Mid series break on American programmes

[Narkalui]

I hate these. Why do they exist? Why can't they just show the whole lot in one go?

I lost out on the second half of Flash Forward and series 1 of Arrow and now Flash and Gotham too because of this intensely exasperatingly irritating foreign custom!

 

[thaddeus6th]

I believe it's because the series are so long they don't have time to film them all without a long break.

It irks me as well, although I (fortunately) caught the start of Gotham's second half, and Supermodels of SHIELD likewise. [I keep missing The Walking Dead's start on 5*, which is probably because that's not a channel to which I generally pay much attention].

 

[Narkalui]

Although it wouldn't really solve my problem, I would find it less annoying if they just called the second half 'series 2'.

 

[Juliana]

After a year and a half living in the US, I've figured out they take breaks at times when there are lots of school and university holidays; people traveling, viewer numbers down etc. So around Christmas, and then now in March/April when students have spring break (each state has different breaks). Knowing why it happens doesn't make it less annoying! I find I get out of the groove of watching a certain program, and then it comes back and just piles up in my DVR.

 

[Narkalui]

My DVR has decided to start auto deleting stuff after just a week which is why I missed the Gothams and Flashes after they restarted....

 

[thaddeus6th]

Not sure about Flash, but you may be able to catch up with Gotham using the Channel 5, er, catch-up services (I managed to do this for the first 4-6 episodes of The Walking Dead's fourth series).

 

[Narkalui]

No, Ch5 only keep one episode at a time and it is now too late

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

We didn't used to have mid-season breaks. I think it may have come about in part because the networks saw that British networks did well with such a limited number of episodes for a series, and adapted it to the longer seasons we have here. Of course they choose when and how long to put in the mid-season break for all sort of esoteric reasons known only to network heads, but on the principle, which they may have learned from abroad, that the majority of viewers could become invested in a show after comparatively few episodes. Although the full season was growing shorter and shorter anyway, for economic reasons one assumes. A whole season used to be 30 or more episodes without a break (except for maybe skipping a couple of episodes a season for holiday specials or the like).

 

[Narkalui]

30 episodes a series? Goodness me!

 

[The Bluestocking]

A whole season used to be 30 or more episodes without a break (except for maybe skipping a couple of episodes a season for holiday specials or the like).

Whoa! And I thought 22 - 24 episodes per season was already long!

 

[DinoNurse]

Thank God for tivo. With my shift patterns I'd have no chance to keep up