The East Coast, Time and TV

[Trekker4747]

Here in the central Time Zone prime-time TV starts at 7 in the evening and continues through 10 when the local news comes on. 5PM starts the local news, 5:30 is national news (except on Fox where it's sort of a local magazine-like show thing), 6PM local/national news and then 6:30 syndicated programing. Fox, at 9 runs an hour long-version of a local magazine/news show.

Anyway, this is how it is in the central time zone, national TV is off by 10 and then the news off by 10:30. If you watch the Letterman/Leno shows then you're up till almost midnight. Still not too unreasonable.

How does all of this work on the East Coast though? What's on at 7:30 where you are? Does Prime-Time run from 8 till 11? Does that mean those 9PM shows many enjoy at a reasonable hour aren't on till 10 there, forcing you to be up later? Do you have to stay up till nearly midnight to watch the late-night local news cast?

Seems to be things are awful skewed over there against being able to watch TV/the news and still get to bed at a reasonable time.

 

[ancientone51]

Spent a year in the EST zone when I was stationed at Homestead FL.

Grew up in the CST and returned to it as soon as I could. it works so much better for a 6am wake up than the East coast or the "rerun" West coast nonsense.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

One thing that's great about CST is that if you're a real night owl, the West Coast reruns on the cable news channels come on at a PERFECT time. 10 pm - 1 am...BEAUTIFUL.

 

[1001001]

When I moved from Los Angeles to Boston for school, I hated waiting for football.

1:00 on Sundays.

9:00 on Mondays.

 

[Captain Ice]

I'm guessing that prime time on the east coast starts at 8 with local news at 11.

Strangely, this is the same time that both of these start in CA.

Anyone have any idea why it is that primetime would start at 8 on both coasts, and 7 for both mountain and central time zones?

Edit: Digits, do the Angels and Dodgers still have home games that start at 4 or 4:30 on weekday nights against east coast teams? I remeber those being a royal PITA to get to on time.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

I live in a state (Georgia) that is on Eastern time and I like the 8 - 11 prime time quite a bit. But then, I grew up in Florida so I was used to it. I didn't even know that news came on in alot of cities at 10 until I went to college in a Central Time state.

Lived in Alaska for 11 years though...and there you are really far behind. 4 hours off from the East Coast is a long time - especially when there is breaking news on the East Coast in the morning. When I lived AK, I woke up a few times to really bad news that had been in progress back east for some time.

I think that the East Coast needs to keep prime time where it is. We have alot of really big cities in the East, and traffic in many of them is terrible. Alot of us don't even get home from work until after 7 pm! So prime time starting at 8 is just fine.

 

[Small White Car]

Yes, prime-time starts at 8. Who has time to get home, make dinner, eat and clean up by 7:00? No one, which is why 7:00 and 7:30 are filled with sitcom re-runs and Entertainment Tonight.

Leno and Letterman come on at 11:30 and the late shows come on at 12:30. Who would want to watch those shows before midnight? They're specifically formatted to be watched when you're really tired. Watching them earlier is just crazy. How can you watch Conan sketches like 'Masturbating Bear' before 12:30 AM??

 

[Michael Chris]

I couldn't stand to live on the east coast. I'd prefer if primetime started at 6:00 myself. Have to stay up until 10:00 if I want to watch stuff live on some channels. Need to go to bed at 9:00..

 

[TheLonelySquire]

Here in the central Time Zone prime-time TV starts at 7 in the evening and continues through 10 when the local news comes on. 5PM starts the local news, 5:30 is national news (except on Fox where it's sort of a local magazine-like show thing), 6PM local/national news and then 6:30 syndicated programing. Fox, at 9 runs an hour long-version of a local magazine/news show.

Anyway, this is how it is in the central time zone, national TV is off by 10 and then the news off by 10:30. If you watch the Letterman/Leno shows then you're up till almost midnight. Still not too unreasonable.

How does all of this work on the East Coast though? What's on at 7:30 where you are? Does Prime-Time run from 8 till 11? Does that mean those 9PM shows many enjoy at a reasonable hour aren't on till 10 there, forcing you to be up later? Do you have to stay up till nearly midnight to watch the late-night local news cast?

Seems to be things are awful skewed over there against being able to watch TV/the news and still get to bed at a reasonable time.

DVR. 10pm news.

 

[the Dagman]

I'm guessing that prime time on the east coast starts at 8 with local news at 11.

Strangely, this is the same time that both of these start in CA.

Anyone have any idea why it is that primetime would start at 8 on both coasts, and 7 for both mountain and central time zones?

Edit: Digits, do the Angels and Dodgers still have home games that start at 4 or 4:30 on weekday nights against east coast teams? I remeber those being a royal PITA to get to on time.

Well, for the east coast and central time zones they are getting their prime time at the same time actually. It is just the clocks are an hour later on the east coast. So I assume they all get their programming from the same satellite.

 

[Finn]

I liked it. I grew up in Massachusetts. That way, I could use a 9:00 primetime movie showing as an excuse to stay up late.

 

[nevermore]

How does all of this work on the East Coast though? What's on at 7:30 where you are? Does Prime-Time run from 8 till 11? Does that mean those 9PM shows many enjoy at a reasonable hour aren't on till 10 there, forcing you to be up later?

Do you have to stay up till nearly midnight to watch the late-night local news cast?

Seems to be things are awful skewed over there against being able to watch TV/the news and still get to bed at a reasonable time.

It's never occurred to me. We always ate dinner about 7 or 7:30. Who wants to eat dinner during Prime Time? Because I'm not 6 years old, I consider 10 PM to be a perfectly reasonable hour. As is 12:00. Or 1:00. 2:00 is probably pushing it for most, I'll grant that.

Maybe we just stay up later on the Coasts?

 

[TorontoTrekker]

Yes, prime-time starts at 8. Who has time to get home, make dinner, eat and clean up by 7:00? No one, which is why 7:00 and 7:30 are filled with sitcom re-runs and Entertainment Tonight.

I don't usually get home from work until 9-9:30, so I miss everything. I haven't seen an episode of Lost in about a month - I'm going into withdrawal.

Just remember, everything is half an hour later in Newfoundland.

 

[Samurai8472]

I prefer the news at 10. It seems like a perfect time. 11 seems late.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Primetime is 8pm-11pm, but it doesn't really matter anymore; I record everything and watch it later.

 

[DeafPoet]

Yes, prime-time starts at 8. Who has time to get home, make dinner, eat and clean up by 7:00? No one, which is why 7:00 and 7:30 are filled with sitcom re-runs and Entertainment Tonight.

I don't usually get home from work until 9-9:30, so I miss everything. I haven't seen an episode of Lost in about a month - I'm going into withdrawal.

Just remember, everything is half an hour later in Newfoundland.

I love that prime time starts at 8 here. Always seems to work out well.

However, you bring up a larger issue. I don't know how everyone in Newfoundland doesn't kill themselves with that wacky timezone they have.

 

[JAG]

Newfoundland is a half hour off?

 

[DeafPoet]

Yep. It's crazy man! Half hour ahead of Atlantic time.

 

[Spot's Meow]

Yeah, it's 8-11 pm on both coasts. I think that 7 pm would be too early for primetime. Like someone else said, there's not enough time to get home, get settled, and make and eat dinner all before 7 pm.

Lost and 24 come on at 9 pm. It was brutal for me last year when Lost was on at 10...I have to go to bed around 10 to wake up early in the mornings. Luckily most of my favorite shows haven't been at 10 pm so it hasn't really been an issue. Plus I used to stay up later.

Local news at 6 or 6:30 pm. At 7 pm we have Entertainment Tonight, Extra, or sitcom reruns (King of Queens seems like it's on all time). At 8 pm we have shows like American Idol and Reaper. At 9 pm it's Lost and 24. At 10 pm you have ER and Life on Mars. Except for Fox, which seems to be news at 10 for some reason. At 11 is local news for most channels, then 11:30 is Leno, 12:30 is (was) Conan.

The only channel that is off is CBS because for some reason our local affiliate plays everything an hour earlier. So for CBS, primetime starts at 7 and ends at 10 pm. But I believe that's only in the Sacramento area (KCRA 3).

 

[1001001]

KCRA is the NBC affiliate.

But yes, CBS here (Channel 13) is an hour earlier than everyone else.