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| - If a show's really, really lucky, it'll last a number of seasons. Some shows are lucky to get one. Meanwhile, some of the new programming premiering at the beginning of a season flops so badly that it's canceled before even being allowed to complete a full run. This leaves the network with an uncomfortable situation - how to fill out the rest of the season. Often, networks will throw up reruns of popular shows in the failed show's timeslot, or fill the void with Made For TV Movies or other special programming. The usual go-to guy for such a situation, however, is the Midseason Replacement.
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| abstract
| - If a show's really, really lucky, it'll last a number of seasons. Some shows are lucky to get one. Meanwhile, some of the new programming premiering at the beginning of a season flops so badly that it's canceled before even being allowed to complete a full run. This leaves the network with an uncomfortable situation - how to fill out the rest of the season. Often, networks will throw up reruns of popular shows in the failed show's timeslot, or fill the void with Made For TV Movies or other special programming. The usual go-to guy for such a situation, however, is the Midseason Replacement. The Midseason Replacement is typically a show network execs don't consider strong enough to premiere at the beginning of a season, but is held in reserve for a premiere later when time slots are needed to be filled after another show has gone belly-up. Since the midseason replacement is considered to be a weaker show than what the network was originally hoping for, expectations often aren't very high. Another reason a show might be a midseason replacement is because of production problems - The Simpsons is one such notable example, as is Star Trek: Voyager which simply had to wait for the rest of the network to premiere. Also, due to the need to stretch out episodes if a show airs over the entire TV season (September through May), a show may premiere midseason simply so they can air all the episodes with few or any breaks (this is especially common for serialized programming or reality shows). Midseason replacements premiere, as the trope name suggests, in mid-season, which is typically anywhere from late December to early May. Any date later than that, and it's considered a late season replacement, which can premiere from late May into June. Late season replacements are usually considered by networks to be very weak shows, may have only a very limited number of episodes ordered, and are considered to have almost no chance of actually being picked up. Cancellations before the show even premieres are not rare. A late season replacement may result from a network wishing to fill gaps in its summer programming, to provide an alternative to summer rerun schedules, or may have been originally slated as a potential midseason replacement but in which feared gaps in midseason programming never materialized. Note that this trope only specifically applies to broadcast network programming in the United States; different countries have different conventions, and the practices of cable networks in the United States may vary just as greatly. For example, USA Network's Monk, generally considered to be one of the strongest shows on cable, premiers new episodes in the middle summer months and winter months, in a unique (though common practice on USA Network) season split-up.
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