Thanks
puddin!
Moving my posts from the other thread to this more significant one:With a March Start, here are the dates to get a 12-episode season in.March 07
March 14
March 21
March 28
April 04
April 11
April 18
April 25
May 02
May 09
May 16
That's 11 weeks for 12 episodes. I didn't put 5/23 there because it's the last weekend Survivor's finale could be before Memorial Day weekend. Now, we're going to have to knock off two more weeks from the above schedule (3/7 for the Academy Awards and another week for the ACMs). To best avoid all the conflicts, there will have to be a lot of 2-hour episodes if they're going to keep the show on Sunday. The last time they had multiple 2-hr shows (three) was during the TAR7 & TARFE runs, prior to the move to the weekend.
This might result in having our first 2-hour finale in four years. Unfortunately, Cold Case moved back to 9 PM. So unless they keep 10 pm Sundays as a rerun slot to bump Cold Case up to that 10 pm slot whenever necessary, it could get complicated.
Again, this year is a tough call, since it's the first year since the move that the winter games are a factor. I think I should let it play out; I feel like the BCS committee trying to figure out all the matchups for this years NCAAF postseason! However, as
mentioned, although by mistake, March 4 could work if it airs after Survivor. Then, you can have an episode on that Sunday, opposite the Oscars. That way, no need for TPTB to crunch in the season, and TAR would have its second episode run on 3/7 instead of a premiere. They wouldn't do that b/c thinking of all the alternatives and taking risks isn't on their to-do list.
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Replying to start date/conflict speculation:It'll be interesting to see what happens. It's a tough call. Common sense would say to have it air right after the Superbowl (a la Survivor Australia and All-Stars). Actually, that's more wishful thinking than common sense, but I'd think it would make sense. If football has proven to help TAR since 10 (save for 11 and 14), imagine what the Superbowl would do! Sadly, it's not going to happen. As mentioned, the season would be long enough to start in February and then end in May. Also, with the upcoming Survivor Season, if anything, that's closer to the front of the line of post-SB programs to air right after the Superbowl.
Given that, common sense would be to air it later. To avoid all the conflicts, I think March 14 would be the best bet. It's tough, and only because it's on a Sunday. That's in terms of when best to premiere it. Really, from a tarfly's POV, whatever it takes to avoid having the show end on May 9 is the way to go. That would suck (especially if it doesn't premiere on February 7).
That being said, I don't think 2/14 is automatic. True it would mirror last year's schedule, but things change (like the survivor finale moving up a week this fall). While the Olympics and TAR are on two different networks, that results in TV conflicts & who would want to kick off a season opposite the opening weekend of the winter Olympics? That, and the fact that a couple may feel that their love and time for one another is worth more than any episode of TAR.
I think 2/21 or 2/28 is more likely, but it also depends on the course of the race. 3/14 would be a little late, especially with the ACMs likely to preempt TAR completely before finale time.
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And finally, from the other thread:March 14 is selection Sunday for March Madness, with games scheduled on 3/21 and 3/28.
Don't know if this would affect TAR, but it seems like it would. It always affects Survivor, too.
March Madness will most definitely pre-empt at least 2 weeks of TAR. As far as the Olympics goes I saw someone post above about the opening ceremonies. They are always on Friday night.
There have been two spring seasons since the move to Sunday (11 and 14). Neither one was pre-empted at all due to March Madness. Only Survivor got bumped off due to the tourney.