Which is better? A TV show that's half-hour long with not so many things being packed in one episode? Or a hour-long TV show that gives you more room for character and plot stuff?
TV: Half-Hour Long vs. Hour Long
- Thread starter Joe Washington
- Start date
In American primetime TV, for a long time the standard has been that comedies are half-hour length while dramas are hour length. True, there are more hourlong comedy-ish programs these days, but half-hour dramas are rare outside of animated programs aimed at younger viewers.
And there's a reason for the division, because comedy tends to work better in a concise, fast-paced form, while drama generally needs more room to develop a story and characters.
So it's really a bit of an apples-and-oranges question. You'd be unlikely to get a single type of show that was a candidate for both lengths.
And there's a reason for the division, because comedy tends to work better in a concise, fast-paced form, while drama generally needs more room to develop a story and characters.
So it's really a bit of an apples-and-oranges question. You'd be unlikely to get a single type of show that was a candidate for both lengths.
I like the hour-long format for comedies with enough substance that they merit that length: Chuck for instance. Entourage could easily switch to the hour format - just merge the content of two episodes into one. I watch the show on DVD so I usually watch two at a time, and it just seems like one hourlong episode anyway.
Hour long sit-coms annoy me because the schtick could get old as the plot gets spread out. I'll watch several half-hours in a row, but that's because the change of plot gives it a bit of diversity.
Half-hour dramas, on the other hand, seem to be a waste of time, although Doctor Who somehow made it work.
Half-hour dramas, on the other hand, seem to be a waste of time, although Doctor Who somehow made it work.
As with everything, it depends on the concept and the writing. Doctor Who got along fine on 25-minute episodes for 26 years (albeit it was a serial so each actual storyline involved anywhere from 2 to 14 such episodes). But there have been other half-hour shows in the past that have used the length quite well. The first season of Danger Man (aka Secret Agent), the original Dragnet, the original Twilight Zone, Honey West, Adam-12, the school drama Room 222 -- all of these shows could have gone to an hour but remained at 30 minutes and managed to get a lot accomplished and deliver some great stories. In fact Twilight Zone did so well as a 30-minute show that when the network ordered it to be expanded to 60 minutes it failed so badly that CBS had to pull a Leno and reverse the decision.
Of course, we're talking of back in the days when a half hour show actually delivered about 25 minutes of storytelling time. These days you're lucky to get 20 minutes, which is why a show like Entourage can get away with things in a cable format, but on mainstream commercial TV only sitcoms are able to use the form now. Which is a shame, because I'd love to see a kick-ass detective show or spy show come along (a serious one, not a comedy) that fills up a half-hour time slot.
Alex
Of course, we're talking of back in the days when a half hour show actually delivered about 25 minutes of storytelling time. These days you're lucky to get 20 minutes, which is why a show like Entourage can get away with things in a cable format, but on mainstream commercial TV only sitcoms are able to use the form now. Which is a shame, because I'd love to see a kick-ass detective show or spy show come along (a serious one, not a comedy) that fills up a half-hour time slot.
Alex
