Why do American TV shows broadcast while shooting, and only 1-3 episodes are broadcast every week?

Many friends who like American TV dramas may know that American TV dramas are shot at the same time and it is difficult to keep up. Some dramas only broadcast two or three episodes a week, and some even broadcast one episode a week, unlike many countries such as China, which can broadcast two or three episodes or more in one night. So, why is this?

American TV shows are fiercely competitive and cruel, and they are generally not filmed before broadcast. Otherwise, if the two episodes don't have ratings, the TV station will stop broadcasting and then lose everything. So even if there is a complete and good script, we should shoot the first few episodes first. The American TV series tried to attract the attention of the audience in the first episode. In fact, because there are many ugly TV series, they were cut directly after two episodes.

Domestic TV dramas should be sent to the relevant departments for review and then approved by the relevant departments before they can be broadcast. In order to pass the censorship, everyone went to make anti-Japanese films.

Popular dramas often give rise to derivative dramas, and a typical example is CSI: Las Vegas. Different from the ordinary criminal investigation drama, it combines modern science and technology, makes a detailed, rigorous and easy-to-understand analysis of the physical evidence collected at the crime scene, and finally puts the murderer in a position where he has no self-defense ability, so that justice can be done scientifically. When the drama was first broadcast in 2000, it was immediately popular, and there were many intellectual elites who always sneered at commercial TV. Some criminal investigation majors in Europe and America even listed it as a teaching material. But the progress of the weekly episode makes fans impatient. Business opportunities are now or never. Following the same routine of "Let the evidence speak for itself", the producers successively released "CSI: new york" and "CSI: Miami", which is equivalent to broadcasting three episodes in one week to entertain the audience.

After spending money to shoot dozens of series, domestic investors are most worried about not finding buyers. American dramas are much more cautious in this respect. Before the official broadcast, they often shoot a guide drama that lasts for dozens of minutes, so that all the protagonists will appear and explain their relationship and possible contradictions. The director of the drama will hold a small-scale screening, invite the ordinary audience to watch it, and then let everyone express their opinions. According to the feedback, the producer decides whether to continue to invest, or where to modify and which roles to replace. Modern Family is a successful example in this respect. Because the characters in the play often talk to the camera, it smells like "mockumentary", and the play involves married couples, immigrants, adolescent education, gay children and other topics, the market reaction is really unpredictable. However, the guide drama was well received by the audience, and it really became an instant hit after it was officially launched. In recent years, it has become a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award for TV.

A wonderful pilot does not mean that the audience will always buy it. After all, they have the freedom to change channels at any time. In order to be prudent, producers usually shoot the first season, ranging from 12 episodes to more than 20 episodes, and pay close attention to the ratings after the TV broadcast to decide whether to invest in shooting the second season. If the ratings drop sharply during the broadcast, the original program may be changed suddenly. Many American TV dramas were stopped after a few years, and the decline in ratings was the main reason, such as Zeng Hongji's Prison Break. Desperate Housewives and Sex and the City ended after eight years of continuous broadcasting. In addition to the obvious decline in the plot, the actress's beauty faded and the audience's interest was greatly reduced, which was also one of the important reasons for stopping filming.

In addition, China has a strict censorship system when it is released, and it can only be broadcast after being reviewed by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, so it must be filmed to have time to ensure that it can pass the censorship, while the United States does not.

To sum up, the reason for shooting American TV series while broadcasting is: 1. For the sake of ratings, if the ratings are high, continue shooting, and if the ratings are low, stop shooting. The producer can shoot the next step according to the feedback from the audience. To a large extent, the audience is the screenwriter.

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