TWD Season 3 will be how many episodes long? - This many...

[MinionZombie]

http://blogs.amctv.com/the-walking-d...nouncement.php Season 3 will be 16 episodes long. Surely they'll bump up the budget now! I wonder if they're looking at splitting the season into two doses of 8 episodes too - just a theory.

[Tricky]

Awesome news! My only hope is that there arent any frustratingly long storylines spread across the whole season like the Sophia thing. It wasnt a bad storyline at all, but I just felt it could have moved along a little quicker than it did, although its conclusion was nothing short of heartbreaking & brilliant TV!

[MinionZombie]

Awesome news! My only hope is that there arent any frustratingly long storylines spread across the whole season like the Sophia thing. It wasnt a bad storyline at all, but I just felt it could have moved along a little quicker than it did, although its conclusion was nothing short of heartbreaking & brilliant TV! Totally agree with you there. It felt like the Sophia thing could have been concluded two episodes earlier - however, the conclusion coming in episode 7 still had an incredibly memorable punch (and what a way to leave the first half of the season for the break, eh?!) Perhaps we'll get more of them 'being on the road' in season three? There's a lot of them being on the road in Volume 2 of the comics, but in the show there's not been an awful lot of that thus far ... unless we get some more in the rest of season two, but who knows? Surely we'll be coming across a certain location that many of us will already know about (but not all, if they're not into the comics) in season 3, so perhaps that's one of the reasons season 3 is going to be longer still?

[bassman]

16 episodes long and probably half the budget of the current season...

[joeharley666]

Totally agree with you there. It felt like the Sophia thing could have been concluded two episodes earlier - however, the conclusion coming in episode 7 still had an incredibly memorable punch (and what a way to leave the first half of the season for the break, eh?!) Perhaps we'll get more of them 'being on the road' in season three? There's a lot of them being on the road in Volume 2 of the comics, but in the show there's not been an awful lot of that thus far ... unless we get some more in the rest of season two, but who knows? Surely we'll be coming across a certain location that many of us will already know about (but not all, if they're not into the comics) in season 3, so perhaps that's one of the reasons season 3 is going to be longer still? I disagree, I enjoy the long story lines because it's more realistic. With that being said, they could of had some other stuff going on while the search continued to make sure it doesn't seem so slow. There are too many shows where there is a single story line every week, save that crap for the three big networks. Case in point, I just started watching the Sopranos and the first three quarters of the first season had a different story line in every episode, to me I was thinking to myself why is this show so regarded as a great show? Now being into the second season I see them establishing long story lines which I'm really starting to see the magic of this show.

[Thorn]

I disagree, I enjoy the long story lines because it's more realistic. With that being said, they could of had some other stuff going on while the search continued to make sure it doesn't seem so slow. There are too many shows where there is a single story line every week, save that crap for the three big networks. Case in point, I just started watching the Sopranos and the first three quarters of the first season had a different story line in every episode, to me I was thinking to myself why is this show so regarded as a great show? Now being into the second season I see them establishing long story lines which I'm really starting to see the magic of this show. I love the longer seasons, and I love story arcs. I like say 3 episodes dedicated to a story with smaller issues that resolve in one, and larger ones that build over the course of the season. What I hate more than anything is A team/dukes of hazard style stories that are the same over and over. Formulaic one episode stories. They are predictable, and loathsome. Oz did a good job of mixing that kind of stuff in with longer story arcs but still fell victim to being predictable after a while, and fell into a rut they should have avoided by either calling it sooner or innovating.

[kidgloves]

Yaaaaay. 16 episodes. Break them into 2 parts and we dobn't have to wait so long betweem seasons. Win win situation. I suspect the budget is probably being upped for season 3 now they know they have a huge hit on their hands but budgets do not necessarily make a good show so try not to focus on that too much.

[Sammich]

16 episodes long and probably half the budget of the current season... Yup and lots, LOTS more commercials with only 30-35 minutes of actual show.

[AcesandEights]

Yup and lots, LOTS more commercials with only 30-35 minutes of actual show. I can't contemplate the show having any more time devoted to commercials as things stand already I can't imagine watching the show without fast forwarding past them and even then it's annoying to realize how little show they give you.

[bassman]

This reminds me of the whole "Waiting a year between seasons is TOO LONG" argument. I don't like the commericals anymore than you guys, but they're common practice. True, AMC is known for their excessive use of commercials during films but their TV shows are 45 minutes. Unless i'm mistaken, this is normal for all cable network series'. I too want as much out of this series as possible, but 45 minute episodes out of an hour long time slot seems pretty reasonable. As much as we're enjoying the show, it's still JUST a show. It will be filmed and aired the same as anything else...

[MinionZombie]

I disagree, I enjoy the long story lines because it's more realistic. With that being said, they could of had some other stuff going on while the search continued to make sure it doesn't seem so slow. There are too many shows where there is a single story line every week, save that crap for the three big networks. Case in point, I just started watching the Sopranos and the first three quarters of the first season had a different story line in every episode, to me I was thinking to myself why is this show so regarded as a great show? Now being into the second season I see them establishing long story lines which I'm really starting to see the magic of this show. Don't take my comments on the Sophia storyline too literally though - I wasn't meaning I don't like long story arcs, rather I meant that that particular plot strand felt a bit stretched-thin without enough development/strong leads to really keep you going - I think it was accentuated by being spread out over 7 weeks, whereas watching the seven episodes in much faster succession I'd wager it doesn't linger around as much (indeed it seemed to be about 1 episode per 1 day in the story). I'm into long story arcs (e.g. I absolutely adore HBO's Boardwalk Empire), I just think the Sophia plot line could have used some tweaking here and there at times. Interesting you mention The Sopranos - last year they started showing it from the beginning on Sky Atlantic, and so I started to watch it for the first time. Right now I'm getting near the end of season four and I'm digging it - although I find Boardwalk Empire to be so much more involving and much more satisfying (but The Sopranos still rocks). Yaaaaay. 16 episodes. Break them into 2 parts and we dobn't have to wait so long betweem seasons. Win win situation. I suspect the budget is probably being upped for season 3 now they know they have a huge hit on their hands but budgets do not necessarily make a good show so try not to focus on that too much. hehe - I'm not one to focus on budgets - but it is important that they have the money they need to pull off the stories they need to tell at a suitable scale. The key creative slots like writing, direction, and acting all need to be tip-top, but they can only go so far if you've not got enough dimes to bring about the written word ... so not over-egging the point, but just mentioning it in passing. This reminds me of the whole "Waiting a year between seasons is TOO LONG" argument. I don't like the commericals anymore than you guys, but they're common practice. True, AMC is known for their excessive use of commercials during films but their TV shows are 45 minutes. Unless i'm mistaken, this is normal for all cable network series'. I too want as much out of this series as possible, but 45 minute episodes out of an hour long time slot seems pretty reasonable. As much as we're enjoying the show, it's still JUST a show. It will be filmed and aired the same as anything else... 42 to 45 minutes is the average length of the actual show content for an hour slot and has been for a very long time. I almost always watch shows after they've been recorded and then I fast forward through the ads, so to actually wait for five damn minutes for your favourite show to come back on is a pain (as all the annoying perfume and car adverts plod by), but I do believe there are legal limits to the amount of advertising you can put into a certain amount of programming - there's a legal ratio of content to ads ... I'm fairly sure I heard/read that somewhere.

[rongravy]

Ehhhh, I use the commercial breaks to get my schmoke on. And yay for a new longer season 3. The wait can be almost as excruciating as waiting for the next NFL season for moi.

[Neil]

http://blogs.amctv.com/the-walking-d...nouncement.php Season 3 will be 16 episodes long. Surely they'll bump up the budget now! I wonder if they're looking at splitting the season into two doses of 8 episodes too - just a theory. Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert and Frank Darabont are executive producers with Greg Nicotero as co-executive producer. Really? Darabont is still involved?

[MinionZombie]

Really? Darabont is still involved? Surely that must be a typo? I wonder when - or if - we'll see Darabont's name vanish entirely from the opening credits of season two? Not sure if it was the case before, but his name does fade out during the exec producer title card in the opening credits ... but maybe it always has, I just can't be arsed to double-check.

[bassman]

Ever since the drama started they said he would still be on the show, only in a smaller role. He'll be an executive producer, but he's no longer running the show. Also, it's worth pointing out that AMC's other shows, Mad Men and The Killing, are getting two hour premiere episodes. Perhaps we'll see the same from TWD in October....