So - I woke up this morning, went to the bathroom, got myself a bowl of cereal and sat down on the couch to watch last night’s Office re-run, fresh from 5 months ago… or was it? All was going well until I got to the part where they play The Office theme.
Something was wrong… They cut the theme down from 20 seconds to a mere 4! What used to be a nice montage of clips from The Office had turned into a fast, cut-down collection of notes and four shots of Scranton, Pennsylvania! This is the beginning of the end of The Office theme!
I remember them doing this when My Name is Earl started season 2, but it orinally had a minute-and-a-half entire storyline summarizing the first episode. Here, they’re cutting 15 perfectly fine seconds out of the show… for what? All Office fans know that the show’s theme is an essential part of the experience.
Before it is gone forever, here’s the full-length theme:
[audio:officetheme.mp3]
Hopefully these horrific events won’t continue once Season 4 starts. (Only 40 days!)
Austen—-welcome to the world of televison/cable syndication. Permisions for reruns of original broadcast televion shows are sold to cable networks or individual stations. They cut down the original show to try to sell more ads to local advertisers. The small cuts create more time for commercials at cheaper rates. Each little cut can create valuable seconds to offer to potential advertisers. The cuts are made in places that are usually not noticable–except to loyal fans of the original broadcast of the program.
Grandpa Reed