Overtime TV shows mostly about money

Some viewers who study the TV grids closely are wondering why some shows are listed as starting at 9:59 or 10:02 p.m. What’s that all about?

Mostly money.

Blame NBC, which was apparently the first network to fool with the clock when “Friends” was riding high but the show that followed it often wasn’t.

The idea of letting an episode run a few minutes into overtime was to keep viewers from switching to another channel at 8:30 to watch something else. Now other networks with hot hit shows, most notably ABC, have picked up on the idea.

If “Desperate Housewives” goes two minutes past the hour, maybe ABC can lure viewers into the show that follows (like the new “Grey’s Anatomy,” which debuts tonight).

More important, the network can sell more commercials at the higher rate that “Housewives” brings. And what you get in those “bonus minutes” is usually more commercials – the programs aren’t usually any longer.

People who switch to another network at 10:02 find they are joining a program in progress, which is annoying.

But the viewers who really get upset are the ones who tape a show only to discover the ending has been chopped off because they set the recorder to stop on the half-hour or hour.

Even TiVo owners, whose sophisticated automatic program recorders recognize the overruns, are frustrated. The system can’t record a program that follows on another channel at 9 because it’s still taping the 8 p.m. show. It gives subscribers a conflict warning, but it can’t provide a solution.