Mahbigjohnson t1_j0ka8o8 wrote
Mainly because we don't have a million channels so we can't have one show hogging up all the time. As well as allocation of budgets, one show couldn't eat up a channel's budget. Soaps were the biggest return on investment so they'd get the bigger budgets. And British soaps were phenomenal from the 80s to the 2000s. Other factors include 1 show would only have one writer, not a team like in the states, but mainly it is just allocation of time slots on only 4 channels
revjor t1_j0kcmgw wrote
The old US 22-23 episode season was structured the way it was to revolve around the school year and a midseason break during the Holiday season. Then when Summer rolled around TV went into reruns.
Our tv schedule was designed to fit the exact amount of episodes to fill the schedule and have a full rerun minus holidays. All in order to maximize advertising potential.
22 episodes is entirely utilitarian.
jemull t1_j0lb89w wrote
The problem with having seasons this long with scripted dramas though is the plot often grinds to a halt because the writers have so many hours to fill.
JamesMercerIII t1_j0pzq0d wrote
Good example of this is the TV show Lost, which had the same hype and popularity around it as what is now considered a prestige show, but was on network TV (ABC) and had 20+ episodes per season. The quality of each episode varied highly, and the writers went to extraordinary lengths to keep the mysteries going throughout the season.
jemull t1_j0qenxs wrote
This was one of the shows that came to mind. Another one was Prison Break, where the first season became a frustrating "one step forward, two steps back" slog.
[deleted] t1_j0lf0qr wrote
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[deleted] t1_j0lydbd wrote
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revjor t1_j0m5rlo wrote
The opposite side of this is they save a ton of money only having to build sets for one show, cast one show, etc.
If your show was popular it saves the studio a ton of money in production costs.
Also, the Primetime, 22 episode, season long story arc wasn't a thing until way later down the line so it's effect on writing wasn't even considered since each episode you'd be doing was standalone.
abarrelofmankeys t1_j0lnxa4 wrote
This never made sense to me, hey, you know when more people have free time to watch tv? Yeah let’s have all the shows be in reruns then.
revjor t1_j0m1zes wrote
That's because they use that free time for other things in the Summer.
throwawaythrow0000 t1_j0mj99q wrote
Believe it or not summer was always the time when viewership was lower because people didn't stay home due to weather, school nights, etc. So it makes perfect sense.
ZandrickEllison t1_j0nx12l wrote
Back in the old old days (like I Love Lucy) shows did like 40 episodes a year. The answer as always is about money. US TV makes more with syndication which is why they wanted to go 100+ episodes.
revjor t1_j0o4kxs wrote
They did 39-40 in the earliest days of TV because that was a hold over from they scheduled radio shows.
It wasn’t til a bit after that when they started to dial in the best schedule for TV broadcasting.
ZandrickEllison t1_j0o4zd7 wrote
Yes but again it all had to do with money and advertising . The summer wasn’t big money so they took that off.
MT_Promises t1_j0m3vwk wrote
This isn't really true. From the 1970s to 1990s both Countries had 3 TV stations producing the bulk of the content. BBC, BBC2 and whatever ITV was in the UK and NBC, CBS and ABC in USA.
crucible t1_j0p3076 wrote
We had Channel 4 from 1982 in the UK, too.
stinky-boner t1_j0l0zet wrote
Has this changed at all with streaming?
MINKIN2 t1_j0lbx95 wrote
Yes, but for the worse. Now we get mini/split series with half the run length and a years break in between and up to 3 years for the next full series(season).
The season breaks are so long that the cast members & crew go get other roles in between runs, which delays further filming when the TV networks decide start production again.
Skavau t1_j0mokfi wrote
But we do have more TV shows than we did in the noughties
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