From the latest TiVo newsletter

[dougo]

Don't be too quick with your TiVo remote this fall or you may miss new short-form entertainment that networks plan to air during commercial blocks to keep viewers from drifting. (Who'd do that?) According to Reuters, both NBC and ABC plan to run short dramatic films - for example, one-minute suspense-building vignettes that feature work by some of the network's own star actors and directors - at exactly the time you might traditionally be interested in, well... moving on. Better keep your eyes peeled (and remotes ready).

Ingenious devils, aren't they? I just hope I can keep using the 30-second-skip button. Also:

Arnold Schwarzenegger's decision to run for governor of California in a recall election scheduled for Oct. 7 is wreaking havoc on local TV listings. Recently the Sci Fi channel became the second cable network in two days to take his movies off air, pulling an entire night of scheduled Schwarzenegger films. The cable networks are taking the steps proactively, since under current law they are technically exempt from FCC rules requiring broadcasters to give equal air time to all candidates, free of charge, if they air entertainment content featuring a political rival. (Meaning if Arnie's films air on broadcast TV, all of the 134 other opponents in California's recall election race could demand equal time - FREE!) To fill the programming hole and perhaps to prove that truth is indeed stranger and, in fact, more ironic than even Hollywood fiction, Sci Fi offered golden state viewers a slate of California-themed disaster movies instead.

Does Falling Down count as a California-themed disaster movie?