Talk:Television program

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    This article is part of WikiProject Television, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to television programs and related subjects on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
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    Assessment comments

    I believe that the "how they are made" section of the article refers to the procedures and methods adopted in the United States. Since that is not an universal truth and there are tv shows being made in other countries, following different procedures, a direct note should be inserted informing that this is how it works in the U.S. — perhaps change the subtitle to "How they are made in the United States" or leave the title as it is but create a sub-subtitle that says "United States"?Redux 18:09, 25 Jul 2004 (UTC)

    I just added a note; didn't change any headings. - dcljr 09:12, 21 Aug 2004 (UTC)

    Terminology needs just a slight addition, as it seems that the English use two identical 'series' terms, pronounced differently, to denote what Americans call 'series' and 'season'.

    I'm English, and as far as I know there's only one pronunciation of "series". Loganberry (Talk) 00:10, 10 September 2005 (UTC)
    Aside from series, the term serial has been used in the past, though this has fallen out of common use. Bigpinkthing 16:09, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

    Contents

    [edit] Software for television?

    Software used in television?

    Microsoft Office, on top of the usual production scheduling, audio and video editing software. Software can also used to control lighting and effects. Bigpinkthing 16:07, 14 July 2006 (UTC)


    Nope, we use series and season over here too.

    [edit] US / UK comparison

    The UK model stated is rubbish, ideas bounce between the networks and indies (likewise where there are in house production teams, ideas bounce between commissioners and indies to explore who'd be most suitable making programmes). Both the UK and US use both methods and hire the talent accordingly. Team writing / sole writing is also a bit of a bodge, major US and UK series are written by by both sole contributors and by teams, there are plenty of high profile cases on both camps on both sides of the Atlantic. Bigpinkthing 16:03, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

    I have to agree, it is a bit of a hodge-podge. I think the whole section could be binned and re-written. KingDaveRa 10:51, 30 March 2007 (UTC)
    Further, UK usage tends to prefer "programme" over "show"; the latter is still seen as an Americanism. — Paul G 12:40, 27 April 2007 (UTC)
    As far as I can tell, most programmes here are written by many writers. It's only really sitcoms that are creator written.Liam Markham 16:49, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

    Is there a better way to explain the US "season"/UK "series" difference without calling it a "short run"? That sounds more like a miniseries or unintentionally shortened programming. A season is a predetermined and often uniform schedule of episodes (e.g., 22 episodes per season of "Buffy," 24 episodes for "24", etc.) typically falling within a one-year cycle (but not always). Sharpvisuals 18:26, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

    [edit] the pilot

    who pays for the pilot? the creators or the networks?

    • Since the pilot is normally used to get networks to sign on for a show, I would assume the creators.--andrew 22:09, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
    • I believe usually a network pays for the pilot. They're the only party with a revenue stream. Avt tor 16:13, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

    It's different for each show. Depends on how much each party is willing to risk. Often one will give up syndication rights to the other in exchange for pilot/series expense-sharing. Sharpvisuals 18:28, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

    [edit] Rewrite

    I'm doing a rewrite of this article. If people can assist i would welcome that a lot. I'm looking to focus it more on the proces of the television program, it's different formats, different production methods. Make it less American as well.

    Only the commercial aspects of television are significantly different between countries; pre-production, principal photography, and post-production are not dramatically different whether a show is made in California or Kazakhstan. There are several commercial business models that could be (briefly) described.
    Per the request in WikiProject Television, I will look at this article at some point. A good table of contents will help. I would like to ask editors to sign their comments here. Avt tor 16:20, 24 January 2007 (UTC)
    I reorganized the main article somewhat and expanded the section on production. I haven't changed most of the text, so the sections on "development" and "distribution" overlap somewhat. Actually, my concern now is not that this show is too American, but that it's actually too British. I don't mean that I want to delete content or give this a more American focus, I just think that further reorganization can help clarify things. Also needs links and sources. Avt tor 18:27, 26 January 2007 (UTC)
    A distinction between a "series" and a one-time (minus reruns, of course) airing of a "special" should be made; also, documentary films that appear on TV after having been made for movie theaters, documentary television series, made-for-TV documentary films, etc. Categorizing these different types of documentaries can get confusing... -Eep² 04:35, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

    [edit] 6 vs. 13 episodes

    For some reason, there is an anon that cannot accept the idea of a 6-episode season/series, as is common in some jurisdictions. Any thoughts on how to word this better so as to avoid the problem? --Ckatzchatspy 17:54, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

    It makes sense to me as it is, pointing out that the US generally has longer series (seasons). Without wishing to offend, I think the problem is that the anon doesn't realise that the rest of the world's networks sometimes operate differently. Chris 42 22:15, 20 September 2007 (UTC)
    I might add that certainly in the UK, continuing series can have individual series (or seasons) of six episodes each (such as Blackadder or Fawlty Towers). A miniseries is defined as being a single series production, i.e. one finite batch of episodes, such as Band of Brothers. Chris 42 21:31, 25 September 2007 (UTC)