TV anyone?

The Spanish people have a certain fame for tardiness. I think, perhaps, that comes not from disrespect of anyone, but from a more laid-back attitude towards time in general. I was struck by this recently when I was checking out the TV listings. Check out the photo above, courtesy of the 20minutos website, showing the TV listings for today. Very few of the shows start or end on the hour. Coming from the US, where all TV programs, be they news, game shows, movies, or sporting events, fit nicely into 1/2 hour increments, I find this strange and mildly annoying. Here in Spain there are certain shows that are broadcast every night, and the show starts every night at a different time. It's always more or less around the same time, but you are never quite certain of the exact time.

I find this most annoying when it comes to movies. A number of the big channels show a movie each night at (or around) 10pm. Tonight one of them starts at 10:05 and one starts at 9:55. The problem with movies is that I never know the actual (be that English) name of the movie unless I see the opening credits. So knowing the exact time of the movie is rather important. Granted, the TV guide might say the movie starts at 10:05, but then you watch it and it really doesn't even start until 10:09. Perhaps I am displaying some anal retentiveness here. It is only TV after all. But I think it's somewhat representative of the overall atitude towards the reloj (clock) in general.