May 25 2009
Heroes, Dollhouse, and Chuck: How Short Seasons Are Saving Sci-Fi TV.
LeAnn Tiede of the Omaha Sci-Fi Examiner argues that "[s]hortened seasons allow for lower production costs, greater freedom for actors to be involved in other projects, and most importantly a tight focus for the writers."
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gossi | May 25, 21:05 CET
@theonetruebix | May 25, 21:08 CET
Pointy | May 25, 21:12 CET
SoddingNancyTribe | May 25, 21:12 CET
And yes theirs options, but the initial commitment for 13 episodes is a nice way to make up for non blockbuster ratings.
I think the writer has a point of shorter seasons being the way to go with scifi shows. With the shorter seasons you wouldnt have as much filler and every episode can progress the plot and story.
*Edit*
Apperently its the way that the site displays their urls, i had the article loaded and copied the link direct.
[ edited by flamepulse on 2009-05-26 06:14 ]
flamepulse | May 25, 21:13 CET
gossi | May 25, 21:21 CET
shambleau | May 25, 21:42 CET
If you want to point at Lost and say "Look, 16 episodes good," fine. But that's the only logical portion of the article. Heroes... well even with a shorter season, I ain't holdin' my breath that it will improve. The way I look at it, we got 1 good season (despite being heavily cribbed from X-men and Watchmen), and Zachary Quinto. Time to move on.
SteppeMerc | May 25, 22:17 CET
XanMan | May 25, 22:19 CET
IMMORTAL | May 25, 23:27 CET
I think both Fringe and T:TSCC got their back 9 order in October. Don't know how usual that is.
wiesengrund | May 26, 01:12 CET
It's no coincidence that there are rave reviews for shows like Leverage, Dexter, Burn Notice, etc (all some of my favourites). They are ALL story and no padding due to the limited eps.
Bob D | May 26, 01:49 CET
daylight | May 26, 01:50 CET
That's what I thought about Battlestar. I loved the first season because it was so taut but there was a lot of deadwood in the later seasons.
Simon | May 26, 01:51 CET
(US) for a returning series except for the last 5 or so
years (could be more). Perhaps that's what the OP was
mistaking for a 13 episode season.
BTW does anyone know in England they can produce such
short runs and still make money? There simply has to be
something very different cost wise going on for this to
work out.
JDL | May 26, 02:24 CET
Hunted | May 26, 03:57 CET
gossi | May 26, 04:03 CET
Bob D | May 26, 05:49 CET
Bob D | May 26, 05:50 CET
Edit: Actually more like between two or three episodes. If one DH cost say $2.5m that's £1.5m and a DW would be £500k minimum and very likely quite a bit more.
[ edited by zz9 on 2009-05-26 15:02 ]
zz9 | May 26, 05:51 CET
Merlin, for example, is actually made by the same people who made Demons for ITV and Hex for Sky, and their costs would have been very similar.
zz9 | May 26, 05:53 CET
Vinity | May 26, 09:28 CET
Simon mentioned BSG, and its probably because I watched it all at once rather than having to wait a week, but I didn't mind some of the slightly off topic episodes, it fleshed out the universe more. Though I must say I did prefer the more focused episodes (favorite part of Season 2 is the whole Pegasus thing, and I prefered the earlier, suicide bomb filled episodes of season 3 to the more standalone ones), and I think that Terminator SCC 2nd season would have been helped out by being shorter... too many episodes went by without Cameron.
SteppeMerc | May 26, 10:25 CET
Seems kind of like a choice, or whether or not the series is meant to be self-contained and episodic.
ef | May 26, 11:50 CET
BBC must have much lower production values* and pay their actors,
writers, and crew a good deal less than the major US broadcast
networks. OK, but there is no apparent reason that would lead to
a short season unless perhaps it is because no one is willing to
do a longer season for the piddling compensation being offered.
That would imply that the BBC was a farm system for the
commercial networks. But at that point the analogy breaks down a
bit because in a farm system the successful minor league program
moves to the bigger arena and that does not appear to be what is
happening here. If the BBC is indeed a farm system then it is
one for talent as opposed to shows it seems to me.
*sets, special effects, stunts, location shoots, etc.
JDL | May 26, 14:38 CET
The main difference is speed. A US show makes a 40 min episode ever eight days. A series like Doctor Who take far longer and is made more like one long movie. The scripts for the entire season will be written before any filming is started and then shooting planned around recurring locations. So if a set appears in episodes 1,3,5 and 6 then they will all be shot together in one go.
A US show is written days before filming and they will shoot an entire episode before moving on to the next one. If that means rebuilding a set that appeared before (or re visiting a location) then so be it.
In the US if a show falls behind schedule they throw money at it or cut something. In the UK, because it won't air for months, they can just take longer to complete it.
A US director knows the episode he is working on must air in two weeks time (or whatever) while in the UK the air date isn't really set until after shooting finishes. We don't have "Seasons" here so a series can start more or less anytime.
And if you look at Doctor Who then yes, production values can be lower. Period drama tends to be done very well.
Writers and actors are paid less. TV Rates (PDF) are £170 (about $250) per minute minimum. (Though the BBC do give a nice advance on residuals)
And the complaint here is that the commercial networks cannot compete with the BBC, let alone out spend them!
See the BBC tariff's for costs. (But bear in mind the for the BBC, an "Hour" means and hour. Not 40 minutes!)
zz9 | May 26, 15:18 CET
Sure you will only sell the season for 30 bucks instead of 50, but your production cost of the dvd itself does not change to a point where it is any real differnce.
Honeslty i think for shorter season at a 30 doller price they will sell even more dvd sets. I know i will not buy a dvd unless its 30 dollers or less. Almost all my tv sets i have purchased scond hand or when bust buy had them on sale.
flamepulse | May 26, 23:10 CET
it take to make a six hour BBC series than here?
JDL | May 27, 01:49 CET
This is why the great Blink was made, they couldn't spare David Tennant for more than a few cameos, and the same with Love & Monsters in S2.
zz9 | May 27, 04:33 CET