There were two occasions on today's episode where there was a threat that something interesting was to be said, once by Kent and once by McDougall. Both were promptly shut down by Gilbert cutting in and flying to an advertisement. Gilbert though is merely the instrument in the shame of today's commercial television; he was obviously reacting to a producer instructing he go to a break in order to comply with the tight-fitting schedule demanded by Channel 9's deals with their clients / advertisers. That is the problem with the Roast, for the guests would each be fantastic value if allowed to speak freely without constraint.
Can you imagine Rex Mossop cutting off Col Pearce, Noel Kelly or Alan Clarkson because the allotted number of seconds predetermined for each segment had run out? Sportsworld was also on a commercial nework, but 30 years ago shows were about pleasing the viewers, not number-crunching bean-counters and executives whose greed is only matched by their incompetence.
