I think it's high time we moved away from the "season" more towards shorter series with tighter arcs that each premiere at different points in the year. But wouldn't you still need to produce pilots?

Tim signed some scripts for Cash for the Crew.

That was extra cool to personalize them. Allyson and Kristen, you two are the bestest for raising money and awareness. It's not a truck load of pencils, but it's still a darn fine idea.

cereal

An article on how soap operas are operating during the strike.

And even in this article Days slips to the bottom of the list. I am so going to need more therapy when that gets cancelled. That show tied generations of my family together. Even if I don't watch it, I like knowing it's there.

The idea of doing away with pilot season has been floating around for a while. I don't think it's all that terrible. Fewer shows get shot, but if they get that far they're going to air. It also means that if you want to take more than one episode to set up your story, you can. Pilots tend to suck because they have the burden of selling the show to both the network and the audience.

Tim signed some scripts for Cash for the Crew.

The "Skin & Bone" note made me snort.

Hee, yeah. I sort of covet the "Karma Chameleon" one.

I can't help but wonder if a bulk of the pilots might not move online, ala "Quarterlife" -- let the show build buzz, then move it onto the networks if it looks like it's got legs.

Even if I don't watch it, I like knowing it's there.

With the kids out of school Friday and Monday I watched Days and noted 2 things. First, you can apparently watch twice a year and not miss anything. Second, they are showing about 70% flashbacks with bits of dialog in between. I don't know how the show is still on the air.

I also watched General Hospital and they didn't have any flashbacks and seemed to be progressing with new story lines and characters. Either they had a big stash of scripts, or writers hidden away.

But "Quarterlife" is bad. It wouldn't have lasted 3 eps if it was shown on tv first. I wonder how long it will last on NBC. It might last only because NBC doesn't have anything else to show, but I don't find anything about it making me want to watch ep after ep.

I'd be curious to see the alternative to pilot season--in the UK the seasons are shorter, so the investment risk is different.

And I don't think that there are really "seasons" at all, at least the way we think of them. the shows come on for a while, do a certain number of episodes, then go off for a while. Sometimes they come back, sometimes they don't. I think thats why british shows are classified as "Series 1" instead of "season 1".

But "Quarterlife" is bad. It wouldn't have lasted 3 eps if it was shown on tv first. I wonder how long it will last on NBC. It might last only because NBC doesn't have anything else to show, but I don't find anything about it making me want to watch ep after ep.

Like a bad TV show has never been succesful before. Except for, like, most TV shows. Let's face it, a good chunk of succesful television is horrible.

But that's all beside the point -- the important thing about "Quarterlife" isn't the show itself, it's the business model. It's going to be a lot easier and more time efficient to throw a pilot or even a few "Webisodes" up on the net and see if they catch on than it is to eat up valuable airtime with a pilot for a show that might only last three episodes.