Question for UK members

Lerxst

Lerxst

Well-known member
MBTI
INFJ
And possibly Canadian and Australian...

Can you please explain to me how British television programming works regarding their "seasons"? I'm used to a season airing one shower per week/day for a set number of months over a year, rinse repeat for the next year.

I've been watching a lot of newer UK programming and just can't seem to get the hang of it when they say "season 3 now available" and all I see are something like 5 episodes listed, versus the 12 from the year before that and the 4 from the year before that.

A couple shows come to mind - Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, has something like 4 episodes per season. Sherlock - 2 episodes per season or so. Air Crash Investigations - 6-12 episodes per season.

They just seem to produce a random number per year and make people deal with it... :der:
 
It's not much different than America where some series can have 24 episodes per season, some 15 and others 12.

There's very solid reasoning going behind such decision both in the UK and America. For example, Sherlock has three episodes per year because they each last ninety minutes long and so take more time and money to make. Gordon Ramsay hosts numerous other shows and so can only devote a certain amount of time to each.

There's also the fact that the budgets for shows in America are often much bigger and so more episodes can be made.
 
Thanks. I guess that's one explanation. TV used to be pretty straight forward. The old 80's and 90's sitcoms, for instance, would air 22 episodes per season. A lot of standard networks still do stick to a regular schedule, but I have noticed the cable-networks like USA, TNT, SyFi, etc all seem to jumble their shows a bit. Then there are the premium networks and those are just completely arbitrary, but still regular, like Dexter - 12 episodes.

My biggest frustration with the UK programming are the sporadic, mini-seasons they seem to have. Like you mentioned, Sherlock has 3 episodes. 3. T H R E E. And then wait 2 years of the next three. Seriously, WTF?! It's a great show and I love the story, but waiting two years for a measly 3 episodes? By the time season 2 came out, I forgot what the hell happened, or who the secondary characters were in season 1.

The other one, Air Crash Investigations - Number of episodes per season goes something like 6, 6, 13, 10, 9, .....?!?! Just trying to figure out when I'm going to be able to watch the next episode is stroke-inducing!
 
I don't know about general TV shows like Gordon Ramsey but over here for comedy drama and sitcoms there tends to be six episodes in a series with one episode shown a week.
 
I clicked on this because I thought this thread would be something along the lines of why British humor was so wonky......

I don't even watch American television.....screw British....

However, I did like upstairs/downstairs.
 
[MENTION=1]Deathjam[/MENTION]
won·ky

ADJECTIVE,
ADVERB
[TABLE="class: Inf"]
[TR]
[TD="class: InfEntry"]won·ki·er
[/TD]
[TD="class: InfPron"][/TD]
[TD="class: InfType"]comparative
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: InfEntry"]won·ki·est
[/TD]
[TD="class: InfPron"][/TD]
[TD="class: InfType"]superlative
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]


1.
U.K. unreliable in use: not to be relied on to be steady or secure or to function correctly ( informal )


[ Early 20th century. Origin ? ]
won·ki·ly ADVERB
won·ki·ness NOUN


potato, potato....but did you at least recognize my use of British slang/speak?????
Semantics are fine, but recognize my brillance.....lol ;)
 
HeartLess said:
@Deathjam

potato, potato....but did you at least recognize my use of British slang/speak?????
Semantics are fine, but recognize my brillance.....lol ;)
Click to expand...

face to face or spoke form, yes it could maybe work, with a subtle pause or change in facial expression, however in written form things become more complicated, you have to emphasise the humour, but without over emphasising it. Mostly people who don't understand/Americans will end it with "only joking" which is just bad and totally spoils everything.
 
Deathjam said:
face to face or spoke form, yes it could maybe work, with a subtle pause or change in facial expression, however in written form things become more complicated, you have to emphasise the humour, but without over emphasising it. Mostly people who don't understand/Americans will end it with "only joking" which is just bad and totally spoils everything.
Click to expand...

Hum, it would just be better to tell me I'm brilliant or I may have to bother...... ;) I'm feeling the need for a Jammie Hug.....
 
UK programming are usually either 6 or 12 episodes per season. Sherlock was 3 episodes as it was a mini-series.
 
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