Should TV shows be free to take long hiatuses between seasons?

[ccggenius12]

Define "long hiatus". If we're talking a year or two, it's fine. Hell, Venture Bros has been gone for a couple years, but I'm still stoked for its return. The only hiatus I take issue with is these constant mid-season ones that Disney, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon seem to all be using constantly now. Get your 13 or 26 or 52 or whatever a season's worth of episodes is for your show's format, and air them on a schedule. Don't put out 3 episodes, take a couple weeks off, drop four more, then wait 3 months before giving people another one, followed by more waiting. It's incredibly frustrating.

PS. Technically, Tron: Uprising is on "indefinite hiatus", and I don't care how long it takes to come back, as long as it does. I will be there, money in hand.

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

And what about anime, where it's common for new seasons to be years apart due to the odd nature of the industry?

Thats because most anime is adaptations of either manga or light novels. And in the majority of cases an adaptation is halted/terminated due to running out of source material to adapt.

Even worse is the time slots in Japan are incredibly competitive, to the point most studios are willing to make really bland filler to keep their slot while the manga makes some distance. That's at least what I heard years ago. I don't think they even have "seasons" in the western sense.

Define "long hiatus". If we're talking a year or two, it's fine. Hell, Venture Bros has been gone for a couple years, but I'm still stoked for its return.

I was about to mention the Venture Bros as proof long waits can work. Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick always seem to come back from a 1-2 year hiatus with an equal or even better season. It seems to be a good pace for them. [small]Also, Spanikopita![/small]

I don't think every show can do that, but a well written animated one that can manage the voice actor's schedules should be fine. Live action? If it's an adaptation of an in-progress work, production and breaks should be paced so they don't have to wait eons for more source material while actors age and other issue come up.

 

[Armadox]

No. No. They should not be allowed to do that. If they do then I will take a stick and I will hit them with it. And then they will say, no, don't hit us with the stick, but I'll still hit them with my stick.

Gas powered stick! Never runs out of gas!

I'm actually not a fan of any show starting when the source material isn't finished.. It always has to either fall in lock-step with it, or overshoots it. Not enough room for it to really do it's own thing with the material proper..

 

[Fat Hippo]

Which reminds me. I need to watch Community. I hear it's basically MLP with real actors instead of kids cartoon.

Community is a fantastic show (and a love letter to geek culture), but suffers a precipitous quality decline after the third season (one of the most catastrophic drop-offs I can recall, actually, Season 4 is almost unwatchable). Watch seasons 1-3, and consider the show ended.

As I recall, Season 4 just felt so awkward. I heard a lot of it had to do with Chevy Chase being a total douchebag, which was why they had to somehow remove his characters from the show, so they made his character (even more of) a douchebag too.

Season 5 was better though, don't know if you've watched that. Not as good as the first 3 though.

I just saw that season 6 is running right now, probably gonna watch that to find out if it's any good.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

As I recall, Season 4 just felt so awkward. I heard a lot of it had to do with Chevy Chase being a total douchebag, which was why they had to somehow remove his characters from the show, so they made his character (even more of) a douchebag too.

Season 5 was better though, don't know if you've watched that. Not as good as the first 3 though.

I just saw that season 6 is running right now, probably gonna watch that to find out if it's any good.

It was most likely due to losing Dan Harmon, whose vision for the show was unique. Turns out you can't cut the showrunner/show cord when the show is the proverbial brain child of the man in question.

They hired him back for Season 5, but there are continuity issues I'd have to address by watching Season 4 and I'm just...not...willing to do that. That the show keeps shedding core cast members makes me even less keen about returning to it.

 

[Fat Hippo]

As I recall, Season 4 just felt so awkward. I heard a lot of it had to do with Chevy Chase being a total douchebag, which was why they had to somehow remove his characters from the show, so they made his character (even more of) a douchebag too.

Season 5 was better though, don't know if you've watched that. Not as good as the first 3 though.

I just saw that season 6 is running right now, probably gonna watch that to find out if it's any good.

It was most likely due to losing Dan Harmon, whose vision for the show was unique. Turns out you can't cut the showrunner/show cord when the show is the proverbial brain child of the man in question.

They hired him back for Season 5, but there are continuity issues I'd have to address by watching Season 4 and I'm just...not...willing to do that. That the show keeps shedding core cast members makes me even less keen about returning to it.

I understand your apprehensiveness. I don't think the show is all that reliant on its continuity, so it might still be worth giving a shot. Or you can try to keep your memories as pure as possible and pretend everything after season 3 never happened. A "Star Wars fan and the prequels" approach you might call it.

 

[CrystalShadow]

What about Doctor Who? A fair number of people feel the returned series (or the first five years of it anyway) was better then the first run, and most fans have never even watched those old episodes despite them still being part of the story.

Well you said it youself here. Most of the viewers now havent seen the old show, and thus have no basis to compare the old and new Who on.

And what about anime, where it's common for new seasons to be years apart due to the odd nature of the industry?

Thats because most anime is adaptations of either manga or light novels. And in the majority of cases an adaptation is halted/terminated due to running out of source material to adapt.

Just as well, otherwise you get incredibly tedious things like Naruto.
The first season or two it's repeating jalf the previous episode, then past somewhere in season 4, it is 100% filler for 4 or 5 more seasons, and this only ends because shippuden started.
Take out all the various kinds of filler and you lose about 70% of the series...
And most of it isn't even GOOD filler... >_<

 

[Fappy]

Yes, if the show is good enough. Venture Bros. is still going and has only had 5 seasons in 12-13 years. It never got cancelled, they just take forever to put out seasons. Considering the quality of the show it's well worth it.

 

[Mong0]

Seeing as I don't really watch tv, I don't personally care one way or the other. They're definitely allowed to do so, but if they want to keep people interested, it might be bad for marketing. On the other hand though, rushing production could easily damage the quality of the show. I guess what would be better depends on circumstance.

 

[Evonisia]

Yeah I'd say that is fine enough, but I think that could only be tolerable if they stopped doing mid-season hiatuses. If you're to stop for a few years, don't make us wait like five or six months between the middle and the end of the season.

And I'm not sure what the feasibility of removing mid-season breaks are.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

As I recall, Season 4 just felt so awkward. I heard a lot of it had to do with Chevy Chase being a total douchebag, which was why they had to somehow remove his characters from the show, so they made his character (even more of) a douchebag too.

Season 5 was better though, don't know if you've watched that. Not as good as the first 3 though.

I just saw that season 6 is running right now, probably gonna watch that to find out if it's any good.

It was most likely due to losing Dan Harmon, whose vision for the show was unique. Turns out you can't cut the showrunner/show cord when the show is the proverbial brain child of the man in question.

They hired him back for Season 5, but there are continuity issues I'd have to address by watching Season 4 and I'm just...not...willing to do that. That the show keeps shedding core cast members makes me even less keen about returning to it.

To be fair, Harmon was being just as much of a dick, it's just that his dickishness was directed at the studio instead of everyone within reach.

I've seen some of season 6, and it doesn't have the same zip that the earlier seasons did, but it was fun watching them write off Season 4 as "the gas leak year".

 

[Morti]

Define "long hiatus". If we're talking a year or two, it's fine. Hell, Venture Bros has been gone for a couple years, but I'm still stoked for its return. The only hiatus I take issue with is these constant mid-season ones that Disney, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon seem to all be using constantly now. Get your 13 or 26 or 52 or whatever a season's worth of episodes is for your show's format, and air them on a schedule. Don't put out 3 episodes, take a couple weeks off, drop four more, then wait 3 months before giving people another one, followed by more waiting. It's incredibly frustrating.

PS. Technically, Tron: Uprising is on "indefinite hiatus", and I don't care how long it takes to come back, as long as it does. I will be there, money in hand.

This, I don't mind gaps so long as they are properly scheduled.

It is getting really irritating when Americans complain about the length of British series. I'll take a properly scripted, shorter, season over a longer one with random, indiotically timed, hiatuses throughout.

 

[gigastar]

Just as well, otherwise you get incredibly tedious things like Naruto.
The first season or two it's repeating jalf the previous episode, then past somewhere in season 4, it is 100% filler for 4 or 5 more seasons, and this only ends because shippuden started.
Take out all the various kinds of filler and you lose about 70% of the series...
And most of it isn't even GOOD filler... >_<

IMO the wort case senario ive seen is One Peice, where the anime progresses at a truly glacial pace rather than resorting to filler.

If you thought you knew tedium from Naruto, try watching the Fishman Island arc after reading the manga.

 

[Someone Depressing]

I think it's weird when they don't.

They need to secure funding and writing for episodes, and if they don't have the time to do that then the general quality of the entire season will suffer.

This is why most anime gets filled with bullshit filler that doesn't contribute anything to the plot and the pace of the anime and manga being too mismatched, forcing one to go on a possibly permanent hiatus.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

I say no, but that's because I hate waiting for new episodes, especially when the last episode before the break is a cliffhanger! *COUGH*GravityFalls*COUGH*! That, and too much filler in say, anime is really annoying...