Authentic TV season possible? How?

[Sindyr]

I have just read through the PDF, and have just received my hardcopy.  I need to read it at least another 3 to 5 times.

That being said, one of the things that jumped right out at me was the 5 or 9 episode season.

In real life, in the US, shows run around 22 episodes per season.

If one wanted to have a longer season, in that range, would it be possible without breaking the game?  What modifications would you want to use?

In other words, if you wanted to run the Buffy: the Vampire Slayer show with the same kind of ebb and flow, the same amount of plot and character development, and roughly the same number of episodes, how would you do it?

[jburneko]

It was once suggested by someone else to run a full show as three PtA seasons.  One 9 episode season, one 5 episode season, and another 9 episode season.  My wife works in television and I asked her about this.  Her response was that many shows do indeed use that structure within a single season because after the first nine episodes the season gets broken slighly by breaks and stuff so the writers throw in five little episodes and then theres another long stretch of episodes that push to the end.

Jesse

[John Harper]

I agree with Jesse. That sounds like a great way to handle it.

[joshua neff]

Yeah, I'd say do 9 episodes, take a break for a few weeks ("reruns"), do another 5 episodes, take another break, then do the final 9 episodes of the "season."

Or do I like I did watching the first season of Lost on DVD and do all 23 episodes in one intense week, doing as many as 2 or 3 episodes a day.

[Sindyr]

Awesome idea, thanks for the feedback.

On an related note, does anyone have any links to information, articles, or essays about how tv seasons get plotted in more depth?  How arcs gets handled, what pacing to use to bring out the Big Bad, etc.

The way I understand it, with RL network TV, there are three sweeps months - November, February, and May.  So there tend to be (I think) 3 blowout and spotlight times - the season start (4-6 episodes) in Nov, the midseason where plot twists are revealed and thing gum up the plots (4-6 episodes) in Feb, and the Season end (4-6 episodes) in May when the final reveals happen, along with any cliffhangers.

Hmmm...

One thing that TV has that we don't is long stretches of time with no new episodes.  Dec and Jan are normally pretty dead for network TV - same for March.

Perhaps we should do four one shot christamas specials after the 6th episode, before the 7th?

Kidding.  ;)

[Matt Wilson]

It was once suggested by someone else to run a full show as three PtA seasons.

I was gonna suggest the same thing!

As for how TV gets plotted, it depends heavily on the show. Some of the DVD sets out there have good commentary on that. In Battlestar Galactica, for example, the two producers have pretty strong control of the show's overall structure. Usually they'll have something in mind like, "we want a situation that brings out the conflict between Starbuck and Adama and helps develop her troubled feelings about where she belongs." How they think about it may change from ep to ep, but they'll always have that guide star, so to speak.

[spikexan]

Since GenCon 2005 (when I picked up PTA), I've manhandled my gaming group (they like it) into using the PTA structure for the majority of our games.  The hardest part my gaming group struggled with had to be the 5 or 9 Episode Seasons.  Our group rotates Storytellers/Directors with each game we play; furthermore, most of the guys and gals who run our games tend to be big on the "bring in the problems nice and slow so you're surprised when they blow up in your face."  The 5 Episode games weren't cutting it.

Anyway
Thanks to everybody who mentioned or replied to this particular thread.  Our group had settled on two block of 9 or two blocks of 9 and 5.  The reasoning behind the 9, then 5, then 9 structure is awesome and deceptively accurate.  It'll get us back into longer games on occassion, but should be fine.

In a related question, how often do most of you guys play?  Five years ago my answer would have been 3 or 4 nights a week.  Now my answer is 1 or 2 nights a week.

Todd