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House Husbands on the Late List

Readers name the shows that failed to start on time last week.

Nine’s new drama House Husbands was one of the shows readers have named in TV Tonight‘s Late List, for not starting on time.

There were 47 entries in the week Oct 14 – 20.

Seven: 20
Nine: 13
TEN: 8
ABC: 3
SBS: 0
Other: 3

Popular entries this week included:
Scandal: Advertised time 9pm / Actual 9:06pm
The Mentalist: Advertised time 8:30pm / Actual 8:37
House Husbands: Advertised time 8:30pm / Actual 8:39pm
The Amazing Race: Advertised time 10pm / Actual 10:07pm
Bones: Advertised time 8:30pm / Actual 8:41pm
Vegas: Advertised time 9:40pm / Actual 9:47pm

You can register shows on the Late List here.

NB: The Late List is a crowd-sourcing trial and is not scientifically conducted. It relies on the trust of readers to resource information.

11 Responses

  1. Ben @Ausculture, you’re right in saying it’s tightly planned, but if you stick to your rundown to the second, you’ll make the show feel disjointed, so they’re probably allowed a bit of extra time to let the show flow. Same with X Factor judges talking too long – it’s gold content so they’re unlikely to cut them off so they can get to Scandal on time.

    It’s not uncommon for live flagship shows to ask the network’s Presentation/Playout department for more time if they’re running late. (And I’m just referring to the Eviction and Nominations shows which are actually broadcast live to air, the daily shows have been very punctual this year).

  2. Given the complexities of the different ad regions on commercial TV, @Samuel123, I would imagine the Big Brother end time is planned down to the second. It’s certainly very tightly stage-managed – HMs given 10 seconds (well, 2 mins) to leave and so on. I imagine the same applies with X Factor. They just play on viewers giving them a little more latitude with ‘live’ shows, so are more likely to deliberately run late. (And of course most BBs are not live at all, but shot a day in advance.)

    David, a couple of suggestions: A ‘Late List’ tag for these posts and a #latelist hashtag for tweets; who knows may help build momentum, with viewers starting to tweet stuff like ‘Gah – another one for the #latelist!’

  3. @ IRT I think “what eventually appeared” are your key words! I check mine, but on air advertising and week old printing are both inaccurate!

    And EPG is always changing, so if I programmed a show I allow 30 minute leeway and can still miss endings sometimes.

  4. The ABC was largely running early (5-6 minutes ) last night and the EPG was wrong. I missed the start of QI and I flicked over from SBS2. Which seemed to be on time. Did Life at 7 end early?

  5. Out of the 6 shows listed above, 4 of them aired after live shows (X Factor or Big Brother), and it’s a well understood fact that live shows sometimes run late.

    Updating EPGs is the best thing they can do to keep viewers up to date with finishing times. The most infuriating thing is when taped shows run late, which meant the networks knew it would happen. No excuse for overruns then!

  6. Bones started at 8.45 in Brisbane and House Husbands at 8.41. Those start times above are what eventually appeared on the EPG. Are people not checking the real start times and just going on the EPG?

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