Network Television Program Running Times

I was disgusted recently when I wanted to watch MARLOWE, a movie starring James Garner, on Turner Classic Movies, one of the best cable networks in the US, which began at 10:00 p.m., and HOUSE, one of my favorite network (FOX) programs, began at the ridiculous time of 9:07 and ran until 10:07.
Knowing that HOUSE would most likely re-run the episode at a later date I skipped trying to watch it and not see the ending, so that I could devote my attention to MARLOWE.
I mentioned this to a buddy, and fellow blogger, who said "well, it's their station", but I do not believe that I, as a devoted HOUSE fan who has seen almost every episode of the show as it aired "live" should have to tolerate this because AMERICAN IDOL began at 8:00 and did not finish before 9:00.
This sort of situation has become more and more common with American television in the last few years, but, to me, this is the height, or, rather, the depth, of such programming errors.