HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: bbs.lar@tsoft.net (Larry Greenfield)
Subject: USENET BBSs
Organization: The TSoft BBS and Public Access Unix, +1 415 969 8238
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 05:47:26 GMT

   Hi all. I know this is off the subject, but please, I
NEED YOUR HELP if you can help!
   I don't think I can afford to call long distance from the
LA area up to San Fransisco every day to get usenet/internet
anymore.  Does anyone have a list of public access
internet/usenet BBSs in the Orange County/Seal Beach area of
Southern California? --- in the (714) or (310) area codes?
   Please help if you can!  I've been on usenet for quite a
while now, and I find myself suddenly facing the prospect of
being without it.  Please email me if you can help in any
way!  I know there is some board in Stanton, but I don't
know the guest log-on or where to contact the sysop. 
Please, any information you might have would GREATLY be
appriciated!  Thanks very very much!   Please email me
(auto-respond, or mail to    bbs.lar@tsoft.net)  
   Thanks again!!!


--
Larry Greenfield (bbs.lar@tsoft.net)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
From: hora@ecf.toronto.edu (HO ROBERT ANDREW)
Subject: Re: Top Ten Females on TV: FINAL RESULTS
Organization: University of Toronto, Engineering Computing Facility
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 23:27:48 GMT



Did anyone save the results of this poll?  I was away on holiday and missed
the final tally.

-- 
Robert Ho
Univ. of Toronto
hora@ecf.toronto.edu
From: mikeq@freddy.CNA.TEK.COM (Mike Quigley)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: Nepotism in TV
Date: 11 Jan 93 22:08:59 GMT
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Redmond,  OR.


  The Wayans in In Living Color.

Xref: sparky rec.arts.tv:24954 rec.arts.sf.tv:6461
From: brown@vidiot.UUCP (Vidiot)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv,rec.arts.sf.tv
Subject: Re: QL: 1/5/93 transmission
Date: 7 Jan 93 02:51:58 GMT
Reply-To: brown@vidiot.UUCP (Vidiot)
Organization: Vidiot's Hangout

In article <1993Jan6.052324.21063@midway.uchicago.edu> rck1@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
<During tonight's "A Tale of Two Sweeties," who else's transmission
<cut out just after the sunrise scene? 
<
<Here in Chicago, the interruption lasted perhpas 5 seconds, but
<I've been reading that other places had static for at least 5
<*minutes*.
<
<Who's fault was this? NBC's? Affiliates'?

Yes, the problem was East/Central.  Looked like the sat feed died, either from
the uplink site losing power or a technical problem.  The biggest failure
occured during a commercial break (Oh Boy), before the Sunrise scene.
-- 
      harvard\                          spool.cs.wisc.edu!astroatc!vidiot!brown
Vidiot  ucbvax!uwvax..........!astroatc!vidiot!brown
      rutgers/            INTERNET:vidiot!brown%astroatc.UUCP@spool.cs.wisc.edu
                                   brown@wi.extrel.com
From: ca831@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Steven John Peterson)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Fate of the Plucky Duck Show?
Date: 9 Jan 1993 20:35:06 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: ca831@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Steven John Peterson)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


Does anyone know why Fox no longer carries The Plucky Duck Show 
on Saturday mornings?  It has been replaced with regular 
episodes of Tiny Toon Adventures.

Although, the new Warner Bros. cartoons fail to live up to
the great cartoons of its past (IMHO), I found The Plucky
Duck Show to come close (at times).  In many ways I found
it even funnier than Tiny Toons.

As far as I can tell, The Plucky Duck Show consisted of shorts
from the regular series (and they just placed them under the
title of The Plucky Duck Show).  Maybe TPDS was just a filler,
I don't know.  Does anyone else?

Steven John Peterson
ca831@cleveland.freenet.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Does anyone have the words to the Bonanza theme?
From: KJDRYSDA@bcsc02.gov.bc.ca
Date: Tue, 05 Jan 93 09:14:21 PST
Organization: BC Systems Corporation

A local radio station had people phone in and hum the Bonanza theme. I recall
that several years ago on Cheers, they sang the tune. Does anyone have the
complete words to the song? All that I can recall is 'We're going to fight for
what is right, Bonanza...'
 
Regards,
Ken Drysdale               (604) 389-3178
VM Group - W139 1PL        KJDRYSDA@bcsc02.gov.bc.ca
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv,rec.arts.tv.uk
From: rsengupt@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Rita E Sengupta)
Subject: Re: Love and War : details wanted
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 23:37:30 GMT


I have watched Love and War one time and NEVER again.
Yuck.
I can't stand Susan Dey and was quite happy when she left
LA Law.
I do agree with whoever else (sorry...no memory for names)
that Mad About You is an excellent show.  I saw it just the other night
Was it last night?  The episode with the maid....REALLY funny...
Have you seen it in England?
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
From: Gordon_Wong@mindlink.bc.ca (Gordon Wong)
Subject: LIFE GOES ON: Short Comment (01/10)
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 02:08:39 GMT

Did anyone notice the plate that was leaning vertically on the shelf after
Drew's restaurant had been ransacked? The plate had a hole in the middle of
it and the rest of it was undamaged. Also, it was leaning in the vertical
direction. Did anyone else notice this and thought it was peculiar?
From: leela@wpi.WPI.EDU (Leela Keshavan)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: "I know a great Chardonnay..."
Keywords: commercials, hated
Date: 7 Jan 93 14:14:23 GMT
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
NNTP-Posting-Host: wpi.wpi.edu

In article <1993Jan6.181006.12406@brtph560.bnr.ca> appleyar@brtph72.bnr.ca (Doug Appleyard P215) writes:
>"I hope they have it."  
>
>WHAT GROCERY STORE HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN THAT DIDN'T HAVE
>GALLO WINE, YOU YUPPIE MORON!!!  
>
>If they don't have Gallo, what's he gonna do?  Get Thunderbird?
>
>I hate these Gallo yuppie bonding commercials!  They beg for
>the Energizer bunny treatment.  Oh yeah, and what the heck is 
>"Blanc De Noir"?  "White of black"? AAAAIIIIGH!!
>



Thank GOD... I thought I was the only one out there who hated this
commercial.. I hate when the woman in the commercial says 'Blanc De Noir'
with a pseudo-french accent... 


I also hate the stupid totts commercial.. notice hoow no-one even
says that the stuff is any good.. just.. different....
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
From: dhua@jarthur.claremont.edu (David Hua)
Subject: Re: Kids In The Hall questions
Organization: Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 91711
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 09:58:02 GMT

In article <1993Jan4.050656.6898@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> mrosen@nyx.cs.du.edu (Michael Rosen) writes:
>
>I was wondering the same thing.  The episode from this past Friday
>night had one skit where one of the guys informs to the cops on some
>pot dealers and then is arrested when they plant the hash on him.  Is
>this current or something old?

It's an old one previously shown before, but one of the best ones, IMO.
It seems that CBS hasn't gotten around to showing any new ones yet.


-- 
\ david hua                   {}   happiness is a time, a place, a memory, /
 \ dhua@jarthur.claremont.edu {}  a chemical imbalance or shift -- r.e.m. /
  \ harvey mudd college       {}      every whisper of every waking hour /
   \ class of '95             {}  i'm choosing my confessions -- r.e.m. /
From: jboor@flare.cs.umb.edu (Joan Boorstein)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Moonlighting returns to LIF
Date: 11 Jan 93 10:23:52 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: University of Massachusetts at Boston, Dept of Math and CS

According to my TV Guide, LIF is showing Moonlighting weekdays from 12-1 P.M.
This is EST, as I am in Boston.

Joan (jboor@cs.umb.edu)
Xref: sparky rec.arts.tv:24900 rec.arts.sf.tv:6417
From: ns@bohr.physics.purdue.edu (Nancy M. Schnepp)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv,rec.arts.sf.tv
Subject: Re: QL: 1/5/93 transmission
Date: 6 Jan 93 16:09:53 GMT
Followup-To: rec.arts.tv
Organization: Purdue University Physics Department

In article <1993Jan6.052324.21063@midway.uchicago.edu> rck1@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
*During tonight's "A Tale of Two Sweeties," who else's transmission
*cut out just after the sunrise scene? 
*
*Here in Chicago, the interruption lasted perhpas 5 seconds, but
*I've been reading that other places had static for at least 5
**minutes*.
*
*Who's fault was this? NBC's? Affiliates'?
*
*
*Robin C. Kwong ("er)
*				Leapers do it with *flash*!


Yes! A full five minutes.  I was watching on channel 15 from Champaign, IL
since our local Indianapolis station decided to show a movie instead!!
Guess we'll have to catch the missing minutes when they rerun it.
I enjoyed the ending by the way!






Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
From: dtschett@saims.skidmore.edu (donna tschetter)
Subject: Wanted: ALL "Seinfeld" episodes
Organization: Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs NY
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 03:39:11 GMT


e-me if you have the early ones!

to join Seinfeld discussion group, send message seinfeld-request@cpac.washington.edu

Thanks in advance!
From: vanover@bcsaic.boeing.com (Jann VanOver)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: Commercials I hate...
Date: 11 Jan 93 21:44:40 GMT
Organization: Boeing Computer Services, Seattle

edward@twg.com (Edward C. Bennett) writes:
>
>There's a particularly annoying one locally. My cable monopoly,
>Southbay Cablevision, runs an ad featuring one of their marketing
>people telling this story:
>
>	Customer misses his favorite show. Customer calls SbCv
>	for help. Marketdroid calls LA and New York ("I felt
>	like a detective") trying to get a copy of the program.
>	Tape is obtained and given to customer. "The look on the
>	customer's face when I gave him the tape made it all
>	worth it."
>
>Yeah, right. If they're going to fabricate a story, they should at
>least *try* to make it believable.

Well, something *almost* this unbelievable happened to a friend of mine.
A local station is playing OLD Lassie episodes.  She called the station
and said that her brother had been on one of these when he was 6 (he's
about 40 now) and that she'd like to have it on tape.  The station found 
the episode and played it ESPECIALLY FOR HER (at about 5 AM on a 
Saturday) - not even in the regular Lassie time slot!

If I hadn't heard it first person and seen the tape, I wouldn't have
believed it!

If anyone cares, the station was KTZZ, channel 22, in Seattle.
From: langbein@pilot.njin.net (John Langbein)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: TV technology question
Date: 10 Jan 93 19:11:45 GMT
Organization: Information Builders, Inc.

In article <4740@vidiot.UUCP> brown@vidiot.UUCP (Vidiot) writes:

> In article <f2Iv02Vl30XD01@JUTS.ccc.amdahl.com> mtb30@RUTS.ccc.amdahl.com (Mark Ball) writes:
> <
> <Wasn't there talk many years ago of a VCR which could tell the
> <difference between programs and commercials?  I thought it had to do
> <with signal strength.  Or was it just a fantasy?
> 
> Never heard that rumor.  There is no difference between regular programming and
> commercials.  What a fantasy.

I may be spouting net.foklore, but it is a story I remember hearing.

Illegedly, a company in Japan came up with a VCR that would
automatically cut out commercials, because at the time, in Japan,
there was a 2 second "blank" signal transmitted before & after the
commercial segments. It would sense the signal, and pause the VCR,
when the show started, it would see another blank screen, restart, and
continue taping. Commercial sponsors were not happy, the stations were
'forced' to eliminate that blank spot. I don't know how many, if any,
of these VCR's were produced. 

Again, this may be net.fokelore, but I felt it worth mentioning.

				John
-- 
D-----------Phone:<908>494-0209--------Office:<212>736-4433---------------C
E|ARPA: langbein@pilot.njin.net  USPS: 26B Brunswick Av Metuchen NJ 08840|H  
A|UUCP: !rutgers!pilot!langbein  WORK: 1250 Broadway New York NY 10001   |E
T|Quote: "Holy Cow!" The Scooter  Nickname: The Doctor/The Fugitive      |A
H----"It's-like-putting-a-B-flat-in-my-A-sharp-concerto!"---Adam--NEXP----T
From: lorenh@hpcvra.cv.hp.com (Loren Heisey)
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 20:49:33 GMT
Subject: Re: Dracula: The Series - Is It Running Anywhere?
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Co., Corvallis, OR, USA
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv

>This program was running in the NYC area on WWOR-TV for about a
>year, then disappeared after it was announced it was renewed for
>another season.
>
>Is the program being shown anywhere, or is it still in production?

"Dracula: The Series" had 26 episodes shown in syndication. The show
first aired in September 1990. I think it was cancelled though it
could show up in re-runs. About the only thing of note about the
show was it was filmed on location in Luxembourg. There is an
episode guide for most of the episodes in Epi-Log magazine issue #10.

--
Loren Heisey
Internet: lorenh@hpcvra.cv.hp.com
UUCP    : {decwrl|rutgers|ucbvax}!hplabs!hp-pcd!lorenh
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
From: zaphod@ctrg.rri.uwo.ca (Lance R. Bailey)
Subject: Re: Reasonable Doubts - Peggy Elliot
Reply-To: zaphod@ctrg.rri.uwo.ca
Organization: University of Western Ontario
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 17:57:11 GMT

In article <43386@sdcc12.ucsd.edu> rnlee@sdcc3.ucsd.edu (Profess'nal Agitator)  
writes:
>Major spoilers (from 5 Jan)








>Damn!  They killed off Sgt. Elliot.  Really liked her character.  She
>was the only regular that could draw on Cobb's past life as a street cop.

i was left with the feeling that the only reason for her ever being on the 
series was for her to be killed in a way that would attempt to teach the "boys
club" that she could be depended on, even though she was a woman.

reminds me of the 70's show Cannon where people would be introduced for no
other reason than to be killed later in the same show. sigh.
--
Lance R. Bailey  System/Network Manager         Robarts Research Institute
     NeXT/email: zaphod@ctrg.rri.uwo.ca    box: Clinical Trials Resources Group
            fax: +1 519 663 3789                P.O. Box 5015, 100 Perth Dr.
            vox: +1 519 663 3787 x4108          London, Canada N6A 5K8
I took a physics course that was so hard I couldn't find the classroom--Connely
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
From: tbromley@cybernet.cse.fau.edu (Thomas Bromley)
Subject: Writer of Rudolph, Frosty dies at 64
Organization: Cybernet BBS, Boca Raton, Florida
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 15:38:53 GMT

Romeo Muller, writer of 11 animated Christmas specials, including Rudolph 
the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, The Little Drummer Boy, Santa 
Claus is Coming to Town, and the 1992 NBC special Noel, died Wednesday 
(Dec. 30) at his home in High Falls, N.Y.  Muller had cancer, but 
died in his sleep, apparently of a heart attack.
In addition to the holiday specials, Muller's script credits also 
included: Return to Oz (a mid-60's special based on the Baum characters), 
Puff the MAgic Dragon, and the Rankin-Bass version of The Hobbit (with 
Orson Bean as the voice of Bilbo Baggins.
He was 64.

While his name is perhaps not as well known as his work, he is 
undoubtedly responsible for many hours of entertainment for those of us 
who grew up watching his programs.

Tom
From: kieran@world.std.com (Aaron L Dickey)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: Bill Wendell? (was: Letterman)
Date: 10 Jan 93 05:40:51 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA

solensky@world.std.com (Frank T Solensky) writes:

>All this week, the opening to Late Night was announced by someone else
>and it somehow just didn't sound as good.

>Anyone know what happened to Bill Wendell?  Has he retired, gone on
>vacation, or off checking out office space on West 57th?

Most likely just on vacation; I can't imagine him just up and leaving
without Dave making a formal announcement on the show.  

Someone with CompuServe access may want to post a message in the Consumer
Electronics Forum there, where a lot of the Letterman staff hangs out, to
get the real story.

--Aaron
From: mikeq@freddy.CNA.TEK.COM (Mike Quigley)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: Commercials that deserve the Bunny Treatment
Date: 7 Jan 93 19:33:05 GMT
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Redmond,  OR.

*Any commercial showing stressed-out upscale bozos agonizing over their
 investment decisions (usually involving a broker).

On another point, what happened to CNN's Living in the `90s starring
Christy Brinkley? She wasn't bad to get up to in the morning, IMHO.

Mike
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv,rec.arts.tv.uk
From: tfj@apusapus.demon.co.uk (Trevor Jenkins)
Subject: Love and War : details wanted
Distribution: world
Organization: Job hunters use Parachute
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 14:10:44 +0000

British TV is going to broadcast the American comedy series "Love and War"
starting on Friday 15th January (LWT 22:40).

The full synopsis published in the Radio Times (equivalent of TV Guide and
the only authoritative UK publication) was "First in a new American comedy
series"! Is there a fuller synopsis/episode guide/cast list for this series
which I can acquire from somewhere, in order that I can decide whether to
watch it or not?

Regards, Trevor.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trevor Jenkins                                                Re: "deemed!"
134 Frankland Rd, Croxley Green, Rickmansworth, WD3 3AU, England
email: tfj@apusapus.demon.co.uk                               radio: G6AJG  
phone: +44 (0)923 776436
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv,rec.arts.movies,alt.tv.twin-peaks
From: dnadams@nyx.cs.du.edu (Dean Adams)
Subject: Re: Dune (long version) on WPIX!
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 93 07:45:28 GMT

In article <SHAWN.93Jan3225113@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu> shawn@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu (Shawn Broderick) writes:
>Wait a minute.....
>
>What's the "long version".  Is it simply a minor modification of what
>we all saw at the movies when this beast came out originally?  I
>thought that most of the "extra footage" which was edited out of the 3
>hour epic that Lynch originally put together was mostly destroyed or
>not catalogued and saved.
>
>Please clue me in!

Well, one "clue" that seems to be lacking around here is that this
extended version of DUNE is not at all new or rare.  It was first
released way back in 1988, and it has aired in my area many times
since then.  It is very much *extended* however, with a total running
time of around three hours.  There are a lot of interesting new scenes
added, including much more of Patrick Stewart.  The only problem is
that the narration is totally different... and totally stupid.

Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
From: krk1@pyuxe.uucp (24228-knights)
Subject: Re: QL question ...
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 93 14:00:29 GMT

> 
> >SPOILER, KIND OF!!!!!!
> 
> >The episode where Sam gets stuck in the ocean liner's garbage compartment,
> >Sam and Al are talking/arguing at the bar, and Sam makes some dig about how
> >HE didn't go searching in a bottle for help to his problems, or something to
> >that effect.  Anyone got the title and specific quote?
> 
> 
Tracy sez:
> 
> Sam got stuck in the ocean liner's garbage compartment in "Sea Bride", which
> is NOT the episode where Sam snaps at Al about being a drunk.
> 
> That was "Play It Again, Seymour" where Sam is talking to Al at the bar of a
> '50s night club.  Al is trying to convince Sam that Sam's persona's girlfriend
> is out to kill him, something which Sam doesn't want to hear so he snaps at Al,
> saying something to the effect of how he doesn't cloud his judgment with a
> bottle.


The quote is, I think:  "Don't compare me to yourself.  I think with my
brain and I don't cloud my judgement with a bottle."  Followed by one
of those wonderful un-quotable moments when Al keeps right on talking
with an expression like he's just been kicked in the gut and Sam,
realizing what he's said, refusing to make eye contact and looking
like he feels about two inches tall.

A Most Excellent moment.


-----
Katriena Knights
"I don't mind being in touch with reality, as long as I don't 
have to live there."
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
From: colten@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (marc.colten)
Subject: Re: who sings this song?
Summary: Well, I was close
Organization: AT&T
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 02:20:37 GMT

In article <1993Jan5.225707.1764@das.harvard.edu>, jmf@endor.harvard.edu ( ghost ) writes:
> In article <1993Jan5.190947.7775@cbfsb.cb.att.com> colten@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (marc.colten) writes:
> >In article <1993Jan5.183629.7858@ultb.isc.rit.edu>, cad0410@ritvax.isc.rit.edu (Cecelia A. Dorn) writes:
> >> Can anyone tell me who (woman, perhaps Irish or Scottish?) 
> >> sings the background music for the new Volkswagen commercial.
> >> I can't understand any of the lyrics and can only describe
> >> the song as serene and other-worldly.
> >> Thanks,
> >> Cea
> >
> >I haven't seen the commercial, but if she sounds Irish and is
> >"serene and other-wordly" the odds are she is Enya - a wonderful
> >singer who is being way, way, way, overexposed in commercials
> >and movies (her song "Book of Days" is heard in the movie Far and Away
> >and in the trailers).
> >
> >marc colten
> 
> 
> Been around on this once already;
> Its Maraid Ni Brennan, (Enya's sister) singing, the group she sings with
> is Clannad, the song, which predates Enya's fame by a few years now,
> is "The Theme from Harry's Game" (a British 2-hour movie whose plot is
> nothing like its theme music), the language is Gaelic.  
> 
> If you like the sound, though, you will probably also like Clannad's latest
> records (I like the earlier, rooted in jazz & Irish folk, better myself,
> which is not to knock the new ethereal sound unduly) & will also like Enya...
> You might also like Canadian Loreena McKennitt, who usually sounds more
> towards this stuff than that piece ending Northern Exp which someone said
> was by her...
> And you might like the Scottish groups Sileas (Sheelas) & possibly
> Karen Matheson with Capercaille, and... 	

well I was close anyway.  Because we enjoy Enya we sent away for
a Clannad album and it was nothing like we expected.  More "Clancy
Boys" than Enya's type of music.

marc colten
From: brown@vidiot.UUCP (Vidiot)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: TV technology question
Date: 11 Jan 93 02:52:35 GMT
Reply-To: brown@vidiot.UUCP (Vidiot)
Organization: Vidiot's Hangout

In article <Jan.10.14.11.44.1993.21189@pilot.njin.net> langbein@pilot.njin.net (John Langbein) writes:
<In article <4740@vidiot.UUCP> brown@vidiot.UUCP (Vidiot) writes:
<
<> In article <f2Iv02Vl30XD01@JUTS.ccc.amdahl.com> mtb30@RUTS.ccc.amdahl.com (Mark Ball) writes:
<> <
<> <Wasn't there talk many years ago of a VCR which could tell the
<> <difference between programs and commercials?  I thought it had to do
<> <with signal strength.  Or was it just a fantasy?
<> 
<> Never heard that rumor.  There is no difference between regular programming and
<> commercials.  What a fantasy.
<
<I may be spouting net.foklore, but it is a story I remember hearing.
<
<Illegedly, a company in Japan came up with a VCR that would
<automatically cut out commercials, because at the time, in Japan,
<there was a 2 second "blank" signal transmitted before & after the
<commercial segments. It would sense the signal, and pause the VCR,
<when the show started, it would see another blank screen, restart, and
<continue taping. Commercial sponsors were not happy, the stations were
<'forced' to eliminate that blank spot. I don't know how many, if any,
<of these VCR's were produced. 

There were boxed produced that detected the same here in the states.  But
they were not very effective.  Tended to screw up a lot.  Needless to say,
they fell out of favor.
-- 
      harvard\                          spool.cs.wisc.edu!astroatc!vidiot!brown
Vidiot  ucbvax!uwvax..........!astroatc!vidiot!brown
      rutgers/            INTERNET:vidiot!brown%astroatc.UUCP@spool.cs.wisc.edu
                                   brown@wi.extrel.com