Commercial television programming alert

I don’t watch that much commercial television: major sporting events (like the current NBA finals), Pardon the Interruption, The Rachel Maddow Show and that’s about it. It’s not that I have anything morally or even aesthetically against commercial television. It’s simply the fact that I personally feel it’s a waste of what little time I have left on this planet to sit through the "commercials" that are, by definition, the backbone of "commercial television." I don’t even watch those programs I mentioned above as they are being televised. I record them and watch them later that same day or evening so I can fast-forward through the commercials. It takes me an hour and 45 minutes to watch an NBA playoff game. The broadcast length of each of those games is between two hours and 30 minutes to three hours. That to me is a significant amount of time I am reclaiming for other uses.

As far as television series I am enamored of, and there are many, I prefer to stream them or rent/buy the season DVDs and watch them commercial-free. I recently completed watching the entire run of both The West Wing and 30 Rock and am now finishing up the second season of the 19-season Law & Order.

The very next commercial television series I am setting my recorder for begins Sunday evening and runs throughout next week. That’s O.J.: Made in America. Everything I have read about this is laudatory. Everyone I’ve talked to who has seen it either at the Sundance or the Tribeca film festivals has absolutely gushed about it. I’m hearing universal praise for this series unlike anything I have ever heard before about a commercial television program.

So for those, like me, who definitely want to see this 464-minute program, it will be shown in five parts. Here’s the schedule so you can either gather round the television or set your recorders (all times central):

• Part 1, Saturday, 8 p.m., ABC
• Part 2, Tuesday, 8 p.m. ESPN
• Part 3, Wednesday, 8 p.m., ESPN
• Part 4, Friday, July 17, 8 p.m., ESPN
• Part 5, Saturday, July 18, 8 p.m., ESPN

I imagine it will also be available soon on Blu-Ray or for streaming. In the meantime, you can watch the trailer here: