I appreciate what is going on here but I feel it is way too complicated.
Don't hate me @maddox but this brings me back to how a lot of us have requested a clock on the guide. Having a line that follows the time I think would be less complicated on the eyes and easier to follow....while giving users the concept of what time it is. This to me is more telling of the progress of a show....especially if a show is falling behind the guide.
In the Apple TV, there is a tick mark at the top of the guide, below the time legends, that reflects the current time. On the iPhone/iPad, the current time is displayed at the top in the system status bar.
(Edit: I just noticed the current time's tick mark has been removed from the guide on tvOS. Please bring this back, @maddox.)
The latest testflight beta has fixed and accurate progress showing on guide items.
Any chance of the current time's tick mark making a return?
and if not... even just... the introduction of... a clock? 
It's better with the update but check out channel 21.5. Somehow it is winning the race and traveled to the future 20minutes
A more intuitive, universal way of communicating "the current time's tick mark." 
time is but an illusion
No, the progress bar is showing that movie is just a bit more than 50% over. The progress bar is relative to the program's total duration, not the current time.
I liked the first way much better than this new bar. It’s distracting. I can’t stop looking at them. It’s like they are just underlines for the title of the show.
The other way was much better, more subtle and easier to understand.
Does anyone really know what time it is?
Can we illusion it into a progress line? 
I’ll throw my 2 cents in. I really don’t understand what the bars are showing. Look at the Braves game in the image below. Shouldn’t it be a shorter bar if the % complete is less than the other shows? I’ve read the posts above but I can’t see how this is helpful and agree that I’d rather see the tick mark back and this removed or at least an option to turn it off.
@maddox thanks for the hard work and listening to us give the constructive criticism!
Think of it as a smaller version of the timeline bar when the video is full screen. That’s all it is.
In swat, it’s 852 so 8 minutes left in the show. The bar is showing 52 minutes of progress in the cell.
As I see it, the "progress bar" displayed is a percentage of the program that has already occurred, and its length is the percentage of the program's block in the guide. Since that ball game presumably goes to 10 or later, then the progress bar will be considerably longer, because the duration of the game is longer.
For a second example, look at the progress bars for SWAT and DDD. SWAT is an hour program, so the progress bar is further along; SWAT is 83% (5/6), while DDD is 67% (2/3).
You’re comparing it to other items, which has no significance. It’s showing progress of the airing. Other items have no relevance to it.
Got it. Silly question.
I like it. It makes sense to me now. Tick mark or not, I like being able to quickly assess how much of a live program is already passed.
A thought occurred to me… why not both? Use the shading with the tick mark to indicate current time, and the progress bar to show the percentage completion of the airing. This way you can quickly see the current time as well as tell if a show is just starting or almost completed at a glance. Just a thought. 
