Over the years I have learned of shows that lasted less than ten episodes for their final seasons during the summer after the regular season ended, namely Perfect Strangers in July and August 1993 (which I personally remember from watching), as well as The Drew Carey Show last year.

Did any other shows do this?

Oops, I should have posted this to the "General Sitcoms Questions and Discussion" board! :eek: (Webmaster, could you please move it? Thanks in advance!)

mash only had 16 eps. its final season

Friends had a short final season something like 18 episodes, someone else might know for sure how many :)

The Drew Carey Show had a full season, they aired 2 episodes every Wednesday in the summer.

Originally posted by Lola Dane
Friends had a short final season something like 18 episodes, someone else might know for sure how many :)

yeah it was defintly 18

Originally posted by Lola Dane
Friends had a short final season something like 18 episodes, someone else might know for sure how many :)


That's not very short, a full season is 22 or 24 episodes. Not a big jump from 18.

Originally posted by USTVFanFromUK
That's not very short, a full season is 22 or 24 episodes. Not a big jump from 18. Its still shorter.

Originally posted by RurryJoeMicelli
Its still shorter.

So? 18 is pretty good since some shows even produce 18 episodes as the first season. Friends typically did 23 full episodes each season (NOT counting the clip shows) after season 6. Five episodes is no major difference.

I think Everybody Loves Raymond is only doing 16 episodes for it's final season.

Originally posted by USTVFanFromUK
So? 18 is pretty good since some shows even produce 18 episodes as the first season. Friends typically did 23 full episodes each season (NOT counting the clip shows) after season 6. Five episodes is no major difference. Yes..but its still shorter than a normal season.

Originally posted by USTVFanFromUK
That's not very short, a full season is 22 or 24 episodes. Not a big jump from 18.

If you say so, I seem to remember alot of FRIENDS fans being very upset because they felt they got robbed because Friends wasn't doing a full season in the final season. So I'd say it's still short compared to the normal 22/24

Becker went into its 6th (& final) season knowing there would only be 13 episodes produced.

Good Morning Miami ended its second and final season after airing only 9 episodes (though 18 were filmed).

Working ended its second and final season after airing 13 episodes though (17 were filmed).

Originally posted by USTVFanFromUK
So? 18 is pretty good since some shows even produce 18 episodes as the first season. Friends typically did 23 full episodes each season (NOT counting the clip shows) after season 6. Five episodes is no major difference.

Friends normally did 24-25 episodes per season. 18 is less than 24-25. Therefore it applies. You can't just not count the clip shows. They are episodes too.

18 episode seasons aren't THAT short, as a South Park and Sex And The City fan, I'm accustomed to them

No, but it's short compared to the average season length of the show, which is what the question is asking.

Originally posted by slackermonkey
No, but it's short compared to the average season length of the show, which is what the question is asking. Exactly

Originally posted by slackermonkey
No, but it's short compared to the average season length of the show, which is what the question is asking.


But the thing with Friends was NBC wanted to have a competition for fans to vote on their top 10 episodes that would be counted down as one long special. Since this occurred they couldn't possibly air new episodes with it unless they severely cut down on their other shows.

You've got it backwards.

The cast had anticipated that the ninth season would be their last, and started branching to other roles, mostly movies. When NBC wanted a tenth season, the cast wanted to return but still had those other commitments at the time, so they agreed to do an abbreviated season of 18 episodes as a compromise. That way, they could be done by January and filming wouldn't take up as much of their time.

To compensate for the six missing episodes, NBC ran the top six (not ten) best episodes as voted by fans to fill the missing slots.

Originally posted by slackermonkey
You've got it backwards.

The cast had anticipated that the ninth season would be their last, and started branching to other roles, mostly movies. When NBC wanted a tenth season, the cast wanted to return but still had those other commitments at the time, so they agreed to do an abbreviated season of 18 episodes as a compromise. That way, they could be done by January and filming wouldn't take up as much of their time.

To compensate for the six missing episodes, NBC ran the top six (not ten) best episodes as voted by fans to fill the missing slots.

Aw! Thanks! I was confused.

not a final season, but if HBO and Sarah Jessica Parker had decided to end Sex And The City after season 5 (it ran one more season), it would've been.

Only 8 episodes were produced for that season, while seasons 2-4 had 18 each and season 6 had 20. But they rapidly cut production in season 5 over both Sarah and Cynthia's pregnancies.

The Parent Hood only had 11 episodes in its last season in the summer of 1999- this gave them 90 episodes total- I'm guessing they did that to have an even number of shows for syndication,

Hangin With Mr Cooper only had 13 and like Parent Hood they ran in the summer, but in this case the show was already syndicated at the time, the last year was I guess an effort to bring the show up to 100 episodes- in fact they did 101,

Becker had 13 episodes in its last year

I have a feeling Yes Dear is going to end this season and from what I have heard they are only doing 13 episodes of it.

Was there ever a show that had an abbreviated number of episodes ordered for what looked ike its final season that actually came back the following season or later in prime time (not in first run syndication) and continued to air for awhile?

Originally posted by jamesanthony
Was there ever a show that had an abbreviated number of episodes ordered for what looked ike its final season that actually came back the following season or later in prime time (not in first run syndication) and continued to air for awhile?

Step By Step only had a handful of episodes in spring 1997 and ABC cancelled it, but then CBS picked it up and it ran one final full season on there.

Room 222 was cancelled 13 episodes into its 5th season in 1973-1974 because of low ratings.It ended in January 1974.

Love American Style was cancelled the same way. It ended in January 1974 with 13 episodes being ran into its 5th season.

Daktari was cancelled in January 1969 after just 13 episodes being aired in its 4th season.

Originally posted by BuffySlayer79
Step By Step only had a handful of episodes in spring 1997 and ABC cancelled it, but then CBS picked it up and it ran one final full season on there.

Are you sure? TVTome.com indicates that that show had a full 7 seasons.

I couldn't get any info on Daktari, but if it did have a short final year that means that it both began and ended in midseason, which is pretty rare. Nanny and the Professor (jan 1970- Dec 1971) is the only other show I know that did that although I am sure there are others that did this.

Daktari began in January 1966 and ended in January 1969.

As for Step By Step, TVTome does show that it ran from March to August 1997 for its sixth season and then moved to CBS. However, the final CBS season was only 17 episodes, compared with 22-24 for the ABC seasons.

So the final season was short.

Originally posted by jamesanthony
Are you sure? TVTome.com indicates that that show had a full 7 seasons.

I stand corrected, the 6th season of SBS did run 24 episodes, but the season premiere was in March 1997, so I figured that it had a short 10-12 episode run that season, instead of running through the summer

Originally posted by Riff
[BAlso, "Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer" (truncated second season due to Stacy Keach's prison sentence) [/B]

That's unintentionally funny- that an actor playing a detective had to put his series on hold because he was in jail.

the last two seasons of Simon And Simon were both short, CBS cancelled it in spring 1987 but then brought it back for a mid-season replacement at the end of 87 and ratings were up considerably from the past season, so they ended up bringing it back in the 88-89 season but the ratings plummetted so it was axed after 10 or 12 episodes.

Rhoda's' final season in 1978 was only 13 shows and a few of those weren't aired until it went into syndication......

Suburgatory's final season was only 13 episodes. First two seasons had 22 episodes each.

Moonlighting: abortive fifth and final season in 1988-89 (13 episodes)

Remington Steele: abortive fifth and final season that was simply a series of TV movies in 1987

Friends had a short final season something like 18 episodes, someone else might know for sure how many :)

The reason for "Friends" shorter last season was they had it in their contracts. It wasn't the networks decision but the casts' decision. They were NBC's number 1 show and they knew they could get anything they wanted.

I'm pretty sure most shows have shortened last seasons because alot of them have sinking ratings and the networks would rather put a new show in the slot that could bring in more viewers.

It wasn't always this way, but the "victory lap season" idea has become common lately, where long-running shows getting low ratings are given a short send-off to prevent fans from getting pissed off. Seems to have gotten more acceptable as a) shorter seasons in general have become more common and b) ratings have dropped overall and networks are more willing to air low-rated shows to keep fans happy (in the past a show probably would've just been cancelled if it was doing poorly no matter how many years it ran.)

I believe Mr. Ed had 13 episodes in its 6th and final season

Parks and Recreation, a 12 episode final season seven (the final episode was an hour) , bookending a 6 episode first season.

30 Rock, 13 episode final season.

Mike and Molly's final season is only 13 episodes.

Moonlighting: abortive fifth and final season in 1988-89 (13 episodes)

Remington Steele: abortive fifth and final season that was simply a series of TV movies in 1987

Wasn't that during the period in which Pierce Brosnan was contractually obligated to come back to work when he was previously thought to have succeeded Roger Moore in the James Bond role (which instead, went to Timothy Dalton)?

Did Moonlighting ever have a "complete" season during its run? It seemed like it became a running gag for how ridiculously long it took for new episodes to air. Reading on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Moonlighting_episodes), the most episodes that were completed in a season, were 18 in Season 2. The final three seasons, didn't have an episode total any higher than 15 (Season 3).

Magnum P.I. only had 13 episodes in its final season (1987-88). Apparently, the seventh season finale (where Thomas Magnum is shot, ends up in a coma, and apparently ultimately dies and goes to heaven after being stuck in "limbo") was supposed to be the series finale. But viewers protested because they didn't want the series to end on such a downbeat/bittersweet note.

Wasn't that during the period in which Pierce Brosnan was contractually obligated to come back to work when he was previously thought to have succeeded Roger Moore in the James Bond role (which instead, went to Timothy Dalton)?

Did Moonlighting ever have a "complete" season during its run? It seemed like it became a running gag for how ridiculously long it took for new episodes to air. Reading on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Moonlighting_episodes), the most episodes that were completed in a season, were 18 in Season 2. The final three seasons, didn't have an episode total any higher than 15 (Season 3).

Per Remington Steele, yes, Pierce Brosnan thought he was ready to succeed Roger Moore as Bond then, but, IIRC, NBC called him back and said, "Sorry, we need you-- we renewed," and he had to come back.

And per Moonlighting, it never had a full season's worth of episodes during its run; it was plagued by production problems all the way, thereby making its 66-outing run kind of low for a five-season series (usually 66 would be the total for a three-season series).

Did Moonlighting ever have a "complete" season during its run? It seemed like it became a running gag for how ridiculously long it took for new episodes to air. Reading on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Moonlighting_episodes), the most episodes that were completed in a season, were 18 in Season 2. The final three seasons, didn't have an episode total any higher than 15 (Season 3).Cybill Shepherd was on Johnny Carson last night. It sounds like she didn't like Moonlighting much, with comments saying the show being done was like getting out of prison and working with Bruce Willis was like being rats in a cage.

Seems like a few of CBS' sitcoms had shorter final seasons. IIRC, How I Met Your Mother and Two and a Half Men ended in February or March, instead of airing in May.

King Of Queens season 9 had only 13 episodes

Per Remington Steele, yes, Pierce Brosnan thought he was ready to succeed Roger Moore as Bond then, but, IIRC, NBC called him back and said, "Sorry, we need you-- we renewed," and he had to come back.

And per Moonlighting, it never had a full season's worth of episodes during its run; it was plagued by production problems all the way, thereby making its 66-outing run kind of low for a five-season series (usually 66 would be the total for a three-season series).

http://www.looper.com/8717/biggest-tv-fights-happened-behind-scenes/

MOONLIGHTING
If you were to look up the term "Miserable TV Set" in the Hollywood dictionary, odds are good that Moonlighting would pictured next to the definition. The '80s dramedy, starring Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis, was fraught with tension from day one and lasted until the very end of the show's fifth and final season, according to a 1989 article in People. Among the causes: Willis' blossoming film career, catalyzed by 1988's Die Hard; and Shepherd's pregnancy in 1987 that caused the production schedule to fall out of place. "Willis … suddenly cared a lot 'about not working, about getting out of work, leaving work early,'" a source told People at the time. Willis also threw a loud, violent tantrum on set after the production schedule "threatened to cut into a planned afternoon getaway." Great!

Read More: http://www.looper.com/8717/biggest-tv-fights-happened-behind-scenes/?utm_campaign=clip