A Show For All Seasons

The old way of premiering shows was virtually identical to the scholastic schedule: start in the fall, end in the spring, summers off. There tended to be huge cliffhangers and viewers would fervently how the show would resolve itself. It played into the romantic idea that the summers were full of vacationing and prime time spent outside, with little time for television yet plenty for summer blockbusters.

But now? Shows premiere and conclude every month of the year. While the majority of networks still play by the old rules, there's always mid-season replacements for the shows that fail, and cable shows start and end whenever they want. We're living in an age where there's no shortage of programming, and we can get it on our computers, TVs, and phones at any hour of the day.

Personally, I'm strictly a fan of single-camera sitcoms and serialized dramas, with no tolerance for reality shows or sports. I subscribe to Netflix and Hulu through my Playstation 3 and feel no need to subscribe to cable with too many channels that I never watch. An interesting programming development occurred a few months ago. Netflix commissioned an original series, entitled House of Cards, which is produced by Kevin Spacey and David Fincher, and they've already committed to two seasons of thirteen episodes each. The distributor has become the producer, the student has become the master. This is a huge step forward and cable companies are starting to worry, as evidenced by the Showtime network removing their original series from Netflix's streaming service. If House of Cards succeeds, what's to stop more people breaking free from the shackles of Comcast or Verizon cable and just subscribing to a few select networks. Even HBO is developing an on-demand service and most series are available to buy on iTunes.

The world of programming is drastically changing. TV's a business, supported by advertisers or subscribers. We're either going to see qualitative shows rise to the top, or be bombarded by more CSI spinoffs. Either way, it won't be appointment television, we'll just watch at our convenience.