It is a plot. There is often a false sense that there is more story at the point they break away for a commercial. Then the commercials deliver their load and just when you think the story will resume, they roll the credits. But here is where the voices come on to entice you to stay tuned for whatever show is next. Meanwhile, you are just starting to get over the confusion about the previous show when the credits suddenly stop. Instead of another band of commercials, you quite abruptly find yourself looking at an intense scene which seems as if it belongs in the MIDDLE of the next show. This is designed to hook you into watching the commercials which immediately follow. And then the real show begins and the opening credits are splashed randomly throughout the first five minutes of the show.

All this is the reason I try to avoid watching anything other than movies. At least with them, I usually have a fair idea of when they start and when they are over.