ABC was making money then - the PBA was a desirable show, sponsors were paying more $$/minute for the commercial time, so they could afford to give up a few minutes for interviews. Most likely the $$/minute they're getting for commercials now is so low that they have to stuff in as many as possible. They have already cut out some of the stupid stuff (trick shots, Randy's Q&A session, etc), and they're now down to just the bowling and the zillions of repeated commercials.
