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Midseason Replacement: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Announcer:''' The start of television's second most exciting season - midseason - is just two hundred exciting seconds away!
'''Lisa:''' Isn't midseason just a dumping ground for second-rate shows that weren't good enough for the fall schedule?
'''Homer:''' You're thinking of all the other years.|''[[The Simpsons]]'', "Homer to the Max"}}
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This leaves the [[Networks|network]] with an uncomfortable situation - how to fill out the rest of the season. Often, networks will throw up reruns of popular shows in the failed show's timeslot, or fill the void with [[Made for TV Movie|Made For TV Movies]] or other special programming. The usual go-to guy for such a situation, however, is the Midseason Replacement.
The Midseason Replacement is typically a show network execs don't consider strong enough to premiere at the beginning of a season, but is held in reserve for a premiere later when time slots are needed to be filled after another show has gone belly-up. Since the midseason replacement is considered to be a weaker show than what the network was originally hoping for, expectations often aren't very high. Another reason a show might be a midseason replacement is because of production problems - ''[[The Simpsons]]'' is one such notable example, as is ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' which simply had to wait for the rest of the network to premiere. Also, due to the need to stretch out episodes if a show airs over the entire TV season (September through May), a show may premiere midseason simply so they can air all the episodes with few or any breaks (this is especially common for serialized programming or reality shows).
Midseason replacements premiere, as the trope name suggests, in mid-season, which is typically anywhere from late December to early May. Any date later than that, and it's considered a '''late season replacement''', which can premiere from late May into June. Late season replacements are usually considered by networks to be very weak shows, may have only a very limited number of episodes ordered, and are considered to have almost no chance of actually being picked up. Cancellations before the show even premieres are not rare. A late season replacement may result from a network wishing to fill gaps in its summer programming, to provide an alternative to summer rerun schedules, or may have been originally slated as a potential midseason replacement but in which feared gaps in midseason programming never materialized.
Note that this trope only specifically applies to broadcast network programming in the United States; different countries have different conventions, and the practices of cable networks in the United States may vary just as greatly. For example, USA Network's ''[[Monk]]'', generally considered to be one of the strongest shows on cable, premiers new episodes in the middle summer months ''and'' winter months, in a unique (though common practice on [[USA Network]]) season split-up.
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Compare/contrast [[Summer Replacement Series]], which is a ''temporary'' replacement for a series in place of broadcasting [[Rerun]]s during a hiatus.
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{{examples|Inversions}}
* ''[[The Simpsons]]'', ''[[Law and Order|Law & Order]]'', and ''[[Seinfeld]]'', all of which were midseason premieres, and all of which became highly successful shows. ''Seinfeld'' in particular was threatened with cancellation at the conclusion of its initial season, a sparse 5 episodes, but was given a second chance, and the rest is history. ''[[The Simpsons]]'' was ''meant'' to be a fall premiere but several early episodes had to be re-animated.
** Similarly, ''[[All in The Family]]'' and ''[[Sanford and Son]]'' were both premiered in the spring and are remembered as two of the most classic examples of the [[
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''. Its first season was only twelve episodes. Sarah Michelle Gellar even commented that when she told people what she was working on, they said she would get something better next season.
* ''[[Family Guy]]'' - having been canceled and then [[
* ''[[
* [[Reality Show
* Most prime-time [[Animated Series]] are intentionally midseason replacements, the reasoning being that they're more expensive and time-consuming to produce and the networks don't want to have it all go to waste if the show bombs. So the first season is intentionally made shorter as a sort of trial run.
* ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' premiered in January, launching the UPN network. ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' also began its run in January. Both had shortened first seasons (albeit only marginally so for ''Deep Space Nine''), and both did well enough to last seven seasons.
* ''[[Toward the Terra]]'' is an anime example. After ''[[Ayakashi Ayashi]]'' flopped so badly that was canned midways, ''Terra'' was allowed to fill the gap, occupying TBS's anime primetime slot that previously housed "A grade" shows like ''[[Gundam Seed]]'', ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' and ''[[Blood
* ''[[The Office]]'' was not only a midseason premiere, it almost didn't last to a second season.
* ''[[Quantum Leap]]''.
* ''[[
* ''[[
* As was ''[[Castle]]''.
* ''[[
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Show Business]]
[[Category:Midseason Replacement]]
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