When I google complete series in American TV shows (like Friends, Seinfeld or Will&Grace), there are only less than 20 episodes in one season. Isn't one season is like a year, and a year is like 54 weeks? So if the show was aired weekly, how come there is only less than 20 episodes in one season? Btw, sorry if the question sounds stupid -_-!
Ilana S
Favorite Answer
That is a typical number for a TV series. They mostly average between 18 - 24 episodes per season. Yes, there are 52 weeks in a year but shows do not run for a full year. They usually start at the end of September and run until the end of April or beginning of May. You need to factor in the fact that they also take a few weeks off of scheduled programming due to holidays and such.
?
It varies from network to network. Most shows only run for about 6 months out of the year. Some have a mid season break so that can cut down times. Usually it's about 24 episodes on a major network (NBC, CBS etc). Although that number has shrunk in recent years to about 20. If the show is on HBO for example it will only be about 12-15 episodes. Sometimes when a show isn't rating as well they will only order half as much. The first season of Seinfeld the network wasn't sure would work so they only ordered 5 episodes. It really depends on a number of things.
Hope this has cleared things up. Or at the very least not made it more confusing.
FrOst
It really depends on how well the series are doing. For example Seinfeld had only like 9 episodes in the first season because it wasn't doing well, but friends had like 24. The episodes aren't always aired weekly..sometimes there are events that needs to be covered (superbowls, important news..etc) and sometimes the cast just needs to take a rest..so they aren't always weekly..also it's not aired around the WHOLE year. More like 8 months depending on the series, but NEVER a full year
Real Celtic Warior
Because most shows show reruns during the summer months and many even show reruns during the regular season as well. There aren't too many shows that will air more than 24 episodes in a regular season and this is to let the actors and writers have time off and pursue other projects such as Movies or Broadway plays.
When friends and Will & Grace was on the air they aired many episodes twice, sometimes 3 or 4 times in a regular season.
Timelord
In the old days you had around 26 with what was called summer reruns. Now this was a time when all you had was ABC, CBS, NBC and maybe a ETV station. As the cost went up for the actors the number of episodes has gone down. By the way a year is 52 weeks. The way we did it was the start of the TV season (Sept) we would watch our #1 show. Then when summer reruns start we would watch our 2nd choice.