How a show is scheduled is very important, in my humble opinion, as it not only gives an audience a regular time to watch a show, but also allows the cast and crew time to create these episodes in-between breaks of shows (or rather, in-between seasons). Most American scripted shows are written and filmed over a period of time (often between May and September) before the episodes are aired before an audience, and those again are usually only aired once per week.The first episode of a season is called a “season premier”, and the final episode of a season is called a “season finale”.
Sitcoms like “The Big Bang Theory” follow this rule almost religiously, but over the last few years an increasingly large number of drama shows like “Supernatural”, “Agents of SHIELD”, and “The Walking Dead” follow a different set of scheduling rules. That is that while they do follow the standard American summer break as time to write and shoot episodes to begin airing in September and October, these shows now have “winter finales” or “mid-season finales” to air in the end of November or beginning of December, and the show isn’t aired again until several weeks later in January or even March, where the normal schedule picks up again until its “season finale”. The period in-between is affectionately called the “winter break”. Seasons constructed in this manner are called “split-seasons”.
However, these split-seasons have allowed some show creators to create mini-shows to air during the “winter break”. “Once Upon a Time” had “Galavant” made for their break, and “Agents of SHIELD” made “Agent Carter”. It is worth noting, however, that all of these shows are all owned by A.B.C.
As a viewer, I do not care for this increasing trend for shows to have “winter breaks”. I like to be able to watch my shows on a weekly basis without the annoyance of a mid-season cliff-hanger (unresolved plot point or where uncertain or large events transpire in the last five minutes of the episode) that poses questions for us and forces us to wait weeks during a holiday period, in which audiences tend to have plenty of free time to watch said shows. It is especially annoying since season finales in general now also end on cliff-hangers, so we get them twice a year.
Meanwhile, other American-made shows like “Game of Thrones” choose to instead air their shows in April, in-between other shows premieres and finales. They even use a week-by-week scheduling basis for airing times so that people will remember the day and time in the week to catch up on the show, which is nice to have between our other favorite shows during the American summer break. Its also nice that there are also good shows to have in the winter break as well. I also have to admit that mid-season cliff-hangers to generate fan interest and debate, as well as forcing us to watch the next episode once it airs.
References:
1. Author unknown 2015. ABC TV Shows, Specials & Movies – ABC.com. Available at: http://abc.go.com/shows. [Updated 2015] [Accessed 13 August 2015].
2. Davis, Ziff 2015. CW on Episode Count and Scheduling Plans for Legends of Tomorrow, The 100: Season 3 and Containment – IGN. Available at: http://au.ign.com/articles/2015/08/12/cw-on-episode-count-and-scheduling-plans-for-legends-of-tomorrow-the-100-season-3-and-containment. [Updated 2015] [Accessed 13 August 2015].