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How many episode in one season for TV series?

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 -_-!

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  • 1 decade ago
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    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.

  • 1 decade ago

    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.

  • 1 decade ago

    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

  • 1 decade ago

    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.

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  • 1 decade ago

    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.

  • 1 decade ago

    The average season for a TV series runs between 22-26 episodes. The TV season does not run for the full year - just from Fall to Spring. Plus, even it that time period, brakes are taken between weeks for releasing new episodes.

  • 1 decade ago

    It depends on how good or bad the series turns out to be! Sadly sometimes a series just runs out of new ideas....

    A season like summer does not last a whole year!

    I should mention in the Gregorian Calender the main western calender in use today this year (2009) only has 52 weeks and one day ! and rarely extends more than a day much beyond that in any other year.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    A typical television season for comedies and dramas is 22-25 episodes and they typically run from September to May.

    Reality television shows can have from 7-16 episodes, and they run whenever they want to. For example, May to August, September to December, November to January, etc.

    Daytime soaps run from Monday-Friday unless there is a holiday on one of the weekdays, which then they don't air an episode. They run year-round, including the summer.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    series typically start late September and run through April with a 2 or 3 week break over the holiday season, and another week or two off I think around Spring, so it ends up being less than 20 a lot of times, I know it sucks! I wish they could be year round!

  • 1 decade ago

    it sometimes depends on what type of show it is... with friends and will and grace they have 20 - 25 episodes per season.. and yes the show is showed weekly but its not on for the full year.. the seasons go for about half a year the you wait til the next year to watch the next season

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