Rival11

I just somewhat started getting back into television and one of my fav new shows to watch (even though it's been out forever) is the Supernatural but so far back in December there was a huge delay to mid January before the next episode for the season started and the same thing is happening now...it's been like two or three weeks --> I can understand the first break somewhat due to the holidays but what is the reason for this most recent break?

CharlieK

There are about 36 weeks between September and May, and shows usually produce about 22-24 episodes. That leaves up to 12 weeks without new eps. There are the holidays like you said, and also Sweeps periods like February and May where the TV industry puts on new episodes to drive ratings to increase what they charge for advertising time. So programmers save there best stuff for the sweeps, and scatter the other new episodes throughout those 36 weeks where it makes sense.

Spring is starting, so a lot of people are starting to enjoy the outdoors and may not be in to watch TV. It's also stays lighter outside later into the evening, so that's a factor as well with tv viewing not being so high. Programmers know historically when TV is watched the most and they schedule new eps then.

rfduncan

That is pretty much the best, most thorough answer you're ever going to find. Someone can close the thread now.

Rival11

Ha - for sure...thanks Charlie.

I wouldn't say close it.....make it a damn sticky.

SteveA

CharlieK, that's a good explanation of why the networks do what they do. I wonder, though, if spring is such a down time, why not start in the fall and just blast through all the episodes with just short holiday breaks? I think having more and longer breaks is a balancing act. You don't want to have too long a break between seasons, or viewers will forget about you. But if your in-season hiatus is too long, they'll forget about you anyway.

I'd like the networks to try a multiple-shows-in-one-timeslot approach again, similar to what NBC did long ago with 4-in-One (with McCloud and Night Gallery, etc). Have two shows, each airing every other week instead of every week. You could have new episodes all season long, and still maintain a regular format. I'm sure there's lots of things wrong with this idea too (like matching a hit with a dud), but I think a long hiatus can ruin a hit show's momentum.

CharlieK

I think a lot of it is just tradition from when there were only 3 networks and summer viewership plummeted. It's hard to break tradition, but we're starting to see all nets take chances with how they program their shows. These days cable nets, like TNT, have had a lot of success premiering shows in the summer when broadcast shows are on hiatus so I think that paradigm is changing. Broadcast has also followed suit by launching 'summer series'.

Also, to your point, shows like 24 and Lost also did well premiering in January with very few, if any, breaks until May. With shows like that going straight through I'm sure has helped.

Also, we're probably an anomaly on this board, but the average person only watches a handful of episodes a season. I think the nets are happy airing the shows when they do and promoting the hell out of new episodes.

Rex Fenestrarum

Also, the whole "sweeps" paradigm is incredibly outdated. As I understand it, Neilsen used to hire people to go door-to-door and take surveys of what people watched. They'd start in the northeast (Boston?) and "sweep" across the country, hence the name. They'd do this a couple of times a year, thus 'sweep season".

With all the tech out there to capture data these days, having "sweeps seasons" is pointless and outdated. but it's "tradition", right?

Red Dog

I never understood the whole 'sweeps' deal (although the above makes sense). They just seemingly picked 3 months (besides summer) arbitrarily.

It's one thing I find annoying about the push to move the NFL/Super Bowl back further into February to take advantage of it being a sweeps month....it's not like more people are going to watch the NFL/SB in a sweeps month (Feb.) than non-sweeps month (Jan.).

belboz

Yes, the SB would draw just as many viewers in Jan as it would in Feb. The point for the network though is that having all those eyeballs in early Feb helps them promote their other programming during that all important month. Many of the commercials on during the SB are for other shows on the network. And they always use the slot right after the game to launch a promising mid-season replacement show or highlight a special episode of an existing show.