Less TV Show Episodes in the 2013 – 2014 Season?

[Ro_Laren]

Is it just me or does it seem like a lot of TV shows have less episodes this year (during the 2013 – 2014 season)? I’m not talking about the shows that traditionally have less than 20 episodes, but those that normally have more than 20. For example, Grey’s Anatomy has 19 episodes this year, but 24 last year. NCIS has 20 episodes this year, but 24 last year. Hawaii Five-0 has 22 this year, but had 24 last year. Law & Order: SVU has 20 episodes this year, but 24 last year. My guess is that this is due to the Winter Olympics: lots of shows didn’t air new episodes during the Olympic Games ‘cause they were afraid they would get bad ratings. I did see that some shows had the same number of episodes as last year, but was surprised by the number of shows that had less.

 

[Melakon]

This is nothing new. TV shows during the '50s and '60s sometimes had more than 30 episodes in a season.

And commercials keep taking more and more away from actual program time.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

@Ro: SVU will have 22 episodes this season, which is pretty much normal for them.

 

[Marc]

This is nothing new. TV shows during the '50s and '60s sometimes had more than 30 episodes in a season.

And commercials keep taking more and more away from actual program time.

Pretty soon the programs will be so short that the ads will have a program break.

but I'm sure that the tv networks and production companies like that the normal run time for a 1hr program is around the 42min mark as opposed the 45 - 50 as in days gone by.

not only is that extra ad time, but it can reduce the production costs (recording to take up the extra 3 mins could cost a day in wages and that's before post production comes into play)

But when programs are episodic do we really miss it having 22 instead of 24 especially given that some episodes can be flashbach or bottleshows or worse - complete and utter shit to fill the quote.

Plus given all the interrputions rescheduling etc, unless once checks and episode quide who really kepts track.

Though I suspect the 2 weeks shorter is due to 2 week taken up by the winter olympics.

 

[clint g]

I sort of prefer the shorter seasons. It allows them to cut out the bullshit and trim the fat so to speak.

 

[Starbreaker]

Yeah. Winter Olympics were a big part of that. There was almost nothing going on network television during that time.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I think this trend is because the internet has made it possible for people to watch any episode of any show whenever they want. The biggest reason to put more episodes in a season is that a bulk of the profit from a show was made from ad revenue from people tuning into the original broadcast. Now a much greater amount of the profits come from streaming licensing, DVD sales, and other sorts of trailing revenue, so the incentive is to put forth the fewest amount of episodes that will still make people want to watch the show.

 

[bigdaddy]

Scandal is only getting 18 episodes, but that's because she is pregnant. So there are many issues with why TV shows have less episodes.

Shows are also aging, so as they age they cost more and more and the networks don't want as many episodes.

Syndication is still a rather big deal, but I think the networks are realizing having 50-70 episodes is still just as great as 88-100.

 

[Ro_Laren]

@Ro: SVU will have 22 episodes this season, which is pretty much normal for them.

According to Wikipedia (if it's correct), the last time they had 22 episodes in a season was during the 2008 - 2009 season. Since then they've had 24 episodes in all but one season (in the 2011 - 2012 season they had 23 episodes).

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ The Wiki entry on SVU's season 15 links to several articles which say that SVU got a full 22-episode order.

Then again, episode 20 seems fairly badass:

Spoiler: SVU

that jackass William Lewis escapes from prison and heads for a final confrontation with Benson

So maybe they scaled it back a bit. We don't know yet.

 

[MacLeod]

Shorter seasons might also be down to costs, the longer the show goes on the higher the costs of the actors can become. So for example a show like NCIS which is in it's 11th season thay pay of the lead actors might be high. So by cutting it from 24 to say 20 episodes mean you only have to pay them for 20 episodes instead of 24.

 

[Starbreaker]

Is it just me or does it seem like a lot of TV shows have less episodes this year (during the 2013 – 2014 season)? I’m not talking about the shows that traditionally have less than 20 episodes, but those that normally have more than 20. For example, Grey’s Anatomy has 19 episodes this year, but 24 last year. NCIS has 20 episodes this year, but 24 last year. Hawaii Five-0 has 22 this year, but had 24 last year. Law & Order: SVU has 20 episodes this year, but 24 last year. My guess is that this is due to the Winter Olympics: lots of shows didn’t air new episodes during the Olympic Games ‘cause they were afraid they would get bad ratings. I did see that some shows had the same number of episodes as last year, but was surprised by the number of shows that had less.

Yo're mistaken about Grey's Anatomy. They have 24 episodes scheduled this year, just no press releases past the 19th episode.