Burning off (television)
Encyclopedia
Burning off is the low-profile airing of otherwise-abandoned unaired television programs, usually by scheduling
in far less important time slots
or on less important sister station
s. Abandoned programs may be burned off because they have to air to meet contractural or legal requirements, or because their use as "filler" may be perceived as slightly more profitable than other fillers.
for shows that were not going to be picked up, such as The Art of Being Nick
, Seinfeld
, and Barney Miller
. In the latter two cases, the pilot proved popular enough that a series was eventually commissioned. The anthology series Love, American Style
was devoted to numerous failed pilots such as these.
Since the late 1990s, episodes of long-running shows, that are no longer hits and have been taken off the schedule, have been burned off. The Drew Carey Show
is an example of a series whose last episodes were burned off. In many cases, instead of airing the episodes during the regular season, the episodes are held back and presented in summer to fulfill the network's obligation to air them, and to produce a return on their investment. Some programs may not air in even this form; in 2010 the final unaired episodes of the little-promoted ABC
comedy Better Off Ted
were to be used solely as a filler just in case the 2010 NBA Finals
were over after five games. However, the Finals were a full seven-game series, and the remainder of Better Off Ted was shelved.
Other examples include in television syndication
, having a station pick up one program solely to air another, as was the case in 2009 when a syndicator offered stripped
repeats of MTV
's Laguna Beach
which were of little interest to viewers or the stations themselves, but eventually led into the more popular MTV series The Hills
, which was part of the same package. (The idea of bundling related series into one syndication package is not always considered burning off; shows such as The Golden Girls
and Three's Company
have had their spin-offs bundled together due to the strong continuity between the original series and the spin-off.)
Often, the program is moved to a sister
cable network
into low-profile time slots to mute collateral damage to the main broadcast's schedule as much as possible. Such was the case with NBC
's broadcast airing of Quarterlife
, the ABC
pagent reality series All American Girl
, and ABC's Greg Behrendt
's Wake Up Call. In these cases, Quarterlife aired in one-day marathon form on NBC's Bravo, while All American Girl was quickly placed on ABC Family
. In the case of Wake Up Call, the show never aired on ABC due to several factors, including the failure of Berhendt's self-titled talk show
in the same season, and a reality
glut in the 2006–07 summer season. The program was held until January 2009, when it had a short run on ABC's SoapNet
. Fox
similarly dumped canceled comedy Running Wilde
on sister station FX, which consigned the show to four different time slots during the burn off.
Another case was on cable, when the final five episodes of SyFy
's Caprica
were burned off on January 4, 2011 after the network determined that it would neither renew the series nor be able to support a traditional finale due to scheduling factors.
Scheduling (broadcasting)
Broadcast programming or scheduling is the practice of organizing television shows or radio programs in a daily, weekly, or season-long schedule. Modern broadcasters use broadcast automation to regularly change the scheduling of their programs to build an audience for a new show, retain that...
in far less important time slots
Graveyard slot
A graveyard slot is a time period in which a television audience is very small compared to other times of the day, and therefore broadcast programming is considered far less important. Graveyard slots are usually in the early morning hours of each day, when most people are asleep...
or on less important sister station
Sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio and/or television stations operated by the same ownership....
s. Abandoned programs may be burned off because they have to air to meet contractural or legal requirements, or because their use as "filler" may be perceived as slightly more profitable than other fillers.
Methods
Up through the 1990s, this often meant the airing of pilotsTelevision pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
for shows that were not going to be picked up, such as The Art of Being Nick
The Art of Being Nick
The Art of Being Nick is an American sitcom pilot created by Bruce Helford, that aired on NBC on August 27, 1987. The pilot stars Scott Valentine as artist/environmentalist Nick Moore, who appeared as Mallory's boyfriend in Family Ties...
, Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
, and Barney Miller
Barney Miller
Barney Miller is a situation comedy television series set in a New York City police station in Greenwich Village. The series originally was broadcast from January 23, 1975 to May 20, 1982 on ABC. It was created by Danny Arnold and Theodore J. Flicker...
. In the latter two cases, the pilot proved popular enough that a series was eventually commissioned. The anthology series Love, American Style
Love, American Style
Love, American Style is an hour-long TV anthology produced by Paramount Television and originally aired between September 1969 and January 1974...
was devoted to numerous failed pilots such as these.
Since the late 1990s, episodes of long-running shows, that are no longer hits and have been taken off the schedule, have been burned off. The Drew Carey Show
The Drew Carey Show
The Drew Carey Show is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from 1995 to 2004. The show was set in Cleveland, Ohio, and revolved around the retail office and home life of "everyman" Drew Carey, a fictionalized version of the actor....
is an example of a series whose last episodes were burned off. In many cases, instead of airing the episodes during the regular season, the episodes are held back and presented in summer to fulfill the network's obligation to air them, and to produce a return on their investment. Some programs may not air in even this form; in 2010 the final unaired episodes of the little-promoted ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
comedy Better Off Ted
Better Off Ted
Better Off Ted is an American satirical situation comedy series, created and written by Victor Fresco , who also serves as the show's Executive Producer...
were to be used solely as a filler just in case the 2010 NBA Finals
2010 NBA Finals
The 2010 NBA Finals was the National Basketball Association championship series for the 2009–10 season. The best-of-seven playoff was contested between the Los Angeles Lakers, champions of the Western Conference and defending NBA champions, and the Boston Celtics, champions of the Eastern Conference...
were over after five games. However, the Finals were a full seven-game series, and the remainder of Better Off Ted was shelved.
Other examples include in television syndication
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
, having a station pick up one program solely to air another, as was the case in 2009 when a syndicator offered stripped
Stripping (television)
In broadcast programming, stripping is the practice of running a television series at the same time daily , so that it appears as a strip straight across the weekly schedule...
repeats of MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
's Laguna Beach
Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County
Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, often referred to simply as Laguna Beach, is a reality television series which originally aired on MTV from September 28, 2004 until November 16, 2006. It documents the lives of several teenagers living in Laguna Beach, an affluent seaside community located in...
which were of little interest to viewers or the stations themselves, but eventually led into the more popular MTV series The Hills
The Hills
The Hills is a reality television series which originally aired on MTV from May 31, 2006 until July 13, 2010. The show uses a reality television format, following the personal lives of several young adults living in Los Angeles, California, but tends towards a narrative format more commonly found...
, which was part of the same package. (The idea of bundling related series into one syndication package is not always considered burning off; shows such as The Golden Girls
The Golden Girls
The Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris, which originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. Starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, the show centers on four older women sharing a home in Miami, Florida...
and Three's Company
Three's Company
Three's Company is an American sitcom that aired from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984, on ABC. It is based on the British sitcom, Man About the House....
have had their spin-offs bundled together due to the strong continuity between the original series and the spin-off.)
Often, the program is moved to a sister
Sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio and/or television stations operated by the same ownership....
cable network
Cable network
A cable channel is a television channel available via cable television. Such channels are usually also available via satellite television, including direct broadcast satellite providers such as DirecTV, Dish Network and BSkyB...
into low-profile time slots to mute collateral damage to the main broadcast's schedule as much as possible. Such was the case with NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's broadcast airing of Quarterlife
Quarterlife
Quarterlife is an American web series, also briefly an NBC television series, created by Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, the creators of Thirtysomething and Once and Again, and producers of My So-Called Life...
, the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
pagent reality series All American Girl
All American Girl (2003 TV series)
All American Girl is a 2003 reality competition that started with 45 females vying for the title of the same name. In the first episode the field of 45 is cut down to 15 by means of a talent show competition and obstacle course. At the talent show and obstacle course, three coaches decided who...
, and ABC's Greg Behrendt
Greg Behrendt
Gregory Behrendt is an American stand-up comedian and author. His work as a script consultant to the HBO sitcom Sex and the City, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, paved the way for co-authoring of the New York Times bestseller He's Just Not That into You , later adapted into a film by the same name...
's Wake Up Call. In these cases, Quarterlife aired in one-day marathon form on NBC's Bravo, while All American Girl was quickly placed on ABC Family
ABC Family
ABC Family, stylized as abc family, is an American television network, owned by ABC Family Worldwide Inc., a subsidiary of the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company...
. In the case of Wake Up Call, the show never aired on ABC due to several factors, including the failure of Berhendt's self-titled talk show
The Greg Behrendt Show
The Greg Behrendt Show is a daytime talk show which premiered in syndication on September 12, 2006. The show was distributed by Sony Pictures Television and was taped at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City....
in the same season, and a reality
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
glut in the 2006–07 summer season. The program was held until January 2009, when it had a short run on ABC's SoapNet
SOAPnet
SOAPnet is an American cable television channel that broadcasts current and past soap operas and primetime dramas, along with some original programming. The channel launched on January 20, 2000, and is owned by Disney-ABC Television Group, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
. Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
similarly dumped canceled comedy Running Wilde
Running Wilde
Running Wilde was an American comedy television series created by Mitchell Hurwitz for the Fox Network. It starred Will Arnett as Steve Wilde, a self-centered, idle bachelor and heir to an oil fortune...
on sister station FX, which consigned the show to four different time slots during the burn off.
Another case was on cable, when the final five episodes of SyFy
Syfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
's Caprica
Caprica (TV series)
Caprica is a science fiction drama television series. It is a spin-off prequel of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, taking place about 58 years prior to the events of Battlestar Galactica. Caprica shows how humanity first created the robotic Cylons who would later plot to destroy humans in...
were burned off on January 4, 2011 after the network determined that it would neither renew the series nor be able to support a traditional finale due to scheduling factors.
See also
- Ashcan copyAshcan copyAn ashcan copy is a term that originated in the Golden Age of Comic Books, meant to describe a publication produced solely for legal purposes , and not normally intended for distribution.-Origins:...
— publications created only to fulfill obligations rather than for popular distribution