Battlestar Galactica Season 4 Extended From 13 Episodes To 22

[Cheebs]

Sc-Fi Channel has increased their order to 22 episodes, 2 episodes more than Season 3. They also state the TV-Movie will be officially released on the sci-fi channel and dvd this fall before season 4 begins.

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=11755

[bagofeyes]

never heard of it

[Cheebs]

wtf? Even those who don't watch have at least heard of it. It's a critical darling amongst the press(Entertainment Weekly and Time pimp it out a lot) even though it doesn't get strong ratings.

[bagofeyes]

I'm not American

[Cheebs]

not good enough!

[HomShaBom]

Pretty much a sign that they're wrapping it up.

[The Fake Shemp]

Actually, it's a sign that they're probably NOT wrapping it up.  They wouldn't have extended the episode order.  Looks like they want syndication pretty bad, because even including the extended episode order, the miniseries and upcoming movie into the episode count, they'll still be 10 or so shy of the magical 100 mark.

[Cheebs]

That's what I am hearing. Universal(studio who is doing the show) wants it to hit 100 episodes from what I gather so they can syndicate the hell out of it in the future. A 13 episode 5th season will allow them to break that 100 mark, assuming they include the mini series and movie.

Which I would expect most syndicated shows that have 2 hour long episodes had them split into 1 hour chunks.

I expect they would do that to the mini-series obviously. The "movie" is not being pushed as thus so I expect that to be as well. Sc-Fi Channel is calling it a 2 hour BSG "event" pr nonsense.

[The Fake Shemp]

We'll likely get a 13 episode Season Five, thus securing syndication and giving Moore and Co. a very tight and short span to wrap things up without worrying about spreading the budget over 20 or more episodes.

[Cheebs]

Yep, sounds about right. I do wonder what logic is there behind this 2 hour "event" as they call it in the fall before season 4 begins. I could understand when Season 4 was 13 episodes, but why do they need this?

[The Fake Shemp]

Actually, the two hour event is part of the 22 episode order.  And I totally miscounted, I thought Season 1 had more episodes.  Including the initial miniseries as 4, the 13 episode season one, the 20 episode season two, the 20 episode season three and 22 episode season four... you're left with a grand total of 79 episodes.  21 short of syndication.  That's your Season Five.

[Cheebs]

Sounds about right. Even though this show has rather weak ratings it makes sense for them to continue this to the syndication mark other than for that sole reason. Universal who does the DVD's also owns the channel and the DVD sales are HUGE for this series and the fact it critical darling that the press eats up is good press for the channel and it's easier to use that for a reason to keep a show on cable over network.