What the heck is the thinking of cable network execs regarding the scheduling of their own shows? Men of a Certain Age is a favorite, and after many months, just returned for a second season. I got into it, was loving it, and then the other night, I learn I’m watching the last show of the “season.” I couldn’t find info on TNT’s web site, but Wikipedia reports that TNT aired the second season in “two batches of six episodes each.” I think that means I just watched the first “batch” and there are six more to come, but I’m not sure. Why do the cable channels make their schedules so freakin’ confusing? Warehouse 13 is another favorite of mine and I think it’s been a year since the last “season.” We liked it so much that we’re staying with it. On the other hand, I watched the first season of Rizzoli and Isles; didn’t love it but I like to give new shows a chance and was planning to keep watching. Well, it’s been at least six months, maybe more, and I no longer care, so I’ve deleted it from my DVR timers and TNT has lost a viewer for that show. How do the cable networks expect to keep and gain viewers when they don’t air on a regular or predictable basis?
I have no idea why TNT made the decision but what you just watched was the end (that is the second batch of six episodes) of Season 2. The first half of the season was what you watched in January.
Well, a lot of the times they’re scheduling to avoid network shows. For example, Warehouse 13 has had a pretty standard schedule. It’s run July to September every year (excluding that Christmas episode). Others split them up between Winter and Summer, still avoiding when Network shows are new. It just feels like they’re so short and so far apart because network shows can get 20+ episodes in.
Also some shows on cable networks have seasons of only 12-13 episodes, while other shows do 22-24 episodes split into 2 half-seasons. So if a season is 13 episodes, there will be a long stretch between seasons. They do try to counter program the networks by showing during re-run season, which networks are countering by showing new shows (such as So You Think You Can Dance).
I was listening to KCRW’s ‘The Business’ podcast and they mentioned that ‘Men of a Certain Age’ was originally aired against football (I think) and they felt the ratings suffered.
They decided to air the second half of the episodes once the football season was over.
So their scheduling is done primarily to avoid competition? Maybe that’s smart thinking in the world of entertainment. All I know is it’s very frustrating to get engrossed in a show and to care about the characters only to have it disappear and leave you hanging after just a few episodes. It sux big time in MHO.
I want to point out that all of these show end up with much better critical exclaim then the standard network shows.
I think the fact that the run shorter seasons with a longer hiatus is the reason these shows are so much better. I would not be surprised that to find out that the basic cable show take longer to film. I bet the extra time allows for better acting, and shorter season means only the best stuff the writers came up with makes it to the script.
Understandably so, but, as has been noted, many cable series have “seasons” which are only a dozen or so episodes long. Thus, the cable network has two options:
a) run an entire season’s worth of episodes in one “chunk”…which leaves the viewer with potentially 9 months or so before the next season’s new episodes
b) break up the season into two (or more) smaller “chunks”. This has the advantage of not leaving such a long hiatus between new episodes, but it has the disadvantage of only giving you 6 weeks or so of new episodes before the next hiatus.
Listening to some of the commentaries, I think the short seasons are more tied in with funding than any other reason. Bryan Cranston often mentioned how Breaking Bad has a smaller budget and pays much less than Malcolm in the Middle. Writers will write (not that it always turns out good) as long as they are getting paid. Also, judging from the commentaries, they generally do not take any longer to shoot (again, longer shoots equal bigger budget). However, there seems to be less ‘network’ overhead in the scripts and editing.
No, no they don’t.
Some do. Some of the shows with 6-13 episode seasons get raves from critics. Some of them are utter dreck.