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 "serials".
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 serialistic 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
- Category:Television series by genre
Scripted entertainment
- Dramatic television series (including comedy-drama, police procedural, serial drama, science-fiction, medical drama, legal drama or soap operas) or Television comedy (typically situation comedy or sketch comedy)
- Animated television series
- Miniseries and TV Movies
- Award show
Unscripted entertainment
- Talk shows
- Reality television
- Game shows
Informational
- News programs
- Documentary
- Television news magazine, dealing with current affairs
- TV infomercials, which are advertising paid spots
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
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