SQUEEZE PLAYS

Speaking of films being squeeeeeeeeezed into time slots, CBS did a lot of trimming last week on “Carny”--the atmospheric 1980 film about carnival life starring Gary Busey, Jodie Foster and Robbie Robertson.

The movie, which originally ran 107 minutes, began at 12:40 a.m. and ended at 2 a.m. Also crammed into the 80-minute time slot were the obligatory (and plentiful) late night-early morn commercials.

Asked about the shoehorning, a network rep quipped, “What can I say? Careful editing made it all possible.”