Frakin' USA ticks me off!

[sith_killer_99]

USA gets these kick arse shows like...

The Shield
The 4400

Then they jack viewers over by kicking out 11-13 shows per episode!! That's half a season at best!

Then they only have enough episodes to fill 3-4 months of programing, so these shows disappear for 8-9 months at a time!!!

Grrrr, USA ticks me off.

I can understand limited episodes for a new series, but after a show has proven itself, why limit the episodes. Cheap SOB's I hate them I hate them all, stupid executives.

The Shield is on like season 6 and still we only get a half season of new shows coming up.

The 4400 has proven itself and still we only get about a dozen new episodes!!!

[Darth Jax]

i may be wrong since i don't have cable, but isn't the shield on FX?

[sith_killer_99]

Ooops, you are correct. It's hard to remember, since it's been so long since it's been on!

Frakin' USA and FX tick me off!

[OC47150]

i may be wrong since i don't have cable, but isn't the shield on FX?

The Shield showed up in syndication this fall. It's airing on several different networks.

I haven't caught any eps, other than FX, but I'm curious to know how much has been edited.

[JediTricks]

USA does this with all their shows, they are cheap, the worst instances is waiting a year for new episodes of Monk, and last season of The Dead Zone was a year and a half after the previous and only 10 episodes long.

[Mad Slanted Powers]

I don't mind the short seasons. Usually they are on during the summer when everything else is reruns, so it gives me something to watch then. When they put them on at the same time as the network shows, I'm more likely to miss them.

A lot of shows I like get cancelled early on, which is made even more frustrating by the fact that they are often continued shows. So, not only do I not get to see the show anymore, I'm left with an incomplete story and wondering what might have happened. A think a lot of shows like this might have a better chance for success if they were shorter seasons where all the episodes were guaranteed to run.

Hasn't the BBC always done this sort of thing? Monty Python was three 13 episode seasons, and one 6 episode season. A college roommate had Red Dwarf episodes on tape and I think that at least the first season was only 6 episodes. Also, quality can sometimes be harder to maintain over the course of a 20+ episode season.

[JediTricks]

The BBC has a much smaller audience share and far fewer stations to air shows on, they did it with "Absolutely Fabulous" as well - ran 12 years, has only 36 episodes.

What kills me about USA is I can understand short runs for shows just starting out, but popular shows that survive several years should get longer runs and shouldn't be put on the back burner for so long - even fans of the show forget about it after a while.

[Mad Slanted Powers]

I think one important thing to remember is that despite cable being in a larger percentage of homes these days, there are still people that don't get those stations. Even those that do have cable on average watch the broadcast networks more. The ratings on cable shows can't match the main networks. Also, a lot of those cable networks are owned by or have some connection with the broadcast networks. Having a longer season means there will be overlap with the regular network season, so they probably don't want to pit their hot cable shows up against the broadcast shows where there seems to be so much more competition. When you see broadcast shows that get pulled off the air quickly or moved around trying to find an audience, having another show to compete against won't help.

More and more I am liking the cable strategy. Develop fewer shows on the air but aim for better quality. Show them more often to give people a chance to see them again if they missed them the first time. We are seeing that some with the broadcast networks as they often re-air pilots. Also, Saturday has become nothing but reruns.

[JediTricks]

Here's the thing though, Network is airing less new shows, and they have larger and larger gaps between new show airings - the fall season has started later and later while ending earlier in the following year, there should be more time for them to put on programming without worrying about network counterprogramming. Also, cable has a mastery of niching while networks still try to aim for the middle ground.

[Mad Slanted Powers]

Well, all I know is that I'm watching something every night but Saturday, so if one of my cable favorites came back now, that would make it harder to keep up. As it is, I have to record Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who on Friday. I think I may have missed some episodes of Monk and Dead Zone last year because I probably didn't realize they were on. There were some Monk reruns that I saw just before the season premiere that I hadn't seen before. That's one reason why I don't like to record stuff. I like having a break from TV, so I don't like using my usual non-TV time to catch up on tapes. So, I'll put it off and then not have room on my tape to record. Maybe I should upgrade my cable so that I can do the DVR thing