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Youth thoughts on long breaks betweens seasons, inconsistent scheduling of seasons AND shows during a given season....
I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about shows that go a years or more between seasons, or even 8-10 months.
In years gone by of course there was ONE season with two parts Sept-Dec. ...then Jan to May in the '60s-90's that was ONE season. Then somehow... that was split into two shorter seasons (usually 13 weeks). Then cable came along and started NEW shows in the summer, and shows started having just 8-episode runs and calling that -- a season.
The Sopranos was the first show that I remember that had about a YEAR between seasons. I don't think a show had ever gone away or on "hiatus' for THAT long, and come back. But apparently it proved if a show is good viewers WILL be waiting for it, and still be there when it comes back.
I was NOT a Sopranos viewer, so my questions are:
-- when it DID come back was is as hot and popular as before that long break? (Mad Men and Sex in the city also had long hiatuses). Does that affect a shows momentum?
-- do you think only the best more well-written shows can get away with being gone for so long and come back -- and succeed?
-- what do you think of shows with super short seasons? Some British shows I watch have the 'short season' structure.....some times just FOUR shows. To me, I wouldn't even call that a season. It's just a special run of four episodes. And cable shows can have short seasons as well.
-- Do you MISS the days of the 26 season show? I DO! I loved that a show loved was on from September to May, straight though. None of this take a break for holidays from damn near Thanksgiving to January. I want MORE episodes.
-- Do you think it's cost, or the structure of cable, and the changing competition landscape that has most affected the changes we see in TV seasons.
AND of course you have the inconsistent scheduling...Good Wife can be gone for 2-3 weeks in row. Or American Family can air every other week, during a given month. And your like, WTH? Shows these days take a break for sports events, they take a break for awards shows, they take a break for the holidays....
I don't mind if they take a break for the last couple of weeks of December for Christmas stuff like It's a Wonderful Life and Charlie Brown Christmas, and for the Olympics, but other than that I want a new show every week in the same time slot it started the season out in.
They've been paring down for so long I had forgotten there used to be 26 shows till I borrowed Northern Exposure from the library and there were 24 or 26 shows on the first set. I had to send a different DVD back without watching because I had miscalculated how long it would take to watch an older show with the full allotment of epis.
I guess the way the public is watching TV is changing, and I'm behind the times. I want to watch live, not record. And I like appointment TV - if it's X time on X night you know I'll be home watching this particular show. It's just more fun for me that way.
Wow. So Glad I'm not alone. I want a consistent season, and consistent scheduling.
I want to know that darn it -- when I tune in on a given week night "Mod Squad," or "Marcus Welby" or "Cannon" or Rockford Files" or "Dynasty" or "Dallas" or "The Rookies" or "Starsky and Hutch" or "Baretta" " or "Mission Impossible" -- or "Carol Burnett" -- or the ED SULLIVAN SHOW..... will BE THERE.
Now how old am I? Please DO NOT guess
TOTALLY OFF TOPIC: But anyone remember the "Cinderella" TV special starring Leslie Ann Warren and Stuart Damon, Walter Pidgeon, Pat Caroll, Celeste Holm, Jo Van Fleet, and Ginger Rodgers?
I don't mind if they take a break for the last couple of weeks of December for Christmas stuff like It's a Wonderful Life and Charlie Brown Christmas, and for the Olympics, but other than that I want a new show every week in the same time slot it started the season out in.
They've been paring down for so long I had forgotten there used to be 26 shows till I borrowed Northern Exposure from the library and there were 24 or 26 shows on the first set. I had to send a different DVD back without watching because I had miscalculated how long it would take to watch an older show with the full allotment of epis.
I guess the way the public is watching TV is changing, and I'm behind the times. I want to watch live, not record. And I like appointment TV - if it's X time on X night you know I'll be home watching this particular show. It's just more fun for me that way.
Wow. So Glad I'm not alone. I want a consistent season, and consistent scheduling.
I want to know that darn it -- when I tune in on a given week night "Mod Squad," or "Marcus Welby" or "Cannon" or Rockford Files" or "Dynasty" or "Dallas" or "The Rookies" or "Starsky and Hutch" or "Baretta" " or "Mission Impossible" -- or "Carol Burnett" -- or the ED SULLIVAN SHOW..... will BE THERE.
Now how old am I? Please DO NOT guess
TOTALLY OFF TOPIC: But anyone remember the "Cinderella" TV special starring Leslie Ann Warren and Stuart Damon, Walter Pidgeon, Pat Caroll, Celeste Holm, Jo Van Fleet, and Ginger Rodgers?
One of my all-time favorites. I own it on DVD.
Personally, I prefer the shorter seasons. There are so many things on that I want to watch, I'd rather not be tied to a series for 22-26 episodes though I do make exceptions for shows I really like.
Too many of the middle episodes are just filler and I often find myself losing interest mid-way through a season.
I watch a lot of British television and find that the storytelling is generally stronger with the shorter seasons.
And, I'd rather be left wanting more than be bored.
I rarely watch anything live, aside from professional tennis, so my DVR takes care of scheduling inconsistencies and sabbatical returns.
Basically, I make my own TV schedule and that's how I like it.
Yes, I certainly DO miss the Sept-May season of television. I miss being able to tell what day of the week by what I watched the night before.
You still have that. The annual network tv season runs Sept-May. What people forget is that is 8-9 months of tv or 32-36 weeks. When you have a 24-26episode season that means you are going to have 8-10 weeks of non-programming.
I think we also get confused with cable shows that typically run 13 episodes per season which means you have 39 weeks of non-episodes. To the OP's point the Sopranos were one of those. Granted the Sopranos took a ridiculously long hiatus that isnt the norm.
Sure, I'd like more episodes and a REAL season for the shows I really like! Now there's pretty much half a season scattered here and there! Some shows don't start until late October, then there's a small number of shows before they go on hiatus for 2 or months. I'd like to see a dependable schedule of episodes for the fall-winter half and one also later for the winter-spring season. Nowadays you watch an episode and you don't even know if it'll be back in 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, or longer. And it's common for a new season to begin and you've forgotten what was going on during the past season because there's often no re-runs and it's been 5 or 6 months since the season finale. I've quit watching certain shows because I just lost interest and couldn't get back into it! But the economic reality of TV now is that they can't or won't go back to the dependable and consistent 26 episode season or even anywhere near that! So...if you want an episode every week, you'd have to tape the whole (short) season and then watch it every week until done.
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