I can't tell you about what PBS does to their programming, but it is worth

pointing out that "Foyle's War" is not a BBC drama, but shows on ITV1, the

main British commercial channel. It is, therefore, written with commercial

breaks designed in, whereas a BBC drama will not have commercial breaks.

While some current BBC programming is clearly written and produced with at

least some form of an act structure in mind which makes it easier to

introduce commercial breaks, most of it is not.



An episode of "Foyle's War" in the UK runs two hours including commercials.

How long does a PBS screening run?



Hope some of that is of use or interest!

Derek





On 14/7/08 14:24, "Frank, Michael" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:



> a question about PBS "masterpiece" presentations of BBC material [with the

> usual apologies for duplication]

> 

> i chanced last night to watch the PBS "masterpiece mystery" presentation of an

> episode from the BBC's "foyle's war" series, and there were some aspects of

> the narrative structure of the program that seemed to me very peculiar . . . .

> it's possible that the beeb [with whose programs i'm largely unfamiliar] uses

> a different model of narrative organization than i'm used to -- but i suppose

> it's also possible that PBS re-edited the program [for audience and/or time

> considerations] and that some of the things i noticed were distortions of the

> original . . .

> 

> so . . . does anyone know whether PBS mucks around with beeb originals before

> presenting them, or whether they are presented in substantially original form?

> 

> thanks for any clues

> 

> mike   

> 

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> Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the

> University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu

> 



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Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the

University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu