And Could The Conductor Wear An “Everybody Loves Raymond” T-Shirt?

Apparently, the “1812 Overture” is just too much music for CBS’s tastes. The network, which is supposed to be televising the Boston Pops’ annual 4th of July concert, has decided that it only wants the big, loud part of the Tchaikovsky overture – y’know, the part everyone can sing along to – and so it will ‘cut in’ to the performance near the end of the work, just in time for the cannons and the fireworks. The 1812 is approximately 20 minutes long when played without cuts, roughly 15 minutes longer than television executives believe that Americans are capable of paying attention to anything.