'The Responder' - TVNZ+ versus BBC iPlayer

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steve98

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#298650 4-Jul-2022 12:29

This is the strangest thing. Started watching 'The Responder' on TVNZ+, British police drama (fantastic btw) made by BBC. Watched first episode, couldn't stand all the adverts so decided to watch episode 2 on BBC iPlayer. The 'recap' sequence at the start showed things I hadn't seen which I thought was strange... put it down to me maybe thinking I'd finished episode one when I hadn't. But decided to carry on. So watched episodes 2 and 3 on BBC iPlayer. Then went to watch episode 4 on TVNZ+ (VPN was playing up) and it opened with a scene I distinctly remembered watching in a previous episode, but not at the start.... so flicked between TVNZ+ and iPlayer to figure out what was going on.

Long story short, the original was shown on BBC in 5x ~59minute episodes... and on TVNZ it's been re-cut to 6x ~44minute+ episodes. No wonder I was confused!! Has anyone ever seen this before? Whole TV series being chopped / edited into different episode lengths?? I get the original 59 minute episodes would play a bit too long for TVNZ once ads have been included, and no doubt this is why they've done it, but I've just never seen it done before. Anyone else?

allan

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#2938167 4-Jul-2022 13:25

Not seen that particular variation, but have seen the opposite where TVNZ screen two 44/45 minute episodes back to back, followed by two more the next night/weel and call it "Programme_name" Part 1 and Part 2.

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openmedia

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#2938189 4-Jul-2022 14:16

This has happened before with BBC shows where 4 episodes get turned into 5 or 6 for US broadcasters to insert adverts.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

wonderferret

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#2938198 4-Jul-2022 14:35

TVNZ have been doing this for literally decades , I wrote them a letter back in the day because they had chopped complete skit / jokes out of episodes of Black Adder 2.

RunningMan

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#2938250 4-Jul-2022 14:56

It happens because some channels are ad-free under the BBC, so episode length is longer to fill an hour without ads. Used to be noticeable with shows like Top Gear where it would take a 80 or 90 minute slot to air an episode, or there'd be re-run episodes that were an hour long, but one segment of the show had been cut completely to have ads.

robjg63

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#2938256 4-Jul-2022 15:08

wonderferret: TVNZ have been doing this for literally decades , I wrote them a letter back in the day because they had chopped complete skit / jokes out of episodes of Black Adder 2.

I remember that - That was a long time ago. Some genius at TVNZ (or whatever it was called back then), decided that people only wanted to watch programs that started and stopped neatly on the hour or half hour. So as the BBC content was ~30 minutes or ~60 minutes, when it screened here with adverts they were much longer so didn't 'fit' like the USA content did.

Open all hours, Monty pythons flying circus, Fawlty Towers and Blackadder (and others) all got butchered to make them nice and neat for TVNZ. (Un)Fortunately, they were in re-runs at that stage and people would watch them and ask what the hell happened to various classic gags/punchlines that they knew so well. They actually made some classic comedy episodes completely devoid of humour.

At first they claimed it they sourced the episodes via Australia and this is how they were supplied (which may have been true). But there was such an ongoing howl from the public, they eventually decided to revert to the original sources and not worry so much about the timeslots.

Regarding 'The Responder' - Apparently it screened as 6 episodes on SBS Australia. Sometimes the makers do repackage their content to fit overseas markets better. Traditionally they maybe like the 4 or 6 episodes more - Though surely these days it doesn't really matter... But the original producer will have built that series around the 5 episodes- so chopping them up potentially risks removing some of their 'flow'.

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BlakJak

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#2940316 10-Jul-2022 10:14

I was toying with watching this, but seeing how the TVNZ version has been so heavily butchered I think i'll pass, until I can see it the way the creators intended.

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eracode

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#2940325 10-Jul-2022 10:57

BlakJak:

I was toying with watching this, but seeing how the TVNZ version has been so heavily butchered I think i'll pass, until I can see it the way the creators intended.

I don't think you will miss anything watching it on TVNZ+. It's just been segmented in different places to the original. It's really good and well worth watching - but we did watch it on BBC iPlayer.

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Journeyman

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#2940372 10-Jul-2022 16:02

I suspect TVNZ has been supplied with an 'international version'.