not a big deal. ESPN and other sports highlights shows will replay the biggest moments of sporting events over and over again and the clips never change.
But, if you miss the “can’t miss episode of the season,” you don’t get the luxury of multiple channels showing highlights. There’s only so much that reading recaps of what happened can do.
You’re also at the mercy of the channel posting their episode online the next day and having to avoid spoilers for a day about what happened. Or you have to wait eight days to watch the episode and avoid spoilers for eight days, which is even harder. You’re basically screwed.
So, sporting events need to get their act together and finish their games on time so TV shows that viewers are dedicated to watching can start on time.
Respond to Lauren at
