100 episodes? Page 3

Quote: David Carmon @ October 31 2011, 10:10 AM BST

67 seems low for 11 series, hate the way alot of series only have 6 episodes.

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I always liked the traditional 6-7 episodes per series because it seemed to me to keep the quality up. Whereas the Americans churned out large numbers of episodes per series and in my opinion the quality often isn't even there in the first place. But then I'm biased because I don't like most US comedy.

What UK sitcom has had the least number of episodes in a series? I know some just do a pilot - so that doesn't count as a series. The lowest I can think of was Ever Decreasing Circles which only had 5 episodes in the first series.

Freezing. 1 pilot repeated + 2 new episodes.

The Great Outdoors.

Quote: Rose2010 @ November 1 2011, 12:28 AM GMT

So, what's the perfect number of episodes in a series?

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At least 10.

Quote: David Carmon @ November 2 2011, 10:32 PM GMT

At least 10.

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Why 10?

And why do some shows have six episodes in a series and others -- like My Family -- have twice as many?

Ah, the can of worms.

Essentially because My Family is a popular, bankable show. But there's no one definitive reason. Commissioner's whim, cost of production, series style, audience, writers' preference, schedule gap, cast availability... Any and all of the above, and anything else besides.

All the above and scripts, scripts are pretty key to series length I think because some of the greatest sitcoms I've seen have been 6 to 8 eps max. It's hard to keep up such a great quality of writing for so long, at some stage you need a break, if only to gather material for the next great series. Series that go on much longer must inevitably dip in quality, I'd have thought. FT is 6 eps and nearly every one is a classic. Porridge, Blackadder, Rising Damp, early OFAH also very strong episodes at 6ish a series.

Quote: Steve Charlie @ November 1 2011, 12:40 AM GMT

I always liked the traditional 6-7 episodes per series because it seemed to me to keep the quality up.

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Yes yes.

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ November 3 2011, 8:53 AM GMT

Series that go on much longer must inevitably dip in quality, I'd have thought.

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Or not be of great quality to begin with, turning out predictable mediocrity to fill a certain slot, like famcoms, for example.

What about the other end of the scale in terms of series length? I know that 'Allo 'Allo! once had a series 26 episodes long, although the episodes were 25 minutes long.

On radio, The Goon Show (if you count it as a sitcom which the guide does), once had a series lasting 30 episodes (plus shorts and specials).

My current favourite American sitcom - Big Bang - has been doing 24 episodes per series. Haven't seen any weak episodes yet so quantity and quality can go together, at least once in a while.

It's notable however, that the production models differ between almost all British sitcoms and shows like The Big Bang Theory - specifically, that a British series will normally be created and written by just one or two people (sometimes with additional material) for its entire lifetime, whilst any given season of TBBT is likely to have the best part of a dozen regular contributors. We have script editors, but not really the same concept of the overseeing show runner. If there was the will or demand to adopt that model then I'm sure we COULD produce those longer series, but at present there is precious little of either.

I do think there's a different, better level of quality when one or two writers exclusively write the scripts. I know television is a much more collaborative endeavor, but can you imagine a novel being written by dozens of people? I like Big Bang a lot but it will never be as finely tuned as Fawlty Towers or Ever Decreasing Circles.

100 episodes in the USA is a pretty important milestone. That's when shows are typically packed up and sold into syndication.

I really like that with the UK mode of 5-12 episodes you get a wider selection of sitcoms. This sorta thing has become more prevalent in the USA now that almost every cable channel is producing sitcoms. Off the top of my head Cartoon Network (Adult Swim), Comedy Central, HBO, Showtime, Starz, FX, Nick at Nite, MTV and one of the country music channels all produce short run sitcoms.