> -----Original Message----- > From: Wei Dai [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Why does TV have seasons? I know it's customary to propose possible > answers to questions posted here, but I'm really stumped. I > can't think of > any reason why television networks all premier their new shows in the > fall and play re-runs in the summer, instead of spreading out > the premiers > and re-runs more evenly throughout the year, or having > seasons that aren't > synchronized with each other. Why doesn't the fact that the > competition is > a lot weaker in the summer attract more premiers?
Every once in awhile, a topic comes up to which I can contribute to "empirically". I've asked my colleges at work, many of whom have worked in the television industry for many years, and here is the two consensus views: 1) Most television show plots are written by highschool students as part of detention. Once the school year ends, the supply dries up. 2) Summer finds "prime time" landing during daylight hours when many people are happily doing other things besides watching TV. The potential audience is smaller and therefore attracts fewer advertising dollars, which makes it riskier to spend a lot of money on a show that will premier during the summer months. The networks are deathly afraid of risk and would rather fade into oblivion than take one every once and awhile. Cheers, Michael Giesbrecht Internet Engineering Lucasfilm Ltd.
