Are you sure you've seen this movie?

While I appreciate that not everyone loves movies to the same degree, here is something I absolutely do not understand. Last night ABC did its annual showing of The Sound of Music. Now we all know that this 1965 Rodgers & Hammerstein musical was enormously successful. It  has been a beloved favorite for almost 50 years. It has even been shown in theaters worldwide as a sing-along attraction. What I find hard to believe is that millions of American viewers are willing to watch this heartwarming wide-screen classic in a version "modified to fit your screen", which means you're losing about the half the Todd-AO image. So at certain points, you're cheated out of several Von Trapp children, the breathtaking Austrian scenery,  most of the the "Climb Every Mountain" mountain and basically the visual impact of the entire film.  If that weren't sacrifice enough, these same viewers have to deal with hundreds of commercial breaks for insurance, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, beer, and countless other  promotions. Why even bother?  Viewers aren't actually seeing The Sound of Music, and they're denying their children the thrill of experiencing this movie for the first time as it should be seen—without interruptions and without being snipped to pieces. Screw greedy ABC. Rent the letterboxed video. Instead of spending four hours watching ound of Mu, spend 147 glorious minutes watching The Sound of Music.