By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Thursday, December 31, 2015
It's well known that radio stations will speed up talk shows such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity (primarily by shortening pauses) so they can squeeze in more ads or other content like news or traffic. Apparently, Atlanta-based TBS does the same thing with repeats of "Seinfeld."
Someone below synced up the first few minutes of a regular "Seinfeld" episode on Hulu with a TBS version and almost immediately, you can see how the timing shifts. Obviously, to the naked eye, the changes aren't so obvious that a viewer would notice - which is the point.
Apparently, it's sped up enough to fit in two more minutes of ads per episode. This appears to be standard practice on many networks.
Already, older reruns are typically chopped because they are far longer than current run times. (The video below gives an example from "Everybody Loves Raymond." Typically, shows now run about 21 minutes and 30 seconds. Back in the 1970s, it was more like 24 minutes.
And one thing that is noticeable to anybody who watches: show theme song openers are almost always trimmed down. The video reveals that TBS's "Friends" opener is 26 seconds shorter than the original one that aired on NBC and Netflix.
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
NeNe Leakes will join Carson Daly for his NBC New Year's special tonight, along with Andy Cohen. Although NeNe is no longer a cast member of "Real Housewive of Atlanta," NBCUniversal loves her to pieces. And given her Broadway ties, she will be in New York City tonight.
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Rachel Stockman, a reporter at Channel 2 Action News since 2012, told viewers on air earlier this week that she's leaving for a new digital venture, where she'll be a senior editor. Her last day was Monday.
WSB-TV and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution are both part of Cox Media Group.
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