Due 4/20/2010 with # 3
New member
Does anybody know why the average full season of a saturday morning show is 13 episodes, as opposed to the 24-episode average of weekly prime time shows?
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What's the point of 13-episode saturday morning seasons?
- Thread starter Due 4/20/2010 with # 3
- Start date
HT is ritired
New member
But the average prime time show has around 24 episodes (I have a feeling the average number of episodes in a prime time season have shortened, but aside from The Simpsons and Family Guy I have no evidence of that). Could kids be more understanding of frequent repeats, or could there just be smaller budgets for saturday mornings?
Of course it seems some kids shows might have a varried number of episodes per season, but 13 seems like the usual number for first seasons. Muppet Babies had a slightly different number of episodes for each season, but 13 was the number for the first year. I'm sure that Gummi Bears had 13-episode seasons every year. And shows that were cancled after one season had only 13 episodes (examples include Hey Vern It's Ernest, The Weird Al Show, and Santo Bugito). Though amazingly each production season of Fraggle Rock had 24 episodes (the last two seasons were broadcast as 13-episode seasons but were all produced the same year).
Of course it seems some kids shows might have a varried number of episodes per season, but 13 seems like the usual number for first seasons. Muppet Babies had a slightly different number of episodes for each season, but 13 was the number for the first year. I'm sure that Gummi Bears had 13-episode seasons every year. And shows that were cancled after one season had only 13 episodes (examples include Hey Vern It's Ernest, The Weird Al Show, and Santo Bugito). Though amazingly each production season of Fraggle Rock had 24 episodes (the last two seasons were broadcast as 13-episode seasons but were all produced the same year).
The average season for a television show is around 3-5 months, a 13 episode season can last around 3-3/13 months which is perfect for an animated series that may start in the fall and last through the holidays in an attempt to sell toys and other merch for Christmas. Plus sometimes a season will take a break during the middle of the season to stretch out the low episode count a little longer and then restart premiers up shortly after that so a 13 episode season could essentially drag out to beyond 4 months easily.
I prefer a longer season than 13 episodes to be honest, but I can see why a lot of animated series do it, especially for the Saturday morning crowd where shows are always changing and some pop up for a season and never return. I chalk it up to a revolving market.
I prefer a longer season than 13 episodes to be honest, but I can see why a lot of animated series do it, especially for the Saturday morning crowd where shows are always changing and some pop up for a season and never return. I chalk it up to a revolving market.
StunnaBaybeeh
New member
Cartoons get the short end of the stick all around (unless the cartoon is super successful, which is rare). Shorter episode length, shorter seasons, less seasons. It sucks.