question: What are the differences between making a 90 minute movie versus three 30 minute TV show episodes, production wise?
comment: when you make three 30 minutes shows you expect there to be a delay between when people watch each episode. Often times (before Netflix) this was because the episodes were created one at a time, and released when they were done. Often releasing one episode per week. If there is a delay you story telling needs to account for that. You cannot expect your audience to remember minor details from something they watched 7 days ago. But you CAN expect your audience to remember things that they say 60 minutes ago.
passages: The stories are written to reach periodic semi-cliffhangers coinciding with the network-scheduled times for the insertion of commercials, and are further managed to fill, but not exceed, the fixed running times allotted by the network to each movie "series". In the case of films made for cable channels, they may rely on common, repetitive tropes (Hallmark Channel, for example, is notorious for its formulaic Christmas romances, while Lifetime movies are well-known for their common use of damsel in distress storylines). The movies tend to rely on smaller casts one such exception being those produced for premium cable, such as "Behind the Candelabra" (which featured established film actors Michael Douglas and Matt Damon in the lead roles) and a limited range of scene settings and camera setups. Even Spielberg's "Duel", while having decent production values, features a very small cast (apart from Dennis Weaver, all other actors appearing in the film play smaller roles) and mostly outdoor shooting locations in the desert.
   During production of the fourth season, the network asked the creator if he would like to do a forty-minute special episode. Quintel turned down the offer and asked to do a film instead. The network agreed. The idea was then put into development.
  
  Quintel confirmed that the film is canon and is set in the middle of season six and season seven.
   Occasionally, a long-running television series is used as the basis for television movies that air during the show's run (as opposed to the above-mentioned "reunion specials"). Typically, such movies employ a filmed single-camera setup even if the television series is videotaped using a multiple-camera setup, but are written to be easily broken up into individual 30- or 60-minute episodes for syndication. Many such movies relocate the cast of the show to an exotic overseas setting. However, although they may be advertised as movies, they are really simply extended episodes of television shows, such as the pilots and the finales of "", "" and "". Most of these are made and shown during sweeps period in order to attract a large television audience and boost viewership for a show.
   The movies typically employ smaller crews, and rarely feature expensive special effects. Although a film's expenses would be lessened by filming using video, as the movies were contracted by television studios, these films were required to be shot on 35 mm film. Various techniques are often employed to "pad" television movies with low budgets and underdeveloped scripts, such as music video-style montages, flashbacks, or repeated footage, and extended periods of dramatic slow motion footage. However, the less expensive digital 24p video format has made some quality improvements on the television movie market.
   If a network orders a two-hour television pilot for a proposed show, it will usually broadcast it as a television movie to recoup some of the costs even if the network chooses to not order the show to series. Often a successful series may spawn a television movie sequel after ending its run. For example, "" launched the science fiction series "Babylon 5" and is considered to be distinct from the show's regular run of one-hour episodes. "Babylon 5" also has several made-for-TV movie sequels set within the same fictional continuity. The 2003 remake of "Battlestar Galactica" began as a two-part miniseries that later continued as a weekly television program. Another example is the Showtime movie "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch", which launched the sitcom of the same name that originally aired on ABC, and used the same actress (Melissa Joan Hart) for the lead role in both. The term "TV movie" is also frequently used as vehicles for "reunions" of long-departed series, as in "Return to Mayberry" and "A Very Brady Christmas". They can also be a spin-off from a TV series including "The Incredible Hulk Returns", "The Trial of the Incredible Hulk" and "The Death of the Incredible Hulk".
   BULLET::::- "The Three Musketeers" ("Knights of the Queen", 1954)
  
  BULLET::::- "Thunderboat Row" (unsold TV pilot)
  
  BULLET::::- "Timon & Pumbaa" ("Around the World with Timon & Pumbaa")
  
  BULLET::::- "" (took place between "Power Rangers Zeo" and "Power Rangers Turbo")
  
  BULLET::::- "Twin Peaks" (TV pilot released as a film in Europe)
  
  BULLET::::- "Unfabulous"
  
  BULLET::::- "The Untouchables" (TV pilot edited into film for theatrical release as "The Scarface Mob", 1962)
  
  BULLET::::- "Zoey 101"
  
  Many other series have released pilots or edited multi-part episodes as films overseas, including "The Greatest American Hero" and "The X-Files".
  
  Section::::Programs re-edited for release as feature-length films.
   High-calibre limited programming which would have been formerly scheduled solely as a two-hour film or miniseries also has been re-adapted to the newer "limited series" format over a period of weeks (rather than the consecutive days usually defined by a miniseries) where a conclusion is assured; an example of such would be "", and these are most often seen on cable networks and streaming services such as Netflix.
  
  Section::::Production and quality.
   The sixth season of "Regular Show" was affected by the film It was set to have 40 episodes, but due to the production of the film, only 31 were produced. Season seven featured the regular 40 episodes per season.
  
  Section::::Soundtrack.
  
  The soundtrack for the film featured three real-life songs including, "March of the Swivel Heads", "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades" and "Pale Blue Eyes".
  
  Section::::Release.
  
  Section::::Release.:Theatrical release.
   Crossover episodes containing a number of episodes of the characters of individual series interacting with characters across different shows (as has been done with the "CSI", "NCIS" and "Chicago" franchises, along with between "Murder, She Wrote" and "Magnum, P.I.", "Scandal" and "How to Get Away With Murder", and "Ally McBeal" and "The Practice") also play as films, encouraging tune-in among all the series crossed over to effectively create a multiple-hour plot that plays as a film when watched as a whole.
  
  Section::::See also.
  
  BULLET::::- Direct-to-video
  
  BULLET::::- List of movie umbrella titles in North America
   ABC greenlit the pilot in January 2012, allowing filming to begin. The show was filmed in Oahu, Hawaii, and produced by Sony Pictures Television. Thirteen episodes were ordered, and on October 19, 2012, ABC ordered two additional scripts for the series.
  
  On November 16, 2012, ABC announced that they would not be taking on "Last Resort" for a full season, but would air the 13 episodes that had been produced. They also passed on producing the two additional scripts that had been ordered.
   BULLET::::- "Mulholland Drive" (failed TV pilot)
  
  BULLET::::- "My Life as a Teenage Robot" ("Escape from Cluster Prime")
  
  BULLET::::- "The Naked Brothers Band"
  
  BULLET::::- "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide" (the series finale was aired as a TV movie under the title "Ned's Declassified Field Trip")
   The concept of a film within a television series is employed in the Macross universe. "" (1984) was originally intended as an alternative theatrical re-telling of the television series "The Super Dimension Fortress Macross" (1982), but was later "retconned" into the Macross canon as a popular movie within the television series "Macross 7" (1994).
  
  Section::::Examples of nested stories by type.:Nested TV shows.:Film within a TV show.
   The series was first released in 1999, and had been produced on a semi-regular basis continuing through at least 2005. The program was conceived, created and once directed by producer Steven Jack who also directed a majority of the episodes. Although the hour-long programs were made for television most episodes were shot on 35mm film.
   A typical episode for a half-hour time slot runs 20-1/2 minutes. The final episode of season two introduced the first of what would be several "super-sized" episodes that had an approximately 28-minute running time for a 40-minute time slot. Season three introduced the first of an occasional hour-long episodes (approximately 42-minute running time, also suitable for being shown as two separate normal episodes in reruns).
  
  Section::::Season synopsis.:Season 1.
  
  The first season consists of six episodes.
   BULLET::::- "Manchester Prep" (loose adaptation of the movie "Cruel Intentions" – three episodes were produced for the planned TV series "Manchester Prep", but the series was cancelled and the episodes never aired on TV; instead the episodes were edited together and released as the movie "Cruel Intentions 2", though it was not a sequel to the original movie)
  
  BULLET::::- "M*A*S*H" (from the film of the same title)
  
  BULLET::::- "Margie" (from the film of the same title)
  
  BULLET::::- "McCloud" (based upon the movie "Coogan's Bluff")
   BULLET::::- "The Big Bang Theory" – On October 19, 2007, the show was given a full 22-episode season.
  
  BULLET::::- "The Unit" - On October 19, 2007, the show was given a full 22-episode season order.
  
  FOX
  
  BULLET::::- "Kitchen Nightmares" – On October 16, 2007, the show was renewed for another season of 10 episodes.
  
  BULLET::::- "The Moment of Truth" – On February 1, 2008, Fox ordered an additional 13 episodes, bringing the total episode order to 25.
  
  NBC
  
  BULLET::::- "Chuck"– On November 26, 2007 NBC gave a full 22-episode season to the show.
   Stephen La Rivière, author of "Filmed in Supermarionation: A History of the Future", acknowledges Elliott's decision to use an original visual style but argues that the first half of the episode is "filmed as normal". La Rivière also comments on the editing, noting that the plot of the episode is effectively split into two parts (the explosion at the Hudson Building followed by Southern's infiltration of the Erdman Gang). He suggests that this makes "30 Minutes After Noon" similar to the earliest episodes of "Thunderbirds", which were originally 25 minutes long and subsequently extended to 50 minutes through the addition of secondary rescues and character-based subplots.
   Episodes "Thunderbirds" were originally to have been 25 minutes long, but the running time was doubled after Lew Grade, the Andersons' financial backer at APF's distributor ITC Entertainment, viewed a preview screening of "Trapped in the Sky". Grade was so impressed with the story and effects that he exclaimed "That's not a television series, that's a feature film!" and ordered that each episode be re-written to fill an hour-long timeslot. The series' budget was also increased from £25,000 to £38,000 per episode.
   During editing, three minutes and 40 seconds were trimmed from the episode to bring it down to the appropriate running time of 22 minutes. Additional time was created for this and future episodes by shortening the theme tune from 45 seconds to 35. Production required 52 takes, 14 scenes and seven rewrites.
   If a network orders a two-hour pilot, it will usually broadcast it as a television film to recoup some of the costs even if the network chooses to not order the show. Sometimes, a made-for-TV-movie is filmed as the pilot, but because of actors not being available, the series intro is reshot and the first reshot episode is considered the pilot. The original "Cagney & Lacey" movie co-starred Loretta Swit (of "M*A*S*H" fame) as Chris Cagney, but when she could not get out of her contract, they reshot it with Meg Foster, who after the first season was replaced with Sharon Gless; therefore, the original movie is not considered a pilot, and is not included in the series collections on DVD. In some cases, this does not hamper broadcast, such as Jackie Cooper playing the role of Walter Carlson in the TV movie pilot of the 1975 series "The Invisible Man", but replaced by Craig Stevens for the remainder of the series; the pilot is still considered part of the series and released to DVD as such. Likewise, "The Homecoming: A Christmas Story" had an almost entirely different cast than the series it was intended to pilot ("The Waltons"), but both were rerun for many years.
   "The Unit" is an American drama television series. It began airing on CBS on March 7, 2006, in the United States, as a mid-season replacement. Created by David Mamet, "The Unit" follows a United States Army top-secret special forces team and their missions abroad, in addition to the effect their careers have on their wives and girlfriends. "The Unit" began its first season on March 7, 2006 and concluded on May 16, 2006; the second season debuted on September 19, 2006 and completed on May 8, 2007. The third season started on September 25, 2007, with a hiatus occurring after the 11th episode due to 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike. The show was picked up for a fourth season by CBS on May 12, 2008. The fourth season began on September 28, 2008 and ended on May 10, 2009, which was also the series finale as the show was not renewed for a fifth season. A total of 69 episodes of the series aired.
   In June 2014, Clark Gregg stated he believed the season would be shown in a block of 10 episodes, then breaking for "Agent Carter", before airing the remaining 12. Explaining this decision, Bell said, One of our challenges last year was to produce 22 episodes that aired over, what, 40 weeks? 36 weeks? Something like that. And the age of re-runs is dead. Re-runs are death, and so you're trying to commit to the habit of the show and [viewers] tune in to something else or a re-run and they'll get pissed off. They'll go away. What this allows us to do is minimize repeats. We're showing ten episodes, and there has to be a gap or two because it's physically impossible to produce ten shows and get through post production in time, we can't do that so there's going to be a Marvel special at some point. But pretty much every week you're showing up and we're there, and then instead of a repeat showing up mid-run and losing momentum, "Agent Carter" comes in and has its own cool stuff, and they're running eight weeks in a row, then we can come back and run twelve in a row with no interruptions. We're still producing our show every week but it just gives us time, barely, to finish 22 on schedule. It takes out the need for repeats in the back half.
   The second film to be considered a television movie, Don Siegel's "The Hanged Man", was broadcast by NBC on November 18, 1964.
  
  These features originally filled a 90-minute programming time slot (including commercials), later expanded to two hours, and were usually broadcast as a weekly anthology television series (for example, the "ABC Movie of the Week"). Many early television movies featured major stars, and some were accorded higher budgets than standard television series of the same length, including the major dramatic anthology programs which they came to replace.
   At the same time, some theatrically released films are adaptations of television miniseries events. When national film boards and state-controlled television networks co-exist, filmmakers can sometimes create very long films for television that they may adapt solely for time for theatrical release. Both Ingmar Bergman (notably with "Fanny and Alexander" but with other films as well) and Lars von Trier have created long television films that they then recut for international distribution.
   A detailed script was written for each episode outlining the overall story arc. However, the script was not shown to the actors; instead they were provided with a loose outline of the plot, often finding out about it as they filmed. All dialogue in the show is improvised spontaneously by the actors on the set. A typical 22-minute episode was edited-down from roughly 30 hours of raw improvised dialogue and scenes. John Lehr has described their production style as "similar to Spinal Tap." At one point during the first season the actors demanded to see the script, but upon receiving it they decided as a group that they did not want to see the scripts again in the future.
  