Original commercial breaks in "Saga of a Star World"

[Hope It Is The Grog]

Many of the original commercial breaks in the original 3-hour telecast of the pilot correspond to where they were placed in the syndicated three-part version, but not all. With the indispensable help of Scott, I have catalogued where the breaks were originally located, for those who may be interested in such things.

• 1. After "That was my son, Mr. President" and shot of Athena crying.
  
  2. After "We're the only surviving battlestar."... "My God!"
  
  3. After "If they exist, they're doomed" and shot of Caprican sunrise.
  
  4. After "Just the two fellas I wanted to see. Follow me, gentlemen."
  
  5. After the rear-angle shot of the freshly-launched Vipers flying into the Nova of Madagon and before the side-view shot where the music starts.
  
  6. After "Two moons! Oh, how can you go wrong?"
  
  7. After the freeze-frame when Boxey is captured by the Ovions (pretty obvious one there).
  
  8. After "I wonder what's down here..." + scream and blur effect (another obvious one).
  
  9. After "What say we have a look at what's furthest from the guest rooms?"
  
  10. After "Enemy closing in, ten microns" and shot of bridge personnel rushing around.
  
  11. After the Epilogue and before the preview of "Lost Planet of the Gods" that preceded the end credits.

The placement of these breaks shows how carefully ABC planned to keep its audience hooked till the end.

• The opening segment runs about 18 minutes and sets you up to like the young Zac, whose tragic death will already make you hate the Cylons and want to keep watching.
  
  The segment between breaks 3 and 4 runs over 22 minutes and (by my rough calculations) takes you past the top of the hour (after showing you Athena undressing) so you won't switch over and watch All in the Family on CBS.
  
  The segment between breaks 8 and 9 runs over 21 minutes and again goes past the top of the hour so you won't check out CBS's Kaz or NBC's Lifeline. You want to find out what made that girl scream, and although you get a tease from "What are they doing with us?" (and from the belly dancer in the next shot) you don't actually get to learn the whole truth till after break 9.
  
  Then, to make sure you don't tune out after "... a shining planet known as Earth," they go straight into the Epilogue, which in the original broadcast had a superimposed "Stay tuned for scenes of next weeks' show" (the plural possessive being technically correct for a two-parter) over the final shot of Lucifer. By then, you might as well stick around for the previews and thus get hooked into watching the next two weeks.

It worked out pretty well, despite the late interruption (in most time zones) for the breaking news about Camp David. This occurred shortly after the point where the Colonials and Cylons had the shootout over the Ovion bridge (basically it was at the end of that pursuit sequence), so it didn't spoil the placement of the extra-long segments.

[Hope It Is The Grog]

As an aside, it's curious that a different character got the "last word" before each commercial break.

1. Athena (with her "no, no" and less coherent sobs).
2. Tigh
3. Baltar
4. Apollo (although you might say Starbuck technically follows up by whispering "See?")
5. Adama ("Launch fighters now")
6. The Tauran
7. Boxey
8. Frizzy-haired screamer
9. Starbuck
10. Rigel
11. Imperious Leader

Or maybe that's not interesting at all and I've just thought about this entirely too much.

[GoldCylon]

Best break down details I have seen. Good eye, and never really thought of it as a edit to hook the viewers in longer, since it was a 64 million viewer audience.

[Hope It Is The Grog]

[Hope It Is The Grog]

Someone just reminded me (well, probably I was barely mindful at the time) of the other networks' efforts to thwart ABC's success from the beginning. CBS aired the Emmy Awards opposite the BSG premiere, while NBC was showing King Kong (presumably the network premiere of the 1976 remake, the super-long extended version).

ABC wouldn't have known in advance, when timing its commercial breaks, that the other networks would indulge in such tactics instead of relying on the premieres of their own shows. Evidently none of it worked, though, as ABC/BSG was ratings champion on that night.