Television is a business like any other. The
goal is to make money, not entertain the
masses.
Television – tele –far, vision -sight
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Someone has an idea for a tv show and pitches
it to an executive at a network or cable
company. If there is interest (most ideas are
rejected) a pilot is produced by a tv production
company.
http://www.cbc.ca/dragonsden/2012/10/gotta-grudge.html
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After production, the show is turned over to
the television network, which sends it out to
its affiliate stations, which broadcast it in a
specific time slot.
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A pilot is the first episode of a show -- they're
shot, fittingly, during pilot season, between
January and May. If the network likes the pilot,
it will pick up the show for the season and
make it a series.
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During development season, a
broadcast network will buy 25
comedy scripts, shoot 12 of them as
pilots and pick up two of the pilots
for a series.
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A “series", is a connected set of television
program episodes that run under the
same title, possibly spanning many
seasons. A new series is often ordered
(funded) for just the first 10 to 13
episodes, to gauge the audience interest.
If it is "picked up", the season is
completed to the regular 20 to 26
episodes.
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The term "midseason replacement" usually
refers to an inexpensive short-run (10–13
episode) show designed to take the place of an
original series that failed to garner an audience
and has not been picked up.
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The job of the director of network
programming is to gauge constantly
shifting and fragmented audience
tastes to build a morning, daytime
and primetime TV schedule that
draws the most viewers possible.
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They must identify good show ideas, buy them
and invest the money and resources to turn the
idea into a highly marketable, successful TV
program. A good show has higher ratings,
better advertising sales and thus makes more
profit for the company.
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If the shows on one network consistently get
lower ratings than shows on another network,
advertisers might decide to take their business
elsewhere.
http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/top
10s/television.html
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Nielsen ratings tell potential advertisers how many
people watch a specific show broken down by age
and sex within a geographical are or market.
This is done through set meters connected to
televisions in selected homes. These small devices
gather the viewing habits of the home and transmit
the information nightly to Nielsen through a
"Home Unit" connected to a phone line.
Another method is through a select representative
sample of viewers filling out in-depth diaries of
their viewing behaviour.
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If the Nielsen ratings are good, the show is kept
alive as long as possible. If not, the show is
usually canceled. The show's creators are then
left to shop around remaining episodes, and
the possibility of future episodes, to other
networks.
http://www.angelfire.com/trek/proutsy/ - long running tv shows
http://www.yourtv.com.au/slideshow/120147/tv-shows-that-came-back-fromthe-dead.slideshow
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Syndicated shows -- shows that have
successfully run on the networks and are
subsequently sold in package deals to local
stations and possibly other networks.
(minimum 100 episodes)
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For DVD distribution, distributors release the
first half of the season in stores just before the
second half first airs to increase interest in the
season's second half.
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/04/entertainment/la-ca-cablecosmology4-2010apr04 - great article about broadcast vs cable