How to ruin a good movie

The easiest way to ruin the viewing experience of a decent movie? Put it on commercial television. We attempted to watch the final episode of M*A*S*H, which is more like a movie, the other night on the Hallmark Channel. The segments of the actual movie lasted about 6 minutes which were followed by 5 minute commercial breaks. They essentially took the film and turned it into an infomercial. The sad part? I can't even remember the ads they were showing over and over - I've become that desensitized to them as far as receiving there message goes.

Then this evening ABC showed one of my favorites, Apollo 13. They chopped it up worse than I've ever seen - plugging commercials right in the middle of major scenes. Again, it became essentially unwatchable. If TV, and indeed radio too, wants to know why people are tuning out they just need to look at how badly they've turned over control of their programs to advertisers.