# Why do TV series seem to have a different director for each episode?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-tv-series-seem-to-have-a-different-director-for-each-episode/819021>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 3, 2018, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-tv-series-seem-to-have-a-different-director-for-each-episode/819021 "2018-08-03T06:36:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2018, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-tv-series-seem-to-have-a-different-director-for-each-episode/819021/21 "2018-08-03T23:17:35Z")

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> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> The short answer to your question is: Production is week to week and they need directors prepping forthcoming episodes while the current one is being made.
> 
> This has really become the case since X-files, which more or less made a 40 minute movie 20+ times per year. Their directors were a huge part of this.

At the other end of the spectrum are shows like _ **Three’s Company** _, which varied so little in content and style that my cat could have directed it!

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**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-tv-series-seem-to-have-a-different-director-for-each-episode/819021/22 "2018-08-04T00:51:12Z")

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Schedule -  
Even in multi-cam shows, it is quite difficult (often to the point of being infeasible) for a traditional US network tv show (which tends to produce 1 show/week) to have someone direct back-to-back shows. It’s just simply that most hour-long shows take longer than a week to direct.

For some of the newer, short season shows (or streaming shows) with a different filming and production schedule, things are often different.

I used to read [http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/](http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/) - who would talk about the writing & directing process for tv shows including the production and shooting schedules. Directing a TV show is different than directing a movie - but it isn’t the nothing that some of the above posts seem to think.

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