Carol writes, "Where would the commercials go? Now they're usually slipped in (for 4 minutes) after pannnig the corpses, after the wailing scene, and a smidgeon after the obligatory "damned shame" on-site comment from some bureau-military expert.
The obligatory "damned shame on-site comment" sets the stage for an assortment of appealing escapist commercials. The "damned shame" is everything nobody wants to think about. It's a dead stop, but a dead stop can also be a good opportunity. Anything that follows a dead stop feels like canonical TV by contrast.
Why sit and worry alone in your room? Come hear the commercial play Luigi Rodolfo Boccherini (Six Duets for Two Violins) while selling marinara sauce by urban pathos scenarios with bald men.
Any escapist commercial would fit, steal the show, and work well. Nobody wants to ponder death in public media, unless it's "spooky" or "supernatural" or in another controlled setup.
Back to Mike Geary's Zoot Suit, badly the worse for time travel. TV commercials would probably sell War Bonds.
Or not.I can't really imagine our postmodern electronic milieu in WW2. First-generation viewers have more trust. The attitudes of every time are inviolate.
Even if we tried to reset the clock, we wouldn't have the right time. Our contemporary nihilistic blank-angry stare at TV can only arise in second- or third-generation TV viewers. Disappointed. Angry. Untrusting. Tube trained. Viewers with attitude. Viewers with zero awe. Viewers in channel-surf mode. Can't have those back in WW2.
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