The last episode of The Big Bang Theory featured 12 minutes of commercial.
If you are still watching The Big Bang Theory, which is currently airing their ninth season on CBS, then you probably noticed something strange about the last episode, “The Sales Call Sublimation.”
As Reddit user specialkkurtis showed on the r/television forum, the episode was only 18 minutes and 34 seconds in length. Since The Big Bang Theory is in the half-hour slot on Thursday nights, that means viewers watched 11 minutes and 26 seconds of commercials.
“I’m used to half hour comedies actually being 21/22 minutes long, but under 19 minutes seems kind of ridiculous,” wrote specialkkurtis. “I don’t remember any other such shows having such short episodes, but I have no way to back that up.”
Think we’re lying? Check out this video clip from the CBS courtesy of Uproxx:
According to one Reddit user, a six minute commercial break was placed in the middle of the episode. Another commenter noted that The Big Bang Theory’s episodes have started getting shorter and shorter since the second season. In fact, the average episode ranges as low as 18 minutes.
This illustrates how TV executives are making TV shows shorter and shorter. In fact, old episodes of M.A.S.H. were 25 minutes on average.
Thank god for Netflix.
