According to the TV guide, Wednesday night's episode of The Bachelorette is an hour long.
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But we all know that's a lie because, like pretty much every other reality TV show these days, it's incapable of finishing on time.
It's like that annoying house guest who promised they'd leave at a certain time but then chooses to well and truly outstay their welcome.
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Really, there's no excuse for it. The show isn't going out live, the makers have had loads of time to edit it down to the 45 to 50 minutes allowed in a one-hour timeslot.
Editing it down shouldn't be a problem. Within each episode of The Bachelorette (by the way, as there are two of them this year, why isn't it called The Bachelorettes? Which one of them is being left out?) there are numerous times where information is repeated.
For instance, at the rose ousting at the end of the first episode Osher walked in and explained to the guys just how many roses there were, how many of them there were and how many of them were going home.
All of this is information each one of the guys - and everyone watching at home - already knew yet the makers decided to have Osher repeat it.
Clearly the makers think either the men or the audience are a bit dim and need constant reminders of what's happening.
Once the series editors have done their thing and cut the show down to size, the networks should be able to ensure the ads they cram into each episode don't push the show past its scheduled finish.
Elsewhere on the schedule they seem to be able to do it without a problem - you never see the six o'clock news start at 6.12pm, do you?
But later in the night it seems the TV becomes more of a suggestion than something to be adhered to.
The people who suffer the most here are those of us waiting to watch what is screening after the over-running reality TV show.
Many is the time I've switched to a channel at 8.40pm because that's when a show I want to watch starts, only to have to sit through the last 10 minutes of some other show.
The networks and the creators can make shows finish on time - they just don't want to.
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