In 1993 Fox ran a short lived show called The Adventures of
Brisco County Jr. It was a western starring the king himself, Bruce Campbell,
as a bounty hunter during the waning days of the wild west. In the show, the
title character takes up his father’s guns to avenge his murder at the hands of
a supernatural killer named John Bly. He also managed to tap so much wild west
ass that it was a miracle he didn’t die of syphilis by the 9th
episode.
Being Bruce Campbell apparently boosts your immune system as well
It was a critically acclaimed show that just couldn’t pull
the crowds to get a second season, but it found success as a cult favorite when
it was released on DVD. It’s cheesy as all hell, but it was a terrific show
with a great cast and a good story, and well ahead of its time when it came
out. Needless to say, when they released the DVD of the entire series of a show
I grew up on AND starring my role model I preordered it, and I seriously
recommend seeing it yourself if you get a chance.
The point of all of this is that Kristy and I decided to
watch it again, and imagine my surprise when I opened that case again and saw
EIGHT discs loaded with episodes for a total of 28 hour long episodes for an
amazing price, and that got me thinking about something.
The first real TV series I ever bought on DVD when it was
released was the first season of 24. DVDs were a new thing at the time, and the
idea of having a whole series of television on just a few discs was a welcome
change from the old days of having about a dozen VHS tapes to accommodate a
single season of your favorite show.
Ah man, f**k VHS
Back to the point though, for around forty bucks I got 24
hours of television plus a ton of special features, preeeeeeeeetty good deal
considering the DVD of a movie gives you maybe two hours of film for about twenty bucks.
Things were good, but then something happened.
Around the time of the emergence of DVDs a typical season of
television consisted of about 22 to 26 episodes, but then the amount of
episodes per season for most shows began to change. After a few years a typical season began
to consist of about 18-20 episodes, and then about 12-16. What was the deal
with this? Well, to sum it up, television was trying to send us a message.
Albeit a subtle one
In case you can’t see where this is going, the shorter
seasons are being sold for just as much as the longer ones, if not more. Over
time the length of a season of TV has gotten so short that it’s now just plain
ridiculous. The Closer’s final season concluded last night with its eleventh
episode, and don’t even get me started with HBO, who broadcasts amazing
television… 8-10 episodes at a time.
Next week, part two
of the season premiere/finale
Why give the viewer and consumer what they want when you can
work half as hard at half the cost and demand just as much money from those who
have come to love your show. Give the viewer what they want? Pffffft… almighty
dollar at work here people! Watch our show! Buy our shit! Even more insulting
is hearing networks say that they are changing this format for OUR benefit.
They say that by cutting the seasons in half and broadcasting them at a
two-thirds yearly interval we get more overall hours of the show, which makes
NO f**king sense. The old scheme gave us roughly 22 hours of a show per year,
the new format is very lucky if it gives us 18, so cut the crap and just say “Money
assholes! Money!”
But the most insulting and infuriating format I have seen
sadly comes from my favorite new show, with the… wait for it…
Suck it fans!
Yep… you are reading that right, Doctor Who Season 6… PART ONE. Six whole hours of a twelve
episode season. And don’t even think for a second that it’s only half price
because Part One sells for nearly fifty dollars.
The point is that this crap is getting out of hand. Big
Love… 8 episodes a season. The Walking Dead… six episodes a season. All sold
for full price on DVD. I don’t know what I plan on accomplishing with this
article other than alerting you to the fact, but if you want to send a message,
just stick to Netflix like my wife and I and rent new seasons on disc.
Hopefully they will get the message and change things back to the way they
were. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m out to watch episode 3 of Sherlock,
which happens to be (and I shit you not) it’s season finale.
Seriously though I
frigging LOVE this show.
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