Why are British show seasons so small?

[SAWYER]

I started watching Luther and really liked it, then season 1 only had 6 episodes then the next two seasons were 4 each.

 

[Pocatello]

The British show I like is Doc Martin, it's like 5 episodes every 2 years.

 

[Thump553]

I don't know but I've noticed it is pretty universal for British shows. Maybe they are all edging for a slot on Masterpiece Theater?

 

[NoTine42]

Top Gear is like that, too.
Across the pond, Duck Dynasty has multiple, small seasons per calander year, too.


Its kinda nice, not being stuck with only getting new shoes during thè 3 "sweeps" months a year.

 

[singhh]

Sherlock Holmes is also like that, and same with my other favorite, Top Gear.

Sherlock is gone until 2016, it appears.

 

[momeNt]

It's not the size it's how you use it that counts.

 

[PottedMeat]

i think 10-12 episodes to tell a story is a sweet spot

generating 20+ episodes with the sole goal of getting renewed is insane

 

[cronos]

Sherlock Holmes is also like that, and same with my other favorite, Top Gear.

Sherlock is gone until 2016, it appears.

i think 10-12 episodes to tell a story is a sweet spot

generating 20+ episodes with the sole goal of getting renewed is insane

I agree. 10-13 a-la HBO is the sweet spot. 22-24 as is the standard in the US for broadcast TV is excessive. Sherlock though is the other extreme at only three episodes per season and even with that it only airs every other year (although the episode is longer so it's more like three full movies instead of three TV series episodes).

 

[Imp]

You definitely start getting filler when you hit 20-ish episodes.

Thank goodness they don't do as many shitty clip shows anymore. One Stargate SG-1 episode is tattooed in my memory: it's two guys in a room and a bunch of clips for an hour... Must have really run out of money or something.

 

[Thebobo]

....Across the pond, Duck Dynasty has multiple, small seasons per calander year, too.

Wow we export that crap?

 

[feralkid]

Wow we export that crap?

At great planetary risk.

 

[squarecut1]

from the web:

American comedy is a producer’s medium, in which an idea is worked up, characters developed and early scripts written, and then the show is handed over to a larger group of writers to flesh out into actual scripts. British comedy is a writer’s medium. The scripts are almost always written and developed by one or two people, then taken to production. Graham Linehan, the writer of Father Ted and The IT Crowd, even directs his own scripts, which is a LOT of work. And once they’ve written six episodes, they need a rest.

 

[bearxor]

I'd rather have 6-12 quality episodes with top-notch new series coming on the air year round than the 20-24 episodes only during fall/winter with a lot of "filler" episodes.

 

[squarecut1]

It stands to reason why British series have generally higher quality than American ones. Because they are more personalized, done by one or two people, rather than by a whole group, which is much more commercial and hence a lot of filler scenes - GOT is a recent example.

 

[cronos]

It stands to reason why British series have generally higher quality than American ones. Because they are more personalized, done by one or two people, rather than by a whole group, which is much more commercial and hence a lot of filler scenes - GOT is a recent example.

What are you talking about. GoT is most definitely an American TV show.

 

[squarecut1]

Yes, that is why it has so many filler scenes and story lines - to drag it out for all those long number of episodes

 

[cronos]

Yes, that is why it has so many filler scenes and story lines - to drag it out for all those long number of episodes

But GoT only has 10 episodes in a season

 

[squarecut1]

That is a lot more than typical British TV series. One of the best things to have come on TV in the last few years, Sherlock, only has had 3 episodes per season. Those seasons have been two years apart too. Quality over quantity.

 

[manly]

austerity measures, they don't have a multi-trillion dollar federal debt like we do.

 

[Phoenix86]

That is a lot more than typical British TV series. One of the best things to have come on TV in the last few years, Sherlock, only has had 3 episodes per season. Those seasons have been two years apart too. Quality over quantity.

Yeah and sustenance over starvation. 22 is far too many, but 1.5 / year is nuts. You can crank our feature length films in that time. Good ones.

 

[techs]

In America people know a stinker episode didn't cost them anything. In Britain people get annoyed their money went to pay for a stinker episode.

It's a different mindset.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Also keep in mind that OTA television in UK is socialized. This means content creators deliver product to the government to buy (or not) and air. I'm guessing this also means a smaller risk of producing 6 hourly episode or 4 90 minute episodes vs. how we Yanks do it over here.

BTW, just finished watching Father Brown, DCI Banks, Death in Paradise, Top Gear, Foyle's War and Inspector Morse this week. Many others are watched, too, like Doc Martin, Midsomer Murders, Inspector Lewis, Endeavor, Spy, just to name a few more.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Dear God I forgot Dr. Who, Wallander, Case histories, Bletchley Circle, IT Crowd and others. LOL

 

[Blackjack200]

That is a lot more than typical British TV series. One of the best things to have come on TV in the last few years, Sherlock, only has had 3 episodes per season. Those seasons have been two years apart too. Quality over quantity.

It's funny Sherlock keeps coming up. I watched it and thought it was fantastic. Everyone I talk to about it (Americans) hated it.

/shrug

Yeah and sustenance over starvation. 22 is far too many, but 1.5 / year is nuts. You can crank our feature length films in that time. Good ones.

Sherlock episodes are like two hours each.

 

[PottedMeat]

It stands to reason why British series have generally higher quality than American ones. Because they are more personalized, done by one or two people, rather than by a whole group, which is much more commercial and hence a lot of filler scenes - GOT is a recent example.

...that's not really the best example.

GOT - written by 1 guy, adapted by 2 other guys who may hire a few other writers to adapt it to the screen, there's so much material a lot has to be cut out. the story is set, there's not really anything to 'create'. if anything GOT should be more than 10 episodes a season if HBO wanted to spend more $$$.