Mid Season Finales

This whole concept of stopping all regular TV shows over the holidays is starting to get on my nerves. I had just started to get a rhythm down for which shows I would watch on which nights and all of a sudden all of them start going on 3 month hiatuses. I’m sure I could find something else to watch in the meantime, but all that does is add to already full schedule when everything returns.

Okay Okay, I’m basically complaining for the sake of complaining with this, but as I was watching the mid season finale of Glee last evening (great line by Sue telling Will he has the hairstyle of a lesbian) I wondered when we’d be able to see a brand new episode. The same will go for Fringe this evening and a bunch of other shows.

Here’s my solution – while the show is being shot in the summer and fall, prep for the time off and create some sort of cheap online component to put crazy people like myself back in front of the screen. I think shows like Battlestar Gallactica did this and actually incorporated parts of the story. The web-only content wasn’t pertinent to the arc of the TV show, but it kept people interested during a long hiatus.

I think the writers’ strike really killed some great momentum in episodic TV shows and we’re we’re finally starting to gain some of that back. But throwing in mid season finales followed by 3 month layovers just kills it. So again, go online. It’s cheap, it can be experimental and it will keep people interested until your actors come back from their vacations in sunnier climates.