From: kfl@KeithLynch.net   
      
   I tuned into WTTG Fox channel 5 at 8 pm EST tonight, expecting to see   
   The Simpsons.  There was a football post-game show on.  I was pleased   
   that the game itself was over, and expected they'd switch to The   
   Simpsons within a minute or two, perhaps after a short commercial   
   break.   
      
   After several minutes, there was a very long commercial break.  I   
   waited patiently.  What's this?  They returned to the post-game   
   show.  No mention of The Simpsons.  I waited some more, then there   
   was another long commercial break, with many of the exact same   
   commercials.  After which they returned to the post-game show again.   
   I only gave up after 20 minutes.   
      
   There was nothing in the corner of the screen saying when, if at all,   
   The Simpsons would be on.  There was nothing useful on their website.   
   Even if football fans are so much more important than Simpsons fans,   
   is a scroll of a few seconds at the bottom of the screen really too   
   much to ask?  Are Simpsons fans infinitely less important than   
   football fans, even when the actual game is long over?  If so, why   
   don't they sell The Simpsons to a different network and show nothing   
   but football games, pre-game shows, post-game shows, and reruns of   
   those 24x7?  Why waste time producing and advertising shows and not   
   showing them?  Do they expect Simpsons fans to patiently wait, staring   
   at the screen all evening?  Or to check back every five minutes, not   
   minding if they miss the first four minutes of the show?   
      
   I don't get it.  You'd think that football game was the most important   
   news story since 9/11.  What is there to say about it that takes 20   
   minutes or more, anyway?  Anyone who watched the game already knows   
   what happens.  Anyone who didn't watch it doesn't care.  There may be   
   a few football fans who didn't get home until 8 pm, but you'd think a   
   30-second recap would suffice.  Or perhaps they could rebroadcast the   
   whole game at midnight or whenever, for those who missed it the first   
   time.  The vast majority of people who tuned in at 8 pm were looking   
   for just one thing, and it wasn't discussion, already in progress, of   
   a game that ended some time earlier.   
      
   Does Fox really want to lose all its viewers except football fans?   
   How do such morons get to be program directors, anyway?  Especially in   
   today's economy where even the most competent and skilled are at risk   
   of losing their jobs.   
   --   
   Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/   
   Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)