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Time between series...

T

TJGoSurf

Android Expert
Anyone know why the BBC allows so much time to pass between series? Doctor Who of course, Sherlock, and Top Gear. All highly viewed shows but no one ever knows when they come back.


Also if you enjoy Top Gear they claim the new episodes are uncut isn't true they still cut out things. PM me if you would like more details.
 
Xyro said:
Well, that only applies to the BBC rather than being UK wide. But yeah, that would be my guess too. They cannot run non-BBC adverts (in the UK), so the large majority of their revenue is not at the whim of how many people tune in each day.
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And distribution to the rest of us is limited and governed by the fact that the British taxpayers didn't vote for commercial enterprise as part of the model. Ok, however the proper way to say that. Anyway, that all had a big impact on the whole BBC America setup and still haunts us - no BBC iPlayer for us.
 
TJGoSurf said:
Anyone know why the BBC allows so much time to pass between series?
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Another reason is how long it takes to make them. A seven-episode "run" of Who will be in production for the best part of nine months. Similarly for Top Gear.... each individual "feature" probably takes a week to film, edit and prepare for broadcast, plus they're at the mercy of the industry as to availability of test cars etc.

Also if you enjoy Top Gear they claim the new episodes are uncut isn't true they still cut out things.
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I'm pretty sure some of the comments made by Mr Clarkson wouldn't be allowed on US tv! :D
 
Vicious circle - time to make is influenced by production resources. Production resources are a function of ad revenue here.

Look at the server farm just for South Park and that's only a cartoon.

The computational resources for special fx for Stargate (sorry, last I really checked, I know it's been a while) rivalled the annual budgets for small nations.

I don't even want to imagine what BSG entailed.

Same with car availability to some extent.

Anyway - good things taking more time seems to be apparent in the writing and story composition.

Things that production resources can't just wave away.

I'm ok with that.
 
Another point is probably just how much stuff the BBC does. Obviously there are the big shows that we've already mentioned, but there are lots of more niche TV and radio content that they produce that probably doesn't make it to the US. They have 59 radio stations, for example.

EarlyMon said:
Vicious circle - time to make is influenced by production resources. Production resources are a function of ad revenue here.

Look at the server farm just for South Park and that's only a cartoon.

The computational resources for special fx for Stargate (sorry, last I really checked, I know it's been a while) rivalled the annual budgets for small nations.

I don't even want to imagine what BSG entailed.

Same with car availability to some extent.

Anyway - good things taking more time seems to be apparent in the writing and story composition.

Things that production resources can't just wave away.

I'm ok with that.
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Please, have some sensitivity, man. You can't just go around mentioning stargate with no warning. Some of us still haven't moved on :(
 
TJGoSurf said:
Anyone know why the BBC allows so much time to pass between series? Doctor Who of course, Sherlock, and Top Gear. All highly viewed shows but no one ever knows when they come back.
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To add to what others have said, they started filming the next series of Who a couple of weeks ago. It's a very intensive process for the central cast and crew, and it will take many months to complete.

One thing that is different in the UK is that they generally complete the whole of a TV series before it airs - probably not practical with 24 episode US season, but it's the way we do it here. IMO it does have the advantage that because it's all wrapped before anything airs you don't have studios pushing to change plotlines of characters mid-series in response to viewing figures, and generally don't get shows pulled mid-series (though they can be shunted into quiet corners of the schedule if things really aren't working ;)).

Sherlock is however a special case: you should blame Hollywood, and especially Peter Jackson, for the delay between series 2 and 3!
 
Another thing worth noting is how prolonged American series are. I don't just mean that they're typically longer, rather that you so often have breaks and weeks off. Very rarely will a UK channel miss a week with a show, whereas my experience with american dramas is that they skip weeks with frustrating regularity. That has the counter effect of making series seem closer together.
 
TJGoSurf said:
Lies. I've seen Top Gear interrupted mid series due to snooker tournament on at the same time.
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Yeah, but compare that to lost season 2: 25 episodes, 37 week run time, for example. House season 6: 22 episodes, 36 week run.

That's equivalent to a week off after every other show. It seems to be the same story for all the big shows that run in the September to May block in America.
 
I'm sorry we have cool stuff like football to put on. Also those breaks are put in to maximize the audience to maximize ad revenue. A show taking time off isn't that big of a deal for me.
 
American TV - there's nothing on worth watching so they can take as long as they need to maximize revenue by fine tuning to the lowest common audience denominator.

That results in a lot of really bad programming and enough money in the game to really fund the worthwhile thing or two that comes along once in a while.

Which in turn goes downhill after the pilot or runs to cable to slow the decline.
 
TJGoSurf said:
I'm sorry we have cool stuff like football to put on. Also those breaks are put in to maximize the audience to maximize ad revenue. A show taking time off isn't that big of a deal for me.
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I understand that it happens for logical reasons, so whilst personally I do find it disruptive I don't mean to criticise the practise or those who prefer it. Still, just purely looking at the numbers, the same number of shows per year would be broadcast over shorter periods on the BBC. That, combined with the lower number of episodes per year of each show will likely explain why BBC shows seem so far apart.
 
I think the vast majority of broadcast American television is garbage. Another fake reality show? Another cop show? No thanks, I've seen plenty. Aside from local news I never watch NBC, ABC, or CBS. I do enjoy PBS, but that's very like the BBC. I always watch the cable channels because for me that's the only American television worth watching. Sometimes even that isn't worth watching, then I look at On Demand. It's not easy being somewhat intellectual in America, as anything meant for mass consumption is deliberately dumbed down to make it easy to digest.
 
True, but that's the case with most cable networks. A full day of Duck Dynasty? Thank you very much but no. Granted, I WILL watch a full day of some programs, but only once in awhile. Seems like its even worse for kids networks. Nick plays about seven hours of Spongebob a day, and Disney Jr. plays Jake and the Neverland Pirates ad nauseam.
 
One word...


"USA network"
(Ok, 2 words)

Very long between seasons, 10 to 12 episodes to a season so as to not water the shows down (as fast)

Suits (one of my current favorites)
Royal Pains
White Collar
Justified (other favorite, though it is on FX it follows same model)
 
NightAngel79 said:
One word...


"USA network"
(Ok, 2 words)

Very long between seasons, 10 to 12 episodes to a season so as to not water the shows down (as fast)

Suits (one of my current favorites)
Royal Pains
White Collar
Justified (other favorite, though it is on FX it follows same model)
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Or how about "Cable Television"

I can think of many many more....

Mad Men
Walking Dead
The Americans
Game of Thrones
Dexter
The League
American Horror Story

I believe even Duck Dynasty is similar but it just has a ton of old reruns (not that the others listed don't do that as well)...
 
agentc13 said:
Or how about "Cable Television"

I can think of many many more....

Mad Men
Walking Dead
The Americans
Game of Thrones
Dexter
The League
American Horror Story

I believe even Duck Dynasty is similar but it just has a ton of old reruns (not that the others listed don't do that as well)...
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Hbo, showtime, starz, etc are doing great things.

Obviously dexter, which I don't watch, and Game of thrones. Then you have Strike Back (just started watching), and Ray Donovan.

Black Sails just started and looks amazing.

I dig the shorter seasons and long breaks. Makes me value them more.

I mean, I love(d) ncis, ncis LA, but I simply cannot keep up with them. I have 8 episodes of each sitting on dvr.

Now I simply cannot miss Elementary or The Mentalist. With a few others thrown in there, like Blacklist and Once upon a Time.

The long breaks blow at times, and I wholeheartedly agree that networks need to revamp and rethink how things are done.
 
The BBC makes their seasons as long or short as needed to tell the story the writers want to tell. US (network) shows have to fill 24 episodes whether they really need that much time or not. Orphan Black was only ten episodes and season two doesn't start until April. Some of the seasons of Luther were only four episodes. Better than stretching them out just to make more money. At least there's some artistic integrity.
 
NightAngel79 said:
Hbo, showtime, starz, etc are doing great things.

Obviously dexter, which I don't watch, and Game of thrones. Then you have Strike Back (just started watching), and Ray Donovan.

Black Sails just started and looks amazing.

I dig the shorter seasons and long breaks. Makes me value them more.

I mean, I love(d) ncis, ncis LA, but I simply cannot keep up with them. I have 8 episodes of each sitting on dvr.

Now I simply cannot miss Elementary or The Mentalist. With a few others thrown in there, like Blacklist and Once upon a Time.

The long breaks blow at times, and I wholeheartedly agree that networks need to revamp and rethink how things are done.
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Gmash said:
The BBC makes their seasons as long or short as needed to tell the story the writers want to tell. US (network) shows have to fill 24 episodes whether they really need that much time or not. Orphan Black was only ten episodes and season two doesn't start until April. Some of the seasons of Luther were only four episodes. Better than stretching them out just to make more money. At least there's some artistic integrity.
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One of the nice things about some of the shows on the movie channels (HBO etc) is that they can add those channels when the shows are on and remove them when they are not airing.
 
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