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10/24/2011 05:30:16 PM · #1 |
We get quite a few US TV shows here in the UK. Why do they take a couple so weeks off this time of year? What drives that?
Just curious. |
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10/24/2011 07:44:33 PM · #2 |
Originally posted by paulbtlw:
We get quite a few US TV shows here in the UK. Why do they take a couple so weeks off this time of year? What drives that?
Just curious. |
It's pretty silly. The networks figured out that they could take shows off the air for the winter and not have to produce 26 episodes. This started about the time of the last writer's strike.
Supposedly, it makes you look forward to the show coming back on the air, but for me, it kills any momentum and excitement I might have for a show. If it wasn't for TiVo, I'd probably forget that the show was coming back on.
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10/24/2011 08:08:30 PM · #3 |
Interesting. I watch so little tv, that I wasn't even aware of that.
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10/24/2011 08:24:44 PM · #4 |
Usually the shows I like end up being cancelled. Lie To Me was such a fun show, but noooooooo it got dumped.
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10/24/2011 08:29:59 PM · #5 |
Probably money, but I agree with Dave.
It seems like it would backfire. I, like most who watch TV a tad too much, have a short attention span and probably forget more series than I remember by the time they finally come back on. That probably means they weren't really worth watching but when you give someone all that time to flick around and find something worthwhile, it's probably not good business.
The Walking Dead took a whole season off after their first season, on the other hand, and it definitely made the natives restless. |
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10/24/2011 08:32:02 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by monster-zero:
Usually the shows I like end up being cancelled. Lie To Me was such a fun show, but noooooooo it got dumped. |
Lie to Me got dumped!!! |
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10/24/2011 08:50:28 PM · #7 |
Well, there are a number of reasons. Most shows have two taping periods. They write and tape 13 episodes for the fall season and normally somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas they resume taping for the second part of the season. New shows never tape more than half a season since they don't know how well it will do in the ratings and networks aren't willing to spend the production costs on a show they may have to pull. As a result the first official season of a show can sometimes be considered the original 13 shows. It then goes off until the Fall where they then intend to record the full 26 episodes.
Also, in the US we have the World Series and play offs that will pre-empt normal programming on the networks carrying the games. We are in that phase right now.
Then of course we will have the usual round of holiday specials and programming between Thanksgiving and Xmas. A lot of classic shows will be shown as well as a multitude of new holiday shows. That also changes normal programming.
Some shows like "24" wouldn't even air until January because there was too many interruptions to the schedule so the producers always started it in January with the promise that it would be seen every week without interruption with the exception of a Presidential address.
I hope that clears that up a bit.
Dave |
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10/24/2011 08:53:40 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by monster-zero:
Usually the shows I like end up being cancelled. Lie To Me was such a fun show, but noooooooo it got dumped. |
I was mad that "Lie to Me" was cancelled. I enjoyed that show. I also loved to watch "Human Target" and "The Event" but they were also canned. Networks wonder why they have problems. People don't want to invest time in getting to like shows and their characters only to have them pulled because they got 1 million less viewers than the competition in their time slot. A lot of successful shows were pull simply because they didn't win their particular time slot...even though they did well overall in ratings. Idiotic.
Dave |
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10/24/2011 08:56:13 PM · #9 |
There are a crazy number of factors that play into things like this. Not the least of which are "sweeps" in November and May, where the ratings logged in those time frames directly drive advertising rates that are charged show by show, network by network. So you can usually expect to see new episodes, cliff hangers to "mid season finales" in November and finales in May, and lots of programming choices in those months.
Factor in the holidays, and the lower overall viewership between Thanksgiving and New Years here, and it becomes a fairly natural hiatus: They push in November to maximize viewers, do some cliff hanger episodes, go on hiatus until January or February, and then rinse/repeat thru May.
October can cause some shows to be deferred a week or two. Fox is airing the World Series, so that pushes some shows out a week or two. Fringe skipped a week here for that reason.
Add another murkiness factor--the cable networks. They are tending to run their main series in the summer, when the broadcast networks are mostly showing repeats of the previous season. They pop up with winter and spring runs, and are increasingly willing to go directly up against the so-called "big networks" programming. Often, they are sister networks to the big networks. The landscape of television has certainly changed a couple orders of magnitude over the past decade.
Now, here is my question about British TV! Why are the seasons (series, I think they are called there) so short (sometimes 6 episodes) and then a long delay until the next? I don't know if it is still this bad, because I stopped watching BBCA for a slightly different problem: they used to show one 6 or 8 episode season 1, then wait a year to show the next season--here is the kicker: they did this for shows that were completely over with in the UK, sometimes for years, and ALL of the seasons/series episodes were done, finished and available, yet BBCA would air them as if they were in a current and very slow production cycle. I gave up watching Hex and Dr. Who on BBCA for that reason, and the DVDs of BBC shows are outrageously expensive here. |
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10/25/2011 06:10:14 AM · #10 |
Sorry, it is all about money. Just like everything else in the world. I wish it was different, but it is not. After more than 30 years of building TV facilities, everything that I did, for every year, was based upon meeting the sweep periods. TV is scheduled around the four annual main sweeps periods. For example, in 2012 they are scheduled for:
* February - 2/2-2/29
* May - 4/26-5/23
* July - 6/28-7/25
* November - 10/25-11/21
Broadcasters need three consecutive sweep periods in order to define their audience demographics and to then determine a rate for advertising. We call it selling "eyeballs". If they missed a sweep period by even a minute, than it is not used to calculate audience numbers and they needed to wait for the next TV season to begin the counts. Programs are produced in blocks based upon 13 episodes to accommodate the TV seasons that are wrapped around the four major sweep periods.
The Fall and Winter sweep periods tend to be the most important as the audience numbers are the highest (in North America). Often, shows are tested in the other two seasons to learn if they work or not. If they do well, they are picked up for longer cycles.
Other programming aberrations like elections and special event programs (Super Bowl in USA) are accommodated on an annual basis and these change every year.
It is all about money. If a TV show fails to draw the right audience size or demographic, then it is cancelled and replaced by one that will deliver the audience statistics needed. It should be noted that different parameters affect different countries, these comments are specific to the North American market. Also, audience numbers in Canada do not count for USA audiences.
It is becoming far more complicated these days, since measurements are now taken all year long with electronic devices in the homes, and multiple media windows and release formats (DVD, web, etc.) affect measurements too. But, the traditional sweep periods still anchor the TV seasons.
Message edited by author 2011-10-26 20:32:29.
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10/25/2011 06:24:13 AM · #11 |
This is all fascinating stuff - thanks so much.
I'd never considered the Superbowl and this seems to be the thing responsible for the small Fringe hiatus that started me thinking. I had noticed those other (bigger) gaps too so thanks for all of the explanations.
Cheers
Paul |
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10/25/2011 06:24:23 AM · #12 |
| I don't watch that much tv and I have to say most programmes I've been watching weekly that then have some stupid long break in the middle, I never come back. |
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10/25/2011 09:24:31 AM · #13 |
Originally posted by paulbtlw:
We get quite a few US TV shows here in the UK. Why do they take a couple so weeks off this time of year? What drives that?
Just curious. |
Good question... The same thing happens for us with BBC America. Grahm Norton, is delayed by a few weeks as well. I believe the others are also, but his is the only one that I watch regularly that refers to current events. |
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10/25/2011 09:29:07 AM · #14 |
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10/25/2011 09:34:24 AM · #15 |
It's interesting because I (when I have time) sometimes like to watch Top Gear on BBC and sometimes I see the original air date as far back as weeks prior but sometimes its only days...
Interesting... |
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