A
television program (USA
),
television programme (in most Commonwealth
countries and Ireland), or television show
(USA/UK) is a segment of content broadcast on television. It may be a one-off broadcast
or part of a periodically recurring
television
series.
A
television series that is intended to be
broadcast a finite number of
episodes is
usually called a
miniseries or
serial (although the latter
term also has other meanings).
A short run lasting less than a year is known
in North America as a season
and in the United
Kingdom
and the Republic of Ireland
as a series. This season or series
usually consists of 6–26 installments in the USA, but in the UK
there is no defined length. U.S. industry practice tends to favor
longer seasons than those of some other countries.
A single instance of a program is called an
episode, although particularly in the USA this is
sometimes also called a "show" or "program", and in Great Britain
and Ireland a "programme". A one-off broadcast may, again
particularly in the USA and USA-influenced countries, be called a
"special", or particularly in the UK a "special episode". A
television movie or in the UK a
television film ("made-for-TV" movie) is a
film
that is initially broadcast on television rather than being
released in cinemas or
direct-to-video, although many successful
television movies are later released on
DVD.
Today,
advertisements play
a role in most television programming, such that each hour of
programming can contain up to 15 minutes of advertisements in some
countries.
By contrast, being publicly funded, the
BBC in the United Kingdom does not run advertisements, except to trail its
own programmes. Its promotions appear between and near the
end of programmes but not in the middle of them, much like the
Public Broadcasting
Service (PBS) in the United States and the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation
(ABC) in Australia.
The number of commercial interruptions can also vary, for instance
Japanese television tends to prefer fewer and longer commercial
breaks while American television has several spread throughout the
program. This has an impact on the writing of the show; in order to
provide a smooth transition as well as keep the audience from
switching channels.
Program content
The content of television programs may be
factual, as in
documentaries,
news,
and
reality television, or
fictional as in
comedy
and
drama. It may be topical as in the case of
news and some made-for-television movies or historical as in the
case of such documentaries or fictional series. It may be primarily
instructional as in the case of educational programming, or
entertaining as is the case in
situation comedy, reality TV, or
game shows, or for income as
advertisements.
A drama program usually features a set of
actors in a somewhat familiar setting. The program
follows their lives and their adventures. Many shows, especially
before the 1980s, maintained a status quo where the main characters
and the premise changed little. If some change happened to the
characters lives during the episode, it was usually undone by the
end. (Because of this, the episodes could usually be watched in any
order.) Since the 1980s, there are many series that feature
progressive change to the plot, the characters, or both.
Common TV program periods include regular broadcasts (like
TV news), TV series (usually seasonal and ongoing
with a duration of only a few episodes to many seasons), or
TV miniseries which is an extended
film, usually with a small pre-determined
number of episodes and a set plot and timeline. Miniseries usually
range from about 3 to 10 hours in length, though critics often
complain when programs hit the short end of that range and are
still marketed as "minis." In the UK, the term "miniseries" is only
usually used in references to imported programmes, and such
short-run series are usually called "
serial".
Older American television shows began with a
Pilot title
sequence, showed
opening credits
at the bottom of the screen during the beginning of the show, and
included
closing credits at the end
of the show. However, beginning in the 1990s some shows began with
a "
cold open," followed by a title
sequence and a commercial break. Many
serial shows begin with a
"
Previously on..." (such as
24) introduction before the teaser.
And, to save time, some shows omit the title sequence altogether,
folding the names normally featured there into the opening credits.
The title sequence has not been completely eliminated, however, as
many major television series still use them in 2009.
While television series appearing on
TV
networks are usually commissioned by the networks themselves,
their producers earn greater revenue when the program is sold into
syndication. With the rise of
the
DVD home video format, box sets containing
entire
seasons or the complete run of a
program have become a significant revenue source as well. Many of
the prime-time comedy shows and Saturday morning cartoons will be
digitally remastered for
United
States television around mid-May 2008, as there will be more
original and re-issued DVD sets of television programs containing
either entire seasons or complete series runs to come in the
future.
Television has changed throughout the years, from the classic
family sitcoms, with the wholesome commercials during the break, to
overpopulate reality shows and random commercials. Television
started out, one per household, now it is the norm to have one in
every room. Television was something that the family got together
and watched their favorite shows.Television is not what it used to
be, it is full with what the networks think people want to hear and
see. Even the news stations have came to the conclusion “what is
news worthy”.
The main focus of the networks is the size of the audiences. Also
television is the most believable source, because it is visual;
therefore it has a highly creditable source. Every since cable has
been around, television consisted of many channels now, there is a
huge competitive market. Views are attracted to reality television
so that’s what every station has moved toward, from food networks,
HGTV, to children programs. Some networks have web sites, so if you
missed a show, you can view the full episode online.
Genre
Scripted entertainment
Unscripted entertainment
Informational
Development
United States
A person decides to create a new television
series. The
show's creator develops the show's elements, consisting of the
concept, the
characters, the
crew, and various
actors (in some
cases, "big-name" actors). They will then offer ("pitch") it to the
various
television networks in an
attempt to find one that is interested in the series and order a
prototype first episode of the series,
known as a
pilot .
To create the pilot, the structure and team of the whole series
needs to be put together. If the network likes the pilot, they will
"pick up" the show for their next
season (UK:
series). Sometimes they'll save it for "midseason" or
request re-writes and further review (known in the industry as
"
Development hell"). And other
times they'll
pass entirely, leaving the show's creator
forced to "shop it around"' to other networks. Many shows never
make it past the pilot stage.
If the show is picked up, a "run" of episodes is ordered. Usually
only 13 episodes are ordered at first, although a series will
typically last for at least 22 episodes (the last nine episodes
sometimes being known as the "back nine", borrowing a term from
golf).
The show hires a "stable" of
writers, who
usually work in parallel: the first writer works on the first
episode, the second on the second episode, and so forth. When all
of the writers have been used, the assignment of episodes continues
starting with the first writer again. On other shows, however, the
writers work as a team. Sometimes they will develop story ideas
individually, and pitch them to the show's creator, who then folds
them together into a script and rewrites them.
United Kingdom
In contrast to the US model illustrated above, the UK procedure is
operated on a sometimes similar, but much smaller scale.
The method of "team writing" is employed on some longer dramatic
series (usually running up to a maximum of around 13 episodes). The
idea for such a programme may be generated "in-house" by one of the
networks; it could originate from an independent production
company; it will sometimes be a product of both. For example, the
BBC's long-running soap opera
EastEnders is wholly a BBC production,
whereas its popular drama
Life on Mars was developed by
Kudos in association with
the broadcaster.
However, there are still a significant number of programmes
(usually sitcoms) that are built around just one or two writers and
a small, close-knit production team. These are "pitched" in the
traditional way, but since the creator(s) will handle all the
writing requirements, there will be a run of six or seven episodes
per series once approval has been given. Many of the most popular
British comedies have been made this way, including
Monty Python's Flying
Circus (albeit with an exclusive team of six
writer-performers),
Fawlty
Towers,
Blackadder and
The Office.
Production
The
executive producer, often the
show's creator, is in charge of running the show. They pick
crew and cast (subject to approval
by the network), approve and often write series plots, and
sometimes write and direct major episodes. Various other producers
help to ensure that the show always runs smoothly.
As with films or other media production, production of an
individual episode can be divided into three parts:
Pre-production
Pre-production begins when a script is approved. A
director is chosen to plan the episode's
final look.
Pre-production tasks include storyboarding, construction of sets,
props, and costumes, casting guest stars, budgeting, acquiring
resources like lighting, special effects, stunts, etc. Once the
show is planned, it must then be scheduled; scenes are often filmed
out of sequence, guest actors or even regulars may only be
available at certain times. Sometimes the principal photography of
different episodes must be done at the same time, complicating the
schedule (a guest star might shoot scenes from two episodes on the
same afternoon). Complex scenes are translated from storyboard to
animatics to further clarify the action.
Scripts are adjusted to meet altering requirements.
Some shows have a small stable of directors, but also usually rely
on outside directors. Given the time constraints of broadcasting, a
single show might have two or three episodes in pre-production, one
or two episodes in principal photography, and a few more in various
stages of post-production. The task of directing is complex enough
that a single director can usually not work on more than one
episode or show at a time, hence the need for multiple
directors.
Principal photography
Principal photography is the actual filming of the episode.
Director, actors and crew will gather at soundstages or on location
to film a scene. A scene is further divided into shots, which
should be planned during pre-production. Depending on scheduling, a
scene may be shot not in the chronological order of the story.
Conversations may be filmed twice from different angles, often
using stand-ins, so one actor might perform all their lines in one
set of shots, and then the other side of the conversation will be
filmed from the opposite perspective. In order to complete a
production on time, a second unit may be filming a different scene
on another set or location at the same time, using a different set
of actors, an assistant director, and a second unit crew. A
director of photography
supervises the lighting of each shot to ensure consistency.
Post production
Once principal photography is complete, producers coordinate
post-production tasks. Visual and digital effects are added to the
film; this is often outsourced to companies specializing in these
areas. Often music is performed with the conductor using the film
as a time reference (other musical elements may be previously
recorded). An
editor cuts
the various pieces of film together, adds the
musical score and effects, determines scene
transitions, and assembles the completed show.
Distribution
The show is then turned over to the network, which sends it out to
its
affiliate,
which broadcast it in the specified timeslot. If the
Nielsen Ratings are good, the show is kept
alive as long as possible. If not, the show is usually
cancelled. The show's creators are
then left to shop around remaining episodes, and the possibility of
future episodes, to other networks. On especially successful
series, the producers sometimes call a halt to a series on their
own like
The Cosby Show and
"
M*A*S*H" and end it with a concluding
episode which sometimes is a big production called a
series finale.
On some occasions, a series which has not attracted particularly
high ratings and been cancelled can be given a reprieve if
DVD sales have been particularly strong. This has
happened in the cases of
Family
Guy in the US and
Peep Show in the UK.
If the show is popular or lucrative, and a number of episodes
(usually
100 episodes or more) are
made, it goes into
syndication (in the USA) where
broadcast rights are then resold.
Seasons/series
The terminology used to define a set of
episodes produced by a television series varies from
country to country.
In North America and Australia, the term used to describe a regular
run of episodes is a
television season or simply,
season. For example, a season of a television
series might consist of 20–26 episodes broadcast regularly between
September and May with a
hiatus
during the (
Christmas/
New Year's Eve) holidays. Alternatively, it
may comprise 20–26 consecutive episodes between September and
December or January and May. The latter is often referred to as a
"non-stop season", which are usually used for
serial television series
(e.g.,
24 and
Lost). Another example might be a
series that airs only a 6–13 episode season during the
summer.
In the
United Kingdom, on the ABC in Australia and in other countries, these sets of
episodes are referred to as a series.
In the United States, most regular television series have 20 to 26
episodes per season. In general, dramas usually last 44 minutes (an
hour with advertisements), while sitcoms last 22 (30 with
advertisements). However, with the rise of cable networks,
especially pay ones, series and episode lengths have been changing.
Cable networks usually feature seasons lasting around thirteen
episodes (e.g.
The Sopranos
from
HBO, with 12- to 13-episode
seasons). Many British series have significantly shorter runs,
particularly sitcoms such as
The
Office,
Extras
and
Peep Show, which
feature six episodes per series (see below). This may be related to
the fact that many British shows are written by a single writer or
writing team, unlike some US shows. However, even British shows
which do have multiple writers have tended toward shorter series in
recent years. For example, the first series of long-running sci-fi
series
Doctor Who in
1963 featured 42 x 25-minute episodes, which had been
reduced, gradually, to 14 x 25-minute episodes in 1989. The revival
of
Doctor Who has comprised 13 x 45-minute installments.
Recently, American non-cable networks have also begun to experiment
with shorter seasons for some programs, particularly reality shows
such as
Survivor.
However, they often air two seasons per year, resulting in roughly
the same number of episodes per year as a drama.
This is a reduction from the 1950s, in which many American shows
(e.g.,
The
Twilight Zone) had between 29 to 39 episodes per season.
Actual storytelling time within a commercial television hour has
also gradually reduced over the years, from 50 minutes out of every
60 in the early days down to the current 44 (and, on some networks,
less) in the 2000s.
The Japanese have sometimes subdivided television series and dramas
into , from the
French term "cours"
for "course", which is a 3-month period usually of 13 episodes.
Each
kūru generally has its own opening and ending image
sequence and song, recordings of which are often sold. The number
of episodes permitted per season ranges from 3 to 65. (See also
Japanese television
programs)
See also
References
External links
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
