How come the shows produced by AMC have such short seasons, and then

[lunamagica]

they go on hiatus for a year?

Better Call Saul has only three episodes left this season. This kind of schedule drives me crazy! I love this show, and I want MORE!

[TDale313]

1. HBO and most BBC shows have similar schedules

Many of the Netflix series, too. The quality and production values are really good on many- maybe because of the shorter seasons.

[lunamagica]

7. But I don't know why they do this. I'd think is hard too keep an audience when

you have year-long hiatuses.

[mythology]

17. Money is part of it, these shows are generally fairly expensive

But also USA at least used to produce their shows to be available when network TV was in reruns and so had fewer weeks to air new episodes. I don't know if this is an off-shoot of that practice as they don't sync up as well counter to the network cycle.

But I think given the success of some of these shows, and the success of binge watching on Netflix shows that there is a different approach that can be successful. People don't watch TV the way they used to. I've got half seasons or more of shows on my dvr that I haven't had time to watch yet.

[msongs]

2. remember when they only showed full length movies with no interruptions from start to end? nt

[lunamagica]

4. I do. They mostly showed old movies. I loved it.

[PoliticAverse]

3. The upcoming Game of Thrones season is only 7 episodes. n/t

[lunamagica]

5. That doesn't make any sense.

[Bleacher Creature]

6. There are a lot of benefits to this format.

I still watch a few shows that do the 22 episode format, and there's just so much filler and wasted story arcs. Even good shows suffer from this as it's really hard to fill up 22 hours of story time (in the case of an hour-long show).

It also frees up the actors to do other projects, which helps avoid having to worry about actors wanting out to pursue other opportunities. And in the case of a program with a high production value (i.e., GoT), the extra time really makes a difference.

[lunamagica]

9. But the hiatus is way, way too long.

[Bleacher Creature]

10. I totally get it.

Especially when the season ends on a cliffhanger, and you know you won't get any answers for almost a year.

[Control-Z]

11. Better call Saul - was Saul a chatacter

from another show? I've never seen it.

Thanks!

[lunamagica]

12. Yes. He was the sleazy lawyer in "Breaking Bad".

And now he has a show build around him.

Both shows are great, IMO, though BB will always be my favorite show.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

14. Yes, he was Walter White's shady lawyer in "Breaking Bad."

"Better Call Saul" is the prequel - it's the story of how well-meaning but morally flexible Jimmy McGill became sleazebag Saul Goodman.

[cbreezen]

13. This started with The Sopranos

and was exacerbated by a Writers' Guild (scriptwriter) strike. This was further enhanced when The Sopranos divided their last season in half. Then the Breaking Bad phenomena carried on the marketing madness by repeating the same pattern. And, then, and, then, and, so on.

[lunamagica]

15. Thanks, I didn't know all that. Too bad. And there's nothing to do but wait (sigh)

[cbreezen]

16. Time flies when people binge...

Just something I noticed about 7 years ago.

[Orrex]

18. The first season of Walking Dead was only sixteen minutes

True fact.