HIATUS THEORY

[nonnie]

I have a theory about the HIATUS… this year the writer seem to have a block buster episode before each of the hiatus… I am thinking they are doing that to reel us back into the show. If they pace the show so that every time we have a forced break there is a cliff hanging episode we are more likely to make a point of coming back to watch the show.

WHAT DO YOU THINK???

NONNIE
.
.

[timothyjlarson]

I think the next few episodes are going to be rather cliff hangeresque at the end or at least more action packed. We do need to keep in mind that we got one more episode before the winter hiatus this year as compared with the first season. I would guess there will need to be another two week hiatus at some point so that the season finale is around the same time as the first seasons.

You can be sure I will be looking forward to the next episode no matter. 😀

[Myril]

Particular Sunday primetime shows suffer at this time of the year, have been through this with the series Cold Case for a couple of years – but they made 7 seasons, so it can work. Irregular schedules for a longer period can kill a show, no matter how good it is. Humans are creatures of habit 😉

As I see it, the thing is not just to keep people interested, die hard fans are anyway and they keep track of when the show is back, but thinking of average audience here, interested in the show but not so much as to keep such a close watch on it, and I think that is still the majority of viewers. Noticed that the biggest problem with them seems to be, to let them know when the show is on air again, it can be confusing with all the little breaks (and some people have other things to do then be all up-to-date about TV schedules, can’t understand it, but know there are ;)). So they have to do some promotion, and enough to get through all this big promotion for the big events, to let people know, not just that the show is still airing but when. Of course promo has to be interesting enough to make people want to watch it instead of doing something else then watching TV on a Sunday eve for a change, after Sundays with hours of football and glamorous red carpet and awards broadcast. So it’s more about doing good promo in my opinion. Besides that they have to do good writing anyway to keep people interested in the show, no matter if they have to wait one or occasionally two weeks for the next episode.

Don’t think “In the Name of the Brother” had true cliffhanger qualities or was a block buster. So, no don’t see the writer do some extra effort to get over the breaks. They are building up a story, go on with some threads, weave in new ones and work for some climax, but to me it looks more like a quite normal build up of a second half of a season of a show with ongoing story lines.

¯\_(?????? ?)_/¯

[MatthewPaul]

I think it has more to do with the way ABC has to schedule the show. They weren’t going to compete with the Super Bowl and they have to air the Oscars this Sunday. If any episodes are produced with hiatuses in mind, it would be the mid-Season finale, the episode before the Oscar hiatus, the episode before the April hiatus, and the Season finale. Here is the rundown:

Season 1
Episode before Thanksgiving Hiatus: “The Price of Gold” – No significant cliffhanger. Just that Emma makes her deal with Gold, which wouldn’t be acted upon until Mid-Season 2.
Winter Finale: “Heart is a Lonely Hunter” – Ended on the cliffhanger of Graham dying.
Episode before Super Bowl Hiatus: “Fruit of the Poisonous Tree” – No significant cliffhanger. Just the reveal that Sidney was secretly still working alongside Regina. You could make a case that “Skin Deep” was hyped as the next episode.
Episode before Oscar Hiatus: “What Happened to Frederick” – Ended with the cliffhanger of Regina suddenly making Kathryn disappear, therefore leading into the infamous “Mara Margaret is framed” story arc.
Episode before April Hiatus: “The Stable Boy” – Ended with the reveal that Kathyrn is not dead, and therefore ending the “Mara Margaret is framed” story arc.
Season Finale: “A Land Without Magic” – Ended with the curse broken, but Rumple introducing magic into Storybrooke.

Season 2
Episode before Thanksgiving Hiatus: “Child of the Moon” – This was more or less a filler episode with not too big of a cliffhanger. Just Henry and Aurora communicating, which leads into “Into the Deep,”
Winter Finale: “Queen of Hearts” – Ended with the resolution of the “Trapped in Present Day FTL” story arc, and with the cliffhanger of Hook and Cora approaching Storybrooke.
Episode before Super Bowl Hiatus – No significant cliffhanger. Just that Greg lied to Emma about what he saw, foreshadowing his knowledge of magic as a threat. Still wasn’t a blockbuster episode, and we have yet to see Greg’s real significance. Returning episode was “Tiny”, which was also not a blockbuster episode.
Episode before Oscar Hiatus: “Manhattan” – Ended with the reveal of the prophecy regarding Henry, and left us hanging as Mr. Gold starred at Henry.
Episode before April Hiatus: To Be Determined, but will likely end with a significant cliffhanger.
Season Finale: To Be Determined, but you can bet it will end with something big that will make us beg to see Season 3.

[nonnie]

I just wish they would go ahead and give us something alternative to watch. A nice filler story that can add value to the DVD. I do not think I ever watch the other shows award events / football since they are of no interest to me. I usually find something more useful to do.

Nonnie .

[beastwhisperer]

Yeah, I don’t like football or awards shows, so there is literally nothing for me to watch during the hiatus periods. I just don’t watch tv during the hiatus. If I’m not really devoted to a series I can easily lose interest and walk away, as a result. Once has me hooked (since season one), but I understand how easy it is to lose track of a show when you develop a new pattern instead of casually watching that program.

[Author]

Posts