TVSquad

Well for one thing, they could go back to running seasons the way they used to, instead of cutting down the number of episodes. But that'll never happen.

Reply

A gap after the end of the season is the natural order of things. People know a season is over and will look out for the new season.

When people sit down to watch a new episode and there's nothing on, or a re-run thats just annoying.

Reply

I'm from the UK where we don't have this issue with our main channels - though Sky One do it with some series - but I'm wondering if the influence of the cable networks is affecting viewers. HBO, Showtime etc all show their original series in one chunk and perhaps some American viewers are getting used to that and get frustrated when the networks don't give them it?

Reply

They need to implement the plan for Lost that they've been talking about lately. That is, instead of having episodes all over the place, when it's on, it's on, and when it's off, it's off. So, you'd have the show split up into several straight groupings of episodes. You'd have either 2 or 3 of these and breaks in between. With 3, you can hit all the sweeps periods and still maintain viewer loyalty. It's like a mini-24 season each time with a 7-7-8 split.

Reply

24 is a prime example of how it could be done. The Season is pushed back to January, and all episodes are shown week to week. Looking at the ratings, this seems to have worked. Season 5 has the highest ratings the show has ever gotten.

I also like the plan for the next Season of Lost which has been mentioned a few times, to have the show start about a month later, and showing it in 3 set intervals. This means the viewes only need to worry about 3 gaps instead of constant ones.

Reply

This is such a no-brainer, I can't believe the networks are dropping the ball on this.

This mainly pertains to Lost, but:

All you have to do is run the whole season in order, and when its complete, RERUN the season IN ORDER again so that those that have come in in the middle, can get up to speed with everyone else.

I have a ton of friends who have just completed the Season 1 set of DVDs from Netflix, but still can't join in with Season 2 because we're almost at the end of it. Now they have to wait til the Season 2 DVDs come out to get caught up, which puts them in the same predicament with Season 3 (this is assuming they dont use BitTorrent, which is how I managed to get up to speed with Season 2)

If they do this, then they keep the regular viewers interested every week, and they effectively get the DVD catch-up people to get on board within one season. Next thing you know, you have an even bigger viewership for the start of the 3rd season.

Reply

LOST is the show that really irritates me, the whole season could be wrapped up in 2 episodes if they put all the good details together. Most of the Flash backs I dont really care about

Reply

I like what George (#6) suggests. Whatever happens, I'd much prefer to have all my waiting happen between seasons, not between episodes. The end of a season is a natural break and one way or another viewers realize they're in for a prolonged break. This is not nearly as disruptive to my enjoyment of the show (Lost, in this case) as having to wait 3 weeks just for the next episode.

A tighter schedule would probably also convince me to go a bit easier on the so-so episodes, since I know a new one will be on next week. There's nothing more frustrating than waiting several weeks between episodes and then having the first new one be a disappointment. It just doubles the furstration.

Reply

this is also happening to grey's anatomy, i think the last new show was the first week of april - why do the networks do this to these great shows?!

Reply

I'm not sure what Tom means by "running the seasons the way they used to, instead of cutting down the number of episodes." The standard season on American television for years consisted of 22 episodes. The first season of "Lost" was 22 episodes (if you count the two-part pilot and season finale each as single large episodes). "Desperate Housewives" had 23 episodes in their first season. "24," obviously, has to have 24 each season. Cable series are, and always have been, different, but the broadcast networks reamain mostly unchanged in their calculation of a season.

To the larger point, it seems like there is really no way to make everyone happy. It's the old "Good, Fast, or Cheap: Pick Two" situation. Take more time to keep up the quality of the episodes and people complain about the re-runs in between new episodes. Take a hit in the quality to speed up the production schedule and get new episodes to air faster and people complain that the show isn't as good as it used to be. Cluster new episodes to air in an uninterrupted flow (like "24" or the HBO series) and people complain about the long wait in between seasons.

Reply

Showing episodes in a whole block - like 24 - or even 2 or 3 blocks would work very well IMO. In the off time they could re-run the season to garner more interest, allow for catch-ups etc... (although you can catch up with iTunes for many shows now too) or why not show NEW content. Shows that are edgy, different, maybe not the instant hits that the networks seem to look for these days. In non-sweeps the expectations - and the risks are much lower so why not give some of them a chance. What if Arrested Development had been broadcast over the summer instead of being bounced all over Fox's schedule? Would it have garnered higher ratings because fans would actually know when it was on - I think so. The networks can get back in to producing the critically acclaimed programing that you (nowadays) find on cable.

Reply

See, it's that silly system of showing episodes which has made me change my TV watching habits to DVD only.

Reply

The "modern" number of episodes in a television show is 22, or 24-25 for a few newer shows. Once the world went to the "full year" season in the last two or three years is where the rerun hell got terrible. ABC is really bad at dropping reruns in for no apparent reason. At least a decade ago you knew it was because of Easter Sunday or something else. Now it's seemingly random.

Way back when - and I'm not this old - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009UC7MK/102-3463771-3832917?v=glance&n=130 shows ran for about 32 episodes. Sometime in the 80s or thereabouts we went down to 22 episodes, but at that time television was pushed to the wayside during the nicer weather in the summertime. Nowadays, people don't care when shows are on, because a lot of TV hounds are recording the shows one way or another. Sure, you're not going to get monster ratings during the summer, but shows like The Closer on TNT have shown that you can swing a "hit" in what was previously thought to be an off-season only. Additionally, with people now even "paying" for what was previously "over the air" to everyone, folks want good content all the time, and reruns do nothing but stir it up a bit. FOX did a disastrous thing with Prison Break, and ABC has done the same with Lost and others. 24 managed to be successful showing up "late" in the game during the year, and there's no reason that this couldn't happen to other programs. The September-May schedule is just a construct (no, we're not in the Matrix), that doesn't have to work that way.

Reply

I think there are two possible solutions. 1. Run the entire season in order and when it's finished bring in a different show. (examples: Rescue Me/The Shield on FX, The Sopranos/Deadwood on HBO) 2. Run the first half the season, replay it and then run the second half of the season. (examples: Battlestar Galactica on SciFi; Prison Break on Fox)

Reply

For me is like number 12 said... "See, it's that silly system of showing episodes which has made me change my TV watching habits to DVD only."

Here (in South America) some networks learned the lesson and now the "prudently wait" several months until they get enough episodes in the "buffer". Then, starting in Feb. or Mar. they run the full season without gaps...

Worked for Lost, Grey's Anatomy, DH, 24 and any hit shows, but totally waste some other shows, like, let's say... Alias, which suffer movings back and forth, and "catch up" marathons, then started season 4 recently... ¬¬

Reply

Last year, Alias and 24 premiered their seasons in January, and kept running 'til May, without reruns, as far as I can remember. And these shows garnered high ratings. Now, if the networks could "reserve" shows with season-long mysteries, or shows with hardly any stand-alone episodes (Lost, Desperate Housewives, Veronica Mars, etc.) for airing in January, I think that the viewers will have an easier time catching up, and who knows maybe their ratings will get higher. Just put a show with many stand-alone episodes in their timeslots like Grey's Anatomy or something.

Reply

I dont think it frustrates me as much because the shows I watch are the ones I care about and have a record all new episodes setup for on my DVR...and I do appreciate the fact that the networks will run those "catch-up" specials every now and then(Grey's and Lost are really fond of them) which is good for some people who may not have watched all the episodes...who knows maybe I'm just too obsessed with TV that the scheduling doesnt bother me...but I will say that what HBO does with it's series(waiting years for new episodes would drive me crazy, I've almost forgotten about Entourage and when it does come back I know I'll only get like 10-12 episodes)

-wC

Reply

How do networks expect to have Must-See-TV when we're never quite sure when or if a new episode is going to air?

My favorite show, The West Wing, was a huge victim of this crazy mentality. As soon as you fall in love with the show, the plot begins to develop and you get hooked, the show is off for weeks at a time. Then you forget what was going on in the first place and get frustrated when you get endless reruns.

HBO does it best. It gives you the show once a week. Even if the episode is so-so, you want to come back and see it again, because you know that something good is coming. I always make time for these shows in my schedule without fault.

P.S. I also don't like this new 6-8 minutes of content, 3-4 minutes of commercials (that ABC does wayyyyy too much) thing. The drama can't possibly build and I think it is the downfall of many fine shows, such as Commander in Chief and even Boston Legal.

Reply

Unfortunately, that's the breaks, kid. Rerun hell didn't matter until you started getting shows with such a strong overall arc. Nighttime soaps suffered from this, but that used to be the only shows that did. It didn't matter that MacGyver went into reruns, the episodes were more or less interchangeable and one following another didn't matter. Now, shows like Buffy, Veronica Mars, Lost, etc.. suffer because the new (and better) show model is the long-running arc. Unfortunately, the problem is made worse by sweeps, and there really isn't any way to get around that. Micro-seasons won't cut it because you'd never remove a show from the line-up that draws strong ratings even in reruns. There really is no good way around this. If you start later, you risk letting other shows build in audience in your timeslot. If you run straight through like 24 does, you lose out on potential profits (24 is an exception because you pretty much can't show reruns on 24). You can't run the season twice because it doesn't fit with production schedules and you screw up your May sweeps.

If they got rid of sweeps (which makes perfect sense to me, what good are they? Shouldn't the aggregate season-long ratings hold more sway than an artifically hyped month?) then all these problems disappear. You get your uninterrupted, or lightly interrupted season and the networks don't have to worry about screwing themselves over.

But as long as we have sweeps, we have re-run hell.

Reply

I agree with the Mark about how this was never a problem until the hour long show with continuous story arc same into play. That started in earnest with Northern Exposure.

I suggest TIVO or a DVR to everyone who gets upset with this. I set it to record my favorite shows with a season pass and first-run shows only. Then every night I it my "list" and see what is there. If there is no new episode of Lost or Desperate Housewives, I just watch some other show I have backlogged...usually one of the CSI's. I never get frustrated and its TV on my time... Viva la revolution!

Reply