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Iconic TV Series

60 cards · 🇺🇸 English

Landmark television shows and the trivia behind them.

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What is a television show?

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  1. 1What is a television show?
    Content produced for viewing on a television set, transmitted via over-the-air, satellite, cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platforms
  2. 2What is a television series?
    A regularly recurring show, where an individual segment is called an episode
  3. 3What is a season in North American television?
    A set of episodes that typically runs from September through May, originally consisting of 24-26 episodes (now around 22 episodes)
  4. 4What does the UK call a season?
    A series (the terminology differs: UK uses 'series' where North America uses 'season')
  5. 5What is a miniseries?
    A very short, closed-ended series, typically six or more hours in two or more parts, like Roots (1977) or North and South (1985)
  6. 6What is a television pilot?
    The prototype first episode of a series used to gauge whether a network will pick up the show
  7. 7When was the first weekly televised variety show?
    1948, when Texaco Star Theater made the move from radio to television, earning host Milton Berle the name 'Mr. Television'
  8. 8What was the first national live television broadcast in the US?
    September 4, 1951, when President Harry Truman's speech at the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference was transmitted coast-to-coast
  9. 9When was the first national color broadcast in the US?
    January 1, 1954 (the Tournament of Roses Parade)
  10. 10What is deficit financing in TV production?
    When a studio finances the production cost and a network pays a license fee that doesn't cover production costs, with the studio making money back through syndication and DVD sales
  11. 11What is broadcast syndication?
    When a show (usually after 100 episodes) has its broadcast rights resold for cash or barter exchange to other networks
  12. 12What demographic do advertisers most want to reach?
    Viewers within the 18-49 age range, who watch less television and are harder to reach
  13. 13What are Nielsen ratings?
    Audience measurement ratings that determine if a show is kept alive or canceled
  14. 14Which 1980s shows pioneered dramatic structure with progressive change?
    Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere were two of the first US prime time dramas to have story arcs with progressive change
  15. 15How long are US hour-long dramas (excluding ads)?
    37-42 minutes in length
  16. 16How long are US sitcoms produced for 30-minute slots?
    18-21 minutes long
  17. 17How long are BBC dramas?
    57-59 minutes (longer due to lack of advertising breaks)
  18. 18What is the typical running time for most French TV shows?
    52 minutes on nearly all French networks
  19. 19What shows ended on their own terms with a series finale?
    Seinfeld, The Cosby Show, Corner Gas, and M*A*S*H
  20. 20Which show was revived due to strong home video viewership?
    Family Guy in the US (canceled then brought back due to DVD sales)
  21. 21What expensive pilot cost $10-14 million in 2004?
    Lost's two-hour pilot
  22. 22What 2010 pilot cost $18 million?
    Boardwalk Empire's first episode
  23. 23How much could Grey's Anatomy charge per commercial in 2007-08?
    $419,000 per commercial, compared to only $248,000 for CSI despite CSI having almost 5 million more viewers
  24. 24What is a midseason replacement?
    A less-expensive short-run show (10-13 episodes) designed to replace an original series that failed to garner an audience
  25. 25What is pre-production in TV?
    Tasks including storyboarding, set/props/costume construction, casting, budgeting, and acquiring resources like lighting and special effects
  26. 26What is principal photography?
    The actual filming of the episode with director, actors, and crew gathering at a studio or location
  27. 27What happens in post-production?
    Video editing, adding visual and digital effects, recording music, and assembling the completed show
  28. 28What is an Outside Broadcast crew?
    Mobile television studios (scanners or OB trucks) used to cover live events, crewed by up to 15 skilled operators
  29. 29Which British comedies were built by just one or two writers?
    Monty Python's Flying Circus, Fawlty Towers, Blackadder, and The Office
  30. 30What is an anthology series?
    A series where each season tells a different story, like American Horror Story, Fargo, and True Detective

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