I hate these BREAKS!!!

[23skidoo]

I'm not a huge fan of these breaks either, but I think we're going to have to get used to them. Partly due to economics and partly due to diminishing returns, I see the US networks moving more towards the UK format of programming. While it's not unknown for UK series to run what we might call "standard" 22-episode seasons (or thereabouts), you're more likely over there to see shows running 12, 13, 14 episodes (like Doctor Who and Torchwood), or 6 episodes (The Office, Extras, Hustle, Red Dwarf), and shows are not tied to a September-May broadcast schedule either. For example Torchwood is coming back for a 4th season, but we won't know for awhile if it'll air in the fall of 2010 (18 months after the 5-episode season 3), or 2011. Red Dwarf famously took a break of several years between seasons, which is why over 20 years there have only been something like 8 seasons plus the 3-episode Back to Earth mini.

It's happening more and more over here. We've seen 24 taking a break of more than a year. Lost took a lengthy break. Crossing Jordan went off the air for something like a year at one point. And nuBSG took close to a year off in the midst of Season 4 (though I consider 4.0 and 4.5 to be different seasons, personally).

The midseason break is a relatively new thing over here, but it's not new either. The problem is on many occasions it's damaged shows because it has broken their momentum. We know it happened with Enterprise. The show was gaining viewership, and then they took it off the air for 3 months and people forgot about it. I've heard a break blamed for Alias ultimately crashing and burning. I'm very concerned about the break being imposed on V (though there's a production-based reason in its case).

Thing is, we're in a transitional period away from the traditional September-May period. Pretty soon we will be seeing new seasons of major shows start in May (a time traditionally reserved for the "mid-season replacement), or July. And we can't take 22-episode seasons for granted anymore. V's only getting 11 or 13, and that might be it.

And just wait until we start seeing major TV series producted directly for the Internet. We might only see one new episode a month.

Alex

 

[RobertScorpio]

I here that they are beta-testing a DVR that will play commercials while you fast-foward through your show....

Rob

 

[Dar70]

You guys cant have it BOTH ways. People are either bitching that the breaks during hiatus are too long or that the breaks between seasons are too long. Would you rather have all 20-24 episode of a series run in one continuous block and wait 6 or 7 months for new episodes or have the episodes spread out over the course of 9 months and have to wait only 3 months for new eps?
Seriously i hear people bitch and moan either way. What do you expect the show to be ran contiuously with new episodes?
The cable shows (mad men, breaking bad etc) have only 13 or 14 episodes per season and show them virtually all in a row with maybe one or two skip weeks. People complain that they have to now wait ten months for new episodes of those series. I dont see the big deal. Just watch something else and get addicted to that while waiting. In this day and age the possibilities are limitless.

 

[Starbreaker]

The old way of 4 episodes and then 2 weeks of reruns and then 3 new episodes and then a rerun and then 2 episodes and then 8 reruns... etc. stupid way of scheduling is dead other than crime dramas.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Partly due to economics and partly due to diminishing returns, I see the US networks moving more towards the UK format of programming.

The Sopranos and Lost can get away with it, but for most shows it would be fatal. I can't see networks doing that on purpose with the majority of shows. People will simply forget about them and the ratings will crash. Very very few shows are good enough that anyone will bother to keep them in mind for months on end. Far too many other distractions.

I also see no advantage to me as a viewer. If they don't have enough writers on staff to get the required number of episodes written per year, they can damn well hire more writers rather than make me wait! Cheap bastards.

Would you rather have all 20-24 episode of a series run in one continuous block and wait 6 or 7 months for new episodes or have the episodes spread out over the course of 9 months and have to wait only 3 months for new eps?

Yes.

Meaning, I don't care so it's fine to have both. If there are some shows that have scattered-thru-the-year runs, I can watch those while waiting for the concentrated-in-one-batch shows. If I like a show, I do bother to keep track of when it comes back (but I also know I'm in the minority and most people watch whatever's in front of their face and then forget about it ten seconds later.)

The cable shows (mad men, breaking bad etc) have only 13 or 14 episodes per season and show them virtually all in a row with maybe one or two skip weeks.

Cable shows can do that because they only need 2M viewers to survive. They can find 2M people out of a population of 300M to watch pretty much anything. That's a very small proportion of viewership that they're aiming for. It's the networks that couldn't do that - they'd end up with 2M viewers which without cable revenues isn't enough to make it a business proposition.

 

[StarshipDefiant]

A hiatus isn't so much as a problem per se, just how often they are, Dollhouse for instance, aired i think...two episodes, maybe three and then came back for one or two episodes (depending on how many episodes the first batch did, I forget), and then went on another break for all of November. It's somewhat made up for when they do two episodes a night for two or three weeks, but they purposely ditched the show during sweeps, a potential chance to gain viewers. Add to that, not only is there frequent hiatus' of new episodes, but the show isn't on the air, period. At least with the like of say, NBC, during a new episode hiatus, reruns of Law & Order will air (to my knowledge, anyways).

In short, to me, a hiatus isn't always a problem, it's the total lack of episodes in between, not counting the 'specials' or games or whatever, but just a total lack of reruns. That to me shows that there's a lack of interest within the studio, which translates badly to the target audience who are looking for the show they like, whether it's a new episode or a rerun.

 

[Starbreaker]

You don't keep shows that are performing poorly in sweeps month. That's when you use your popular shows and have big episodes and stunt casting.