I’ve noticed a couple of creative tactics the broadcasters are using to get people to actually watch commercials. Or maybe just to trick people into watching commercials. Last night, I watched two shows from my DVR: Lifetime’s Army Wives and TBS’s My Boys. By the way, it was my first time watching Army Wives. My sister has been recommending it and I finally caved in. And I’ve been a loyal My Boys fan from the very first episode and was excited to see it back for Season 3. Go PJ!

Army Wives was sponsored by some haircare brand (obviously, I didn’t watch too closely), but they used the main characters speaking directly to the audience to lead off the commercial breaks. I didn’t quite jump for my remote as quickly as I might normally have.

After the first scene or so in My Boys, I was expecting a commercial. I dropped my remote when I saw that there was another scene. But who were these people sitting around a kitchen table? It wasn’t My Boys, but a brief scene from TBS’s Bill Engvall show. It was so seamless. Sneaky TBS!

One other tactics I’ve noticed lately is that broadcasters will intersperse a quick clip of the show in the commercial pod. When fast-forwarding, I thought the show was back on, but it wasn’t.