The TV Column

Ever-shortening TV season begins 2016 wrap

Blue Bloods, starring Tom Selleck and Bridget Moynahan, ends its sixth season at 9 p.m. Friday on CBS. These days it seems shows end their seasons earlier and earlier.
Blue Bloods, starring Tom Selleck and Bridget Moynahan, ends its sixth season at 9 p.m. Friday on CBS. These days it seems shows end their seasons earlier and earlier.

We've finally entered the homestretch of the 2015-16 TV season when, ready or not, season finales begin to kick in.

Does it seem too soon? It really must for those of us old enough to remember when a TV season actually lasted from September into June, before summer replacements or reruns took over.

Back in the day, boys and girls, a TV series would have more -- sometimes many more -- episodes than the typical 22 they crank out today.

MAS*H, for example, was on for 11 seasons, with one having 26 episodes and four others having 25. If you think that's impressive, the first season of I Love Lucy in 1951-52 had 35 episodes. Even the final season (1956-57) had 27.

Friends churned out nine seasons with 24 or 25 episodes before the final 10th of only 18.

Over on the more expensive drama side, Gunsmoke, TV's longest running drama (1955-75), aired an amazing 635 episodes. Of those, 233 were half hours and 402 were 60 minutes.

Even in its final season, Gunsmoke turned out 24 episodes. Season 12 had boasted 29.

Here's the problem with today's business model. A glance at the calendar reveals that the TV season runs 33 to 36 weeks, from mid-September to the last week of May. If a series only has 22 episodes, something has to fill the void for almost three months.

Before DVRs and On Demand, networks could get away with plugging in re-runs to stretch a season. In 1997, NBC even tried to sugar-coat the sea of summer reruns with the slogan, "If you haven't seen it, it's new to you."

Well, if you had seen it, it was just another dang rerun.

Reruns don't sell anymore. Literally. Increasingly, broadcast networks will plug the gaps with six- or 13-episode midseason tryouts and introduce new series in the summer to counter the fresh programming of cable and streaming video services.

Season finales. A dozen series, such as ABC's Last Man Standing and Dr. Ken, have already finished until fall. Meanwhile, the Season 6 finale of Blue Bloods airs at 9 p.m. Friday on CBS. In the episode "Blowback" (No. 22 this year), CBS says, "Frank, the mayor, Erin and the DA's office deal with public outrage when a grand jury fails to indict an NYPD officer for the controversial shooting of a teen, which was caught on video."

Ripped from the headlines. It's rated TV-14 for language and violence.

A good chunk of fan-favorite programming will call it quits Sunday. Series going away for the summer include Madam Secretary and Elementary on CBS.

For CBS' The Good Wife, it'll be the series finale as we wrap up seven seasons of storylines and see whether Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies) has redefined the definition of good.

Fox's Wednesday night lineup wraps up Tuesday with Grandfathered, New Girl and The Grinder bringing down the curtain.

On May 12, The Big Bang Theory and 2 Broke Girls turn out the lights, and Scandal ends its season on ABC.

The week of May 15 will bring the networks' upfront presentations, where they unveil fall lineups and we find out what has been renewed or canceled.

NBC and Fox make announcements May 16. ABC has the floor May 17. CBS takes over May 18, and The CW wraps it up May 19.

Meanwhile, 28 series close shop the week of May 15, with another 30 bowing out during the month's final week.

Note: Mike & Molly's series finale airs at 7 p.m. May 16.

SUMMER SHOWS

Long gone are those wonderfully cheap and frequently cheesy summer fillers such as The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine (1971), The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour (1969-72), and Shields and Yarnell (1977).

That last show, by the way, was the very apex of mime comedy on television. It has gone downhill since.

These days, the networks, cable outlets and streaming video services need to keep viewers entertained all summer or they'll go off to the competition and might never come back.

Here are a few examples of what's ahead just through the end of the month.

Friday: Grace and Frankie (Netflix).

Wednesday: Chelsea (Netflix).

May 15: Undercover Boss (8 p.m., CBS).

May 18: Royal Pains (9 p.m., USA).

May 20: Lady Dynamite (Netflix).

May 21: All the Way (7 p.m., HBO).

May 22: Food Network Star (8 p.m., Food); Preacher (9 p.m., AMC).

May 23: The Bachelorette (7 p.m., ABC); Whose Line Is It Anyway? (8 p.m., The CW).

May 25: Wayward Pines (8 p.m., Fox).

May 27: Bloodline (Netflix).

May 30: So You Think You Can Dance (7 p.m., Fox); Mistresses (9 p.m., ABC); Roots (8 p.m., A&E, History and Lifetime); Scream (9 p.m., MTV).

May 31: America's Got Talent (7 p.m., NBC); Feed the Beast (9 p.m., AMC); Maya and Marty in Manhattan (9 p.m., NBC); Powers (PlayStation Network).

The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:

mstorey@arkansasonline.com

Weekend on 05/05/2016

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