Or rather, how they were broadcast on television.
They had a space and a time, they were not uncomfortably specific, you could make the decision not to watch them by changing the channel or go to the bathroom for a while and come back. Programs and movies were designed or edited in such a way that rather than an interruption, they felt like a pause.
Because that’s what they were: Advertising Pauses.
Not like now, which are Advertising Interruptions, Advertising Invasions.
Advertising “Disrespect for the Privacy and Time of the Users”.
EDIT: I love how almost everyone assumed that by “old” I meant commercials from the last century (90s, 80s) when I was thinking more like mid 2000s
Lately we’ve been acquiring and rewatching a lot of old 90s cartoons/TV shows with our daughter, and i feel this so much. The fade-to-black at a particular scene for the commercial break, the ‘brought to you by…’ that’s written in. And then the nostalgic memory of the types of commercials that would play, like for different toys and such that were sometimes just as exciting to watch as whatever show was on!
dunno their age, but toonamiaftermath is a great site/stream. they add old commercials with old shows.