The Office / ER scheduling

Why do they keep going back and forth between reruns, new episodes,
reruns, new episodes, reruns, new episodes, reruns, new episodes?

karl...

You would rather no new episodes?

I guess what you mean is that you would like one contiguous 22 week block
of new episodes with re-runs for the other 30 weeks of the year?

BTR1701...

Yes, that would be better.

karl...

Not gonna happen.

BTR1701...

Perhaps not but it would still be better.

For two reasons: The sweeps periods and the desire to keep people's interest
up by interspersing new shows over a longer period than 22 weeks.

Stan Brown...

I agree with your prediction, but your reason is specious. In fact,
constantly slipping in reruns _dissipates_ interest. People get out

karl...

Assuming facts not in evidence - at least as a general rule. I understand
you feel it dissipates your interest and that might even be true. But I
wonder if it is so. They say the most annoying commercials are the most
effective. You may not like the practice but it might nevertheless keep you
tuning in.

We are all labrats in a maze looking for the hunk of cheese.

Assume for a moment that what you say is true - I don't. I think sprinkling
new shows over a longer run keeps people in the habit of watching - but
assume you are correct. That does not mean my reasoning is specious. It
would mean the networks assumption is incorrect.

of the rhythm of watching a "weekly" show weekly, and either discover
they can get along without it or give up in disgust after they miss a
new episode substituted for a scheduled rerun.

karl...

If they like the show they will likely watch the rerun - unless they know
there will be 30 weeks of continuous reruns. Thus they will stay in the
habit of watching XXXX show at #:## o'clock.

I'm not defending the practice, but I can see the reasoning

Stan Brown...

First, it wouldn't be "the other 30 weeks". There are easily eight
weeks of pre-emption for most shows. (The Olympics alone knocked out
everything for two weeks.)

But aside from that, YES. I would like 22 weeks of new episodes and
then re-run them in the original order. It would be a _hell_ of a lot
easier to plan TV viewing. That way I'd actually get to see episodes
I missed, or to re-view a whole series if it was a favorite.

Of course, that's why it won't happen. Network would rather trick us
into watching something again if they possibly can. And they wonder
why they're losing viewers.

They are alternating so that the new eps will 'last' longer.

Rob Jensen...

And the decision to keep airing The Office at 9:30pm through the end
of May came so late into their original plan to front-load the new
episodes, end in March and air Teachers in the timeslot (it's since
been moved to Tuesdays at 9:30, of course) that they added one *more*
episode to the order to help mitigate the number of reruns. Looks
like they're using primarily first-season reruns, which is IMO a good
choice, since practically no one (but us) saw them.

-- Rob

Default User...

Also, NBC had the Olympics during Feb sweeps, so there are some extra
new episodes compared to a more typical year at this time.

I'm tired of ER, too, except that Neela looked so cute when talking
about her cookies.

David...

"The Office" was originally supposed to end its season in March so it
aired a lot of new episodes early.

Milhouse Van Houten...

One thing I didn't realize until today, since all my listings indicated
otherwise: ER was *not* a rerun last night.