Saturday, April 16, 2011

The status of H50's hiatus

by carol

On April 15 at 2:45 am, executive producer Pete Lenkov tweeted that filming for the first season of Hawaii Five-0 was completed and they were on hiatus. However, the finale won’t air until May 16th, so perhaps that is when they’re really really on hiatus.

Dictionaries define hiatus as a break or interruption in the continuity of a work, series, action, etc. (See also: recess, gap, vacation, interlude, furlough)

In television scheduling, a hiatus refers to a break of at least several weeks in the normal schedule of a television program. It can occur during a season of a television program, or can be between television seasons.

A hiatus can be used to split up a program’s season and there can be several reasons for that. Some programs go on hiatus so that networks can reserve original episodes for airing during ratings sweeps (viewer tracking from which networks compute their advertising fees). Programs "return from hiatus" in time for the sweeps period to generate high ratings, and usually include special content such as guest stars, controversial and unexpected plots or topics, extended episodes and finales. For example, South Park usually airs seven new episodes during the spring sweeps, and seven more new episodes during the fall sweeps.

Being told by the network that your favorite show is “just on hiatus” is not necessarily a reassuring statement. A network may put a show on hiatus before canceling it. This temporary hiatus allows the network front office to:
  • re-evaluate the series quality in terms of actors, writing or production and make changes.
  • act as a warning to the producers to turn out a more profitable product.
  • air a different show in that timeslot to compare ratings.
There can also be, let’s say, “unique” reasons a show goes on hiatus.

In August 2009, VH1 put the reality series Megan Wants a Millionaire on indefinite hiatus. Contestant Ryan Alexander Jenkins was sought for questioning as a "person of interest" in the murder of Jasmine Fiore. The show was canceled when Jenkins' was charged with her murder.

Moonlight fans will never forget the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike which forced several television series to go on hiatus and deferred the scheduled returns of other series such as 24 for an extended period.

The television series 8 Simple Rules was put on a hiatus because of the death of main cast star John Ritter but eventually returned to the air.

The television series Two and a Half Men was/is on hiatus because of Charlie Sheen's rehab entry/exit while CBS decides whether to rehire/replace/retire the star.

The consensus is that H50 will be renewed for season two but network confirmation has not yet been given to anxious fans. The fact that CBS has sold syndication rights to TNT is the best evidence of renewal. At $2 million per episode (that's $48 million per season!), you can bet that CBS will pump out as many seasons of the tropical procedural as they can. 

1 comment:

  1. ALL series go on hiatus when they stop filming for the season -- basically, it's like school letting out for summer vacation. It's not worrisome in the least, but altogether normal! And yes, hiatus -- the actors' vacation from the show -- starts as soon as they're done filming.