From: mxg77@po.cwru.edu   
      
   (...not 37ABF08)   
      
   Is it season finale time already? APPARENTLY! Is Fox ordering too many   
   animated shows without anywhere to put them? YES! And with this weird   
   half year split, and more shows (including the return of one Fox dropped   
   over a decade ago and then TBS dropped), I guess this is where we are.   
   More thoughts below.   
      
   How was the episode? Fine, a little weird for Kirk but OK as satire. The   
   very specific format of the title must mean something but it's eluding   
   me. Another new co-EP credit for the new production season in Tim Long.   
   I was enjoying the subtle joke that the "CNBC" ticker was abbreviations   
   for all types of crackers until Kirk went and noticed it himself   
   somehow. And if I did the math right this was actually about 10 seconds   
   above the nominal episode length for these days. At least something's   
   not falling short...   
      
   Yeah, I guess it's back to schedule ranting. This is the season finale.   
   In mid-February. Fifteenth episode of the season. Some real BS. Does Fox   
   even like the show at this point? If not, why did it renew it for FOUR   
   more seasons? And are these going to be 22-episode production runs?   
   Because although the strike a few years ago really threw off the   
   numbers, you'd think it would be building BACK, instead of treading   
   water briefly and then falling further behind. We began this (air)   
   season with an 11-episode (HALF SEASON) holdover count, up from the 7   
   that's been typical for the last few decades. Tonight, the 37th air   
   season contains 7 season 36 episodes and 8 season 37 episodes (with 4   
   more season 36 episodes yet to materialize - one assumes they're   
   destined for streaming-only nonsense like the last tail end but if so   
   WHEN?), so by my math that leaves 4+14=18 holdovers, almost a full   
   season of its own. After this long, is The Simpsons going to get lapped   
   like Family Guy, American Dad!, and Bob's Burgers (though not,   
   technically, King of the Hill)?? Just after its production codes finally   
   started looking intuitive, too! Oh yeah, let's have 38ABF01 kick off   
   season 39, that makes sense. Maybe the next few production seasons will   
   be dialed back significantly and the air seasons will catch up. Or Fox   
   could just go back to airing 26 or 27 episodes a year as it did once   
   upon a time.   
   And as I mentioned before this early finale (and other extremely sparse   
   episode scheduling in the last month) means that even though 1/18, 2/1,   
   and 4/12 are the only three REALLY NORMAL dates that have never seen   
   episodes premiere on Fox and they're all Sundays this year, they all get   
   passed up AGAIN. Great.   
   Till next time!   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)