Not a criticism of the network as a whole, just a funny story about a particularly tasteless moment on WNUV (Baltimore's CW affiliate) which happened a couple of years ago.
To recap something I'm sure most of you already know, John Ritter died suddenly while his ABC series, "8 Simple Rules," was still in production. ABC chose to kill off Ritter's character in much the same way as Ritter himself died (IIRC, his character had a sudden heart attack and dropped dead in the supermarket). The tribute episode dealt with the character's family's shock, grief, etc.
The tribute episode was expanded length (an hour instead of the normal half-hour). Because of that, it had to be chopped into two parts when 8SR went into syndication. Now, when the second part of a two-parter airs, there's always the brief recap of part one before part two begins. WNUV inserted a local commercial *immediately* after this recap ... and accomplished perhaps the most hilariously tasteless advertisement placement since 60 Minutes stuck a Nytol commercial in their Judy Garland memoriam shortly after her death. What WNUV's viewers saw went something like this:
[announcer] Last time, on 8 Simple Rules ...
[various "family" characters] He's dead ... oh my god, he's dead ... how could he suddenly die like that? ... what will we do? ... boo-hoo ... (etc.)
[distinguished looking man] It's always sad when a loved one dies suddenly. Here, at Smith Funeral Home, we can help guide family members through this time of crisis. We've been serving Baltimore for over fifty years ... (etc.)
To recap something I'm sure most of you already know, John Ritter died suddenly while his ABC series, "8 Simple Rules," was still in production. ABC chose to kill off Ritter's character in much the same way as Ritter himself died (IIRC, his character had a sudden heart attack and dropped dead in the supermarket). The tribute episode dealt with the character's family's shock, grief, etc.
The tribute episode was expanded length (an hour instead of the normal half-hour). Because of that, it had to be chopped into two parts when 8SR went into syndication. Now, when the second part of a two-parter airs, there's always the brief recap of part one before part two begins. WNUV inserted a local commercial *immediately* after this recap ... and accomplished perhaps the most hilariously tasteless advertisement placement since 60 Minutes stuck a Nytol commercial in their Judy Garland memoriam shortly after her death. What WNUV's viewers saw went something like this:
[announcer] Last time, on 8 Simple Rules ...
[various "family" characters] He's dead ... oh my god, he's dead ... how could he suddenly die like that? ... what will we do? ... boo-hoo ... (etc.)
[distinguished looking man] It's always sad when a loved one dies suddenly. Here, at Smith Funeral Home, we can help guide family members through this time of crisis. We've been serving Baltimore for over fifty years ... (etc.)
