Week one hundred and sixty-two - March 2011
Did a bit of writing for this season’s finale of The Office. So much fun.
There are lots of cynics (or maybe just people not in the actual business of making TV shows) asking the question, “Oh why don’t they just axe The Office?” I of course pulled the plug on the original version after a measly seven or so hours of television. I stand by that decision and believe it’s part of the reason why it, and the franchise in general, has been so successful ever since.
So why isn’t the American version afforded the same reverence?
I suppose it has gone on a very long time and the loss of Steve Carell could mean the end of an era, but let me explain something; In the US TV industry, a show as successful as The Office will never stop.
Here’s why.
If you can keep going for about 70 episodes you can get a low level syndication. That is, sell the series you’ve already made and been paid for to a second broadcaster at 100% profit.
The real magic number though is about 100 episodes. Then you can strip the show across 4 days a week at a given time for about 6 months a year. (We’re on about 150 episodes at the moment and have another season commissioned.)
200 episodes means you can do this the whole year and then start again. This can be done on more than one channel of course, and in as many countries as will take it. One network alone could pay $100 million to show the reruns.
Now ask that question again; “Oh why don’t they just axe The Office?”
Seems like a silly question now doesn’t it?
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Congratulations to Louis CK for beating me to Best Stand-up at The US Comedy Awards. Greatly deserved. It’s about time that fat bald ginger cunt caught a break.
He’s amazing on Talking Funny by the way.
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