Why are seasons only six or seven episodes long? The dates they aired seems continuous, meaning season two begins a week
-
Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Law & Order: UK
Hackntosh — 11 years ago(September 28, 2014 05:42 AM)
Why are seasons only six or seven episodes long? The dates they aired seems continuous, meaning season two begins a week after season one ends. Is this a UK-BBC thing? In the US, we have 22 episodes, or for some networks and streaming venues, 13 shows (per year).
-
Helena727 — 10 years ago(April 08, 2015 07:18 PM)
In the UK, a season is typically fewer than 10 eps, even with a half-hour show (look at the ep listings and air dates for "As Time Goes By" and "The Vicar of Dibley," both of which were popular shows but which aired, by US standards, erratically for example, sometimes more than a full calendar year passed between consecutive seasons).
My guess is that the UK implemented shorter seasons because more actors there do live theater there's much more live theater in the UK than in the US and therefore needed to commit for shorter periods of time. As US series became more and more available (popular) in the UK, demand increased for the American model (20-ish eps per 12-month period) and thus some programs began presenting multiple "seasons" per year but contractually speaking, a season is still 6-7 eps and a calendar year might feature only one season, which enables actors to blend TV, film, and stage work. (Notice that more than a year elapsed between the end of S7 and start of S8, whereas S4 thru S6 were broadcast within the same calendar year.)
"All you need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right kind of people."