Why do we have seasons?

[Foggy]

UK is not worse for having short series, the fact is they don't get funded by massive conglomerates, so they just don't have the budget for "big" season. I think the only reason something like a Doctor Who is able to exists is because of it's American success but also because the UK industry is so limiting, a lot of huge tech teams rarely have a chance to work on something because the opportunity rarely arises.

Plus the compact structure lead to less filler and all killer.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by Foggy

UK is not worse for having short series, the fact is they don't get funded by massive conglomerates, so they just don't have the budget for "big" season.

That makes no sense what so ever. Obviously different shows have different production costs and so the time slot replacement of one show could be a lot less then an other one, and if you have long seasons (1/2 a year) repeats could be used the rest of the time to make the production cost more affordable but in the end if show A and show B and show C cost the same per episode to produce how is it cheaper to have some episodes being show A, others B and others C instead of all of them being A?

And in reality the opposite would be true since if all the episodes are A (instead of some B and C) a studio might save on designs and sets. There is also the fact that the people involved need to make enough for a standard of living, and so with 9 episodes they might need to be paid a bit more compared to 20 episodes.

[rickah88]

I don't think there is any one answer for the OP, but basically production costs would be the biggest one. Then a close second would be marketing from the studios. Obviously they want a return, ASAP, on their investment.

I think the advent of the DVR has been, and will continue to be a huge changing factor. The days of the networks running 22 episode "seasons" has, greatly, changed because society has changed. Of course I'm talking about the US, we aren't solely a 9-5 work/eat dinner/watch 6pm news/watch episodic tv/then watch late night talk shows before bed, to repeat the next day. People are much more "on the go" these days, which is why streaming is so popular. Also the afforementioned DVR, which enables people another viewing option, and to "binge watch". Helped, in large part, by cable TV shows that have been highly successful, with only ~12 episodes, the networks(always moving at a glacial pace) are finally starting to realize that this recipe is works well with today's "on the go" society, and are starting to adapt to it...again, at a snails pace.

And like others have already pointed out, actors/crew need a break too. For personal reasons and to work on other projects. Also "Seasons" transfers well to packaged media, when/if that show receives a home video release.

So kinda my take on the whole "TV seasons" thingy.