For Better or Werts

OH REALLY?: Commercials make TV better!

So posits a study in the Journal of Consumer Research that suggests "commercial interruptions can actually improve the television viewing experience. Although consumers do not foresee it, their enjoyment diminishes over time. Commercial interruptions can disrupt this adaptation process and restore the intensity of consumers' enjoyment."

Our Hollywood Reporter friend Jamie Hibberd didn't buy it, either, so after reporting the study, he asked co-author Jeff Galak to defend its conclusions. Read his Galak Q&A here.

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Diane Werts

Diane Werts has been glued to the tube since she can remember, growing up in a household where the TV came on first thing in the morning and stayed on till bedtime and beyond. She worked for the USA Film Festival, then for The Dallas Morning News writing about everything from Shakespeare to macrame art to rock music (and has the hearing loss to prove it). She moved to New York's Newsday to edit their glossy TV magazine, then returned to writing about television, specializing in its stranger permutations. She's a past president of the Television Critics Association.

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