60 Minutes, Yahoo, and Ameritrade are frickin' annoying!

This is a short diary about something that pissed me off.

I came across an ad this morning for Stephen Colbert on "60 Minutes."  Wow, cool, something I'd watch.  It turns out this episode aired in April 2006, but I'd never seen it.  So I clicked on it, and went to the Yahoo/60 Minutes website, where they had the entire episode in itty-bitty little pieces.

Perfect, a nice way to waste 10 or 15 minutes before the dog starts grumbling to go outside, right?

Wrong.  Why is after the flip.

First off, before the first 60-second or so segment of the show, they aired a little 30-second commercial for Ameritrade, with that guy from Law and Order.  No problem.  CBS is a for-profit venture and I don't mind them making a little moolah.

The first clip was interesting, about how Colbert doesn't let his own kids watch his show.  The feed stuttered a little bit, but not too bad.

I clicked on another segment.  Two seconds into it, the video froze.  

I clicked on a third another segment.  Back to Sam Watterson and Ameritrade (streaming perfectly, of course).

I reloaded the page, and clicked on the third segment again.  Sam Watterson for the third time, still streaming perfectly.  Then it relaunched the same segment of Colbert I'd already watched, about how he won't let his own kids watch the show.

I tried clicking another segment.  Sam Watterson again!

Frustrated, I came over here to start this diary.  Five minutes into it, I went back to the CBS/Yahoo website to recall how long the first segment of the show had been (60 seconds, remember?)  But first it launched yet another ad---this one for Smarttrade, whatever the hell that is.  Part of Ameritrade?  I don't know, and I don't care.

All I know is that CBS, Yahoo, and Ameritrade have combined to leave a bad taste in my mouth.  I looked around briefly for any kind of help or "trouble? let us know" button.  If there is one I couldn't find it.

I still never got to watch Colbert.  And now the dog has to go outside.

(By the way, I'm using a 5-month-old computer on a broadband connection.  The problem is very unlikely to be on my end.)