TV seasons getting shorter and shorter?

11 years ago

I remember when tv shows would last into May and they would have the May Sweeps, where all of the shows would have cliff-hangers to draw the most viewers.

I see How to Get Away with Murder, Blacklist and State of Affairs advertising that next week is the season finale. Geesh, they were all off over the Christmas season and just started back in Feb. Now they're done for the season before March?

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blfenton

11 years ago

But now there are two tv seasons - one in the summer as well. I remember being able to watch the reruns in the summer of those shows that you couldn't watch in the winter. Now I have to PVR them but still don't have time to watch them because I'm trying to watch the new shows.

And a bunch of new shows start the first week of March - Secrets and Lies, Battle Creek, CSI: Cyber and American Crime. I'll check them all out and see what happens.

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Comments (12)

prairie_rose
11 years ago
Way easier to just concentrate on sports......CFL July 1 to end of Nov. NFL Sept to first of Feb. NHL October to god only knows when. Nice, easy, no surprises in scheduling. LOL
chessey35
11 years ago
That's why we have so many reality shows on - they're a lot cheaper than good ones
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Lindsey_CA
11 years ago
Yeah, it used to be that a "season" would start in September, end in May, and have 23 or 24 episodes. We were used to not having new episodes around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's (most folks have other things to do). Now, for many shows the season doesn't begin until October, there's a long break November-January, then the season is over in March.

Thankfully, however, many of the networks now have a "season" over the summer, so we're not stuck with just reruns.

The upside, IMHO, to having short seasons is that we're not tied to the tv as much. There's time for other things in life...
sheilajoyce_gw
11 years ago
There are more seasons now along with shorter seasons--fall, spring, summer. The problem I have is that there is such a long time between such short seasons that I forget who and what is happening. I don't watch reality shows. I do enjoy PBS shows more and more.
dbarron
11 years ago
I noticed some shows (like the Librarians) are now six to eight episodes per season....disgusting.
PRO
beesneeds
11 years ago
Remember several years ago when there was a huge writers strike?

I'm pretty sure that's when the broken up and short seasons started. Used to be fall to spring with maybe a Christmas break.. then after the writers strike there was short seasons, or fall season/spring season, and whathaveyou. And a handful of summer seasons when that used to be all the reruns because folks were out enjoying the summer and writers could take a break before fall season started again.

Though the Librarians mention made me think of Falling Skies.. So they come out with it in 2011, have a season, then were like, yep, see you in a year from now! Like huh? You only had 8 or so episodes, I'm supposed to remember to start watching your show again a year from now?
Jasdip
Original Author
11 years ago
I definitely remember the writers strike; that's how reality shows were introduced.

Like Librarians (have never heard of that one), Last Tango in Halifax is only 6 seasons. Wow that's short.

BLF, we saw the preview for Battle Creek on the weekend, it caught our interest. Haven't seen the others you mentioned but I'll be sure to check them out as well. Secrets & Lies sure sounds good by the title!
blfenton
11 years ago
How did I miss the preview for Battle Creek. Shoot.

The Librarians was just supposed to be a one off short run. But it did quite well ( think Broadchurch which was also supposed to be just a single one off short run but they brought it back). The Librarians may or may not be back.
PKponder TX Z7B
11 years ago
I really hope that The Librarians comes back. It was really good!
Fun2BHere
11 years ago
Not only are the seasons shorter and more fragmented, there are fewer minutes of actual show time per episode.

I find it really difficult to remember what was happening on a show that I last saw months ago. I'm very close to dropping cable and instead, watching shows digitally once their season is complete.
Tally
11 years ago
It all depends on how many episodes the networks order, especially for new shows. Some get an initial order of 9 or 12. Then they go on hiatus and wait to find out if the network will buy a back order to a full 22. So many shows may have an "ending" sort of at the half way mark, because they don't know if they'll get picked up for a back order.

Also the cable networks are changing the dynamics of the traditional network season windows. Many of them air on much different cycles - some start in spring, some start in summer. Many are only for 10 episodes.