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Profit is an American television series that originally aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company in 1996. The series was created by David Greenwalt and John McNamara, and stars Adrian Pasdar as the titular character, Jim Profit. In February 2008, episodes began airing on Chiller in the USA. In October 2010, episodes began airing on CBS Action in Europe.

Considered by many to be ahead of its time, the show is a precursor to more recent edgy television shows that include The Sopranos, Nip/Tuck, Dexter, Breaking Bad, and The Shield. Subversive themes stemming from the amoral actions of the central character made the show uncomfortable and unfamiliar viewing for mainstream audiences and Fox network affiliates, which ultimately led to the demise of the series.^[1]

Summary[link]

Jim Profit is a newly-promoted employee following the heart attack death of the former VP of Acquisitions at Gracen & Gracen (G&G), a multinational corporation that is less than ethical with some of its business practices. That does not worry Profit, who is not above blackmail, bribery, extortion, or even murder to get ahead in the company. At the beginning and end of each episode Profit would break the fourth wall and speak directly to the audience with such quotes as: "The line most people say they won't cross - it's usually something they've already done when they thought no one was watching."

Characters[link]

Main[link]

• Jim Profit (Adrian Pasdar) – born James Stakowski, he was raised in a cardboard G&G shipping box with the television on at all hours by an abusive father in Tulsa, Oklahoma, until he set his father on fire and ran away as a teenager. The experience left him with a complete hatred of TV and a desire to insinuate himself into the G&G family by any means necessary. Worked in Auditing before ascending to junior-vice president of Acquisitions. He intends to climb the corporate ladder at G&G by secretly engineering the ruin of those who stand in his way and/or refuse to assist him.
• Joanne Meltzer (Lisa Zane) – the obsessive chief of security for G&G. Had an affair with Jack Walters after his wife had (temporarily) run off with a lover. Remains loyal to Jack Walters, and admires him as a person. Jack's downfall (engineered by Profit) is the main thing motivating her to stop Profit. She is constantly trying to figure out Profit's motives and master plan, but has her own issues.
• Charles Henry "Chaz" Gracen (Keith Szarabajka) – the no-nonsense, paranoid, short-tempered chief executive of G&G. Is known to take a different mistress each year. Loves money above all else. Occasionally displays a dark sense of humor.
• Pete Gracen (Jack Gwaltney) – Chaz's younger brother, and the Senior Vice-President of Acquisitions. Long-standing alcoholic, he's also impotent, and seemingly incompetent.
• Nora Gracen (Allison Hossack) – Pete's insecure, lonely, yet trusting wife. She initially was seduced by Profit, then obsessed over him when he insisted on "being just friends". Regards Profit as a close friend and kindred spirit.
• Gail Koner (Lisa Darr) – Profit's resourceful secretary (who was originally Jack Walters' secretary), and primary henchperson. Initially Profit blackmailed her into assisting him in his schemes. However she feels increasingly loyal (and/or obligated) to Profit, since he saved her job, covered up her petty embezzlement, and pays 100% of her sick mother's nursing home bills. She also seems to be one of the few characters he shows any care for. In the episodes "Cupid" and "Chinese Box" he takes pride in her becoming more and more deceitful and is one of the few people he lets know about his abusive childhood. He at the very least feigns caring in her mother's well being, and says in "Chinese Box" that he is grooming/paving a way for her to become an executive at G&G.
• Bobbi Stakowski (Lisa Blount) – Profit's stepmother and former lover. Heroin addict, alcoholic, and former prostitute. She repeatedly tries to blackmail Profit (with evidence of his patricide and other crimes) into financing a luxurious lifestyle for her.
• Jeffrey Sykes (Sherman Augustus) – a corporate lawyer and the newest member of the G&G team. Sykes takes a more antagonistic approach to Profit.

Recurring and guests[link]

• Jack Walters (Scott Paulin) – the former President of Acquisitions at G&G.
• Elizabeth Gracen Walters (Jennifer Hetrick) – Jack's wife, and cousin to Chaz and Pete Gracen.
• Constance Gracen (Teryl Rothery) – Chaz's estranged wife.
• Dr. Jeremy Batewell (John Hawkes)
• Kelly Hunt/Carol McKenna (Jessica Tuck)

Episodes[link]

In France, the entire run was originally screened on Jimmy commencing 23 June 1997.

In the UK the entire run was originally screened on Sky 2 in 1996, and later on BBC2.

Critical reception[link]

The critical response to Profit at the time of its debut was positive. Howard Rosenberg of the Los Angeles Times called Profit "...rip-roaring, sinus-clearing, bold and wonderful."^[2] Tom Gliatto of People magazine said of Profit: "Refreshingly cruel, Fox's Profit is the most exciting new show I've seen this year."^[3] John J. O'Conner from The New York Times called Profit "one of the most intriguing shows to come along since Twin Peaks..."^[4] Joyce Millman of salon.com stated: "Profit gains heft...from its nervy satiric vision of corporate capitalist culture."^[5] Entertainment Weekly included Profit in its "Ten Best TV Shows for 1996" list at position #8. ^[6]

Controversy and cancellation[link]

Despite numerous positive critical reviews and intense industry buzz, Profit was canceled after only 5 of the 9 produced hours were broadcast on Fox in the USA.^[7] Low Nielsen ratings were cited as the official cause; Profit ranked 138th of 160 shows for 1996^[8] and suffered from viewer tune-out during the airing of the 2-hour pilot episode. Other factors that may have hastened the demise of Profit include:

• Viewers were reported to have flooded their local Fox network affiliates with phone calls objecting to the amoral actions of the lead character Jim Profit and referring to him as "Satan in a Suit";^[9] these opinions were expressed most vociferously by viewers located in the Bible Belt area of the USA.^[10] Some Fox network affiliates even threatened to preempt Profit in their local markets and replace it with alternative programming.

• Members of the business community were outraged that Profit portrayed them so poorly.^[11] Shaifali Puri of Fortune said: "Just in case there's anyone left who isn't convinced corporate America is a den of naked ambition and bald turpitude, comes now (the TV show) Profit."^[12] It was rumored that even the creator of the Fox network Rupert Murdoch objected to the edgy portrayal of corporate America in Profit, although Adrian Pasdar was quoted as saying that Profit was Murdoch's favorite TV show.^[13]

• Airings of Profit consistently lost almost all of the lead-in audience from Melrose Place which was scheduled in the timeslot immediately preceding Profit. This reportedly did not sit well with Melrose Place's executive producer Aaron Spelling,^[14] especially after glowing Time^[15] and Entertainment Weekly^[16] reviews of Profit while previous reviews from these magazines were highly critical of Melrose Place.^[17] Adrian Pasdar was approached by Spelling for the role of Jake Hanson on Melrose Place in 1992, but Pasdar refused to even meet with Spelling who was widely considered one of the most powerful and influential television producers of the 1990s.^[18]

The cancellation of Profit was lamented by the organization Viewers for Quality Television; VQT founder Dorothy Swanson stated: "It certainly was not a mainstream show. It wasn't for everyone. There were parts of it I'm sure mainstream viewers found very disturbing and unappealing. But for people who like interesting television, it was very well written. It was spellbinding. You had to know what made this guy (Jim Profit) tick." ^[19]

Awards[link]

• Nominated for a 1996 Artios Award in category "Best Casting for TV, Dramatic Pilot".^[20]

DVD releases[link]

Anchor Bay Entertainment released the complete series on DVD in Region 1 on August 9, 2005.^[21] The three-disc set contains the two-hour pilot and seven episodes (the final four of which did not air during the original run on Fox). Interviews with Stephen J. Cannell, David Greenwalt, John McNamara, Adrian Pasdar, Lisa Blount, and Lisa Zane are presented in a 67-minute featurette called Greed Kills about the making of Profit. Audio commentary with Adrian Pasdar and series creators David Greenwalt and John McNamara is provided for the 2-hour pilot and the episodes "Healing", "Chinese Box", and "Forgiveness". As of 2010, this release has been discontinued and is out of print.^[22]

Free Dolphin Entertainment released the complete series on DVD in Region 2 on October 20, 2005.^[23] The three-disc set contains the two-hour pilot and seven episodes (the final four of which did not air during the original run on Fox), along with the option of French subtitles or French-dubbed voice audio for all episodes. A 23-minute featurette produced in 1999 by French TV station Jimmy titled "Profit Special" covering the impact and enormous popularity of Profit in France was included in this release along with the Greed Kills featurette from the Region 1 release. Seven minutes of Fox promotional spots for Profit were provided as well, including a unique 30-second trailer showing Jim Profit crushing a spider on a park bench and calling it an "amateur".

The content of the episodes is identical on both releases of the DVD with the exception of the opening voiceover by Jim Profit in the pilot episode:

• Region 1 Voiceover: Wayne Gresham is dead. A former VP at Gracen and Gracen incorporated, he was overworked, overweight, and well now, just plain over. This is Wayne's boss, Jack Walters. He's the president of acquisitions, a smart decent man. As well respected as anyone at G&G. Gail Koner, Jack's secretary. Is that grief in her eyes or is she hiding something? Let's find out.

• Region 2 Voiceover: Wayne Gresham is dead. He was 47 years old. A junior vice president of acquisitions at Gracen and Gracen incorporated where I happen to work. This is Wayne's boss, Jack Walters. He's the president of acquisitions, a smart decent man. As well respected as anyone at Gracen and Gracen. Gail Koner, Jack's executive secretary, a loyal employee of 3 years and very devoted to her boss.

Production[link]

Profit was produced by Greenwalt/McNamara Productions and Stephen J. Cannell Productions in association with New World Television, and was the final series to come from Cannell's company (as well as one of the few for which he did not write any scripts).

The exterior shots outside the Gracen & Gracen twin towers were filmed on the plaza in front of the Sheraton Wall Centre Hotel in Vancouver. For production, a "Gracen & Gracen Wall Center" placard was positioned over the covered entrance in front of one building and two G&G logo monuments were placed in the front and center of the plaza. Another part of the same hotel complex now includes the well-known One Wall Centre building that had not yet been constructed when Profit was shot in early 1996.

According to the Region 1 DVD liner notes, the interior G&G office shots for the two-hour pilot episode were taken at the real working offices of B.C. Gas and that of a prestigious law firm in downtown Vancouver. Subsequent episodes were shot in studio sets modeled after these offices. The scene outside a hospital with Joanne Meltzer and Profit in the episode "Healing" was shot in front of St. Paul's Hospital located just across Burrard Street from the Sheraton Wall Centre. The exterior of Profit's apartment building featuring columnar bay windows up and down the entire front of the building is a location called Eugenia Place in Vancouver's West End; the structure is notable for the presence of a 35-foot Pin oak tree growing on the building's roof, located 180 feet above street level.

What would have happened[link]

David Greenwalt & John McNamara gave details of plotlines from the never-produced second season in the audio commentaries on the Region 1 DVD.

• Joanne Meltzer dies early in the first episode of the second season while in Ireland looking into Profit's background. The phone booth from which she is calling Sykes is set to explode. There is a bomb planted there by the Irish Republican Army. It was to be revealed later that this was done at the behest of Profit.
• Jim has stolen the identity of a "real" Jim Profit. The "real" Jim Profit is in a coma after he was drowned by the protagonist Jim Profit. Later on, the protagonist would return to finish killing his alias.
• Charles "Chaz" Gracen has a heart attack while running on his treadmill due to a mild poison Profit slips into Chaz's water bottle. Profit eventually convinces Chaz that his father (who is the Chairman of G&G's Board of Directors) is trying to kill him.
• Profit engineers the death of Chaz and Pete Gracen's father to help the two brothers reconcile their differences, eliminate a troublemaker on G&G's Board of Directors, and help tighten Profit's control over G&G.
• Another storyline involved Profit getting a current Senator drunk to the point of blackout, staging a car accident, and convincing the Senator that he had killed someone. These events probably led into a related storyline where Pete Gracen becomes a Senator himself.
• Pete and Nora Gracen would have divorced.

Also of note is the fact, reported in 2001, that David Greenwalt, who later went on to produce the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off series Angel, once entertained the idea of having Adrian Pasdar reprise his role as Jim Profit in said series. The main villains in Angel were a law firm called Wolfram & Hart, and Profit would have joined them. Conflicting working schedules with Pasdar (then the lead on NBC's Mysterious Ways), and the predictable difficulties in securing the rights to use the character prevented this from happening before Angel ended on its fifth season in 2004.^[24]

Notes[link]

• According to the Greed Kills featurette on the 2005 DVD releases, McNamara and Greenwalt came up with the concept for Profit while watching Sir Ian McKellen's production of Richard III set in the 1930s.
• In the audio commentary of the 2005 Region 1 DVD, McNamara and Greenwalt indicated that Fox executives requested that the character of Bobbi Stakowski be revised from Profit's biological mother to the slightly less provocative role as Profit's stepmother.
• According to the Greed Kills featurette on the 2005 DVD releases, Profit's traumatic upbringing was based on the childhood of a real-life serial killer who had been similarly raised in a box with only a television present as described in the nonfiction novel Whoever Fights Monsters: My Twenty Years Tracking Serial Killers for the FBI by Robert K. Ressler & Tom Shachtman. The relevant passage is located in Chapter 4 titled Childhoods of Violence: "One woman propped her infant son in a cardboard box in front of the television set, and left for work; later, she'd put him in a playpen, toss in some food, and let the TV set be the baby-sitter until she came home again." ^[25]

• Stephen J. Cannell, executive producer of Profit, admitted the name "Profit" is a bit of homage to the crazed Mel Profitt character portrayed by Kevin Spacey on the Wiseguy series which Cannell also produced.^[26]
• Stephen J. Cannell reportedly was "shopping" a revival of Profit around July 1996, and said that the cable network Showtime had "shown some interest".^[27] A Showtime original series with some similarity to Profit called Dexter premiered 10 years later in 2006; since then, Dexter has received numerous awards and widespread critical acclaim. Lisa Darr, who portrayed Jim Profit's assistant Gail Koner, had a small role as a defense attorney in the fourth season premiere episode called "Living the Dream". In the episode she is cross-examining Dexter Morgan and completely destroys Dexter's credibility on the stand.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Profit (TV series)

• Profit at the Internet Movie Database
• Profit at TV.com
• Profit review - EntertainingThings.com
• So Many Traps to Set: Subversions and Subversiveness in Profit - graat.fr
• Unofficial Gracen and Gracen home page

Look up Profit, profitability, profitable, profitably, or profits in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Profit may refer to:

• Profit (accounting), the difference between the purchase price and the costs of bringing to market
• Profit (economics), has two related but distinct meanings: Normal profit and Economic profit
• Profit (real property), a nonpossessory interest in land
• Profit (TV series), a short-lived American television series starring Adrian Pasdar
• The Profit, a 2001 feature film by Peter N. Alexander
• Account of profits, a type of equitable remedy in law (also known as an accounting)
• Profit (magazine), a Canadian business magazine aimed at entrepreneurs
• Profit, United States Virgin Islands

Surname[link]

• Joe Profit (born 1949), former American football player
• Laron Profit (born 1977), professional basketball player
• Richard Profit (born 1974), English mountaineer and adventurer.

See also[link]

• All pages beginning with "Profit"
• All pages with titles containing "Profit"
• Proficiency (disambiguation)
• Pro (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2011)

A television program (usually television programme outside North America), also called television show, is a segment of content intended for broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode.

A television series that is intended to comprise a limited number of episodes is usually called a miniseries or serial. Series without a fixed length are usually divided into seasons or series, yearly or biannual installments of new episodes. While there is no defined length, US industry practice tends to favor longer seasons than those of some other countries.

A one-time broadcast may be called a "special", or particularly in the UK a "special episode". A television movie ("made-for-TV movie" or television film), is a film that is initially broadcast on television rather than released in cinemas or direct-to-video, although many successful TV movies are later released on DVD.

A program can be either recorded—as on video tape or other various electronic media forms—or considered live television.

Program content[link]

Television programming may be fictional (as in comedies and dramas), or non-fictional (as in documentary, news, and reality television). It may be topical (as in the case of a local newscast and some made-for-television movies), or historical (as in the case of many documentaries and fictional series). They could be primarily instructional or educational, or entertaining as is the case in situation comedy and game shows.

A drama program usually features a set of actors in a somewhat familiar setting. The program follows their lives and their adventures. With the exception of soap operas, many shows especially before the 1980s, remained static without story arcs, the main characters and the premise changed little. If some change happened to the characters lives during the episode, it was usually undone by the end. (Because of this, the episodes could be broadcast in any order.) Since the 1980s, there are many series that feature progressive change to the plot, the characters, or both.

Common television program periods include regular broadcasts (like news), series (usually seasonal and ongoing with a duration of only a few episodes to many seasons), or miniseries, which is an extended film, usually with a small predetermined number of episodes and a set plot and timeline. Miniseries usually range from about 3 to 10 hours in length. In the UK, the term "miniseries" is only usually used in reference to imported programmes, and such short-run series are usually called "serials".

Older American television shows began with a title sequence showing opening credits at the bottom lower third of the screen during the beginning, and included closing credits at the end of the show. However, beginning in the 1990s some shows began with a "cold open", followed by a title sequence and a commercial break. Many serial-type shows begin with a "Previously on..." (such as the series 24) introduction before the new episode. And, to save time, some shows omit the title sequence altogether, folding the names normally featured there into the opening credits. The title sequence has not been completely eliminated, however, as many major television series still use them.

While television series appearing on TV networks are usually commissioned by the networks themselves, their producers earn greater revenue when the program is sold into syndication. With the rise of the DVD home video format, box sets containing entire seasons or the complete run of a program have become a significant revenue source as well. Many of the prime-time comedy shows and Saturday morning cartoons were digitally remastered for United States television around mid-May 2008, as there are more original and reissued DVD sets of television programs containing either entire seasons or complete series to come. Typically, a DVD of a series or TV movie may contain extended or additional scenes not shown during the broadcast, scenes not allowed for broadcast (due to censorship rule), or additional background information/documentaries.

Television has changed throughout the years, from wholesome family sitcoms and dramas of years ago, to the reality shows of today. When watching television became popular in the mid-20th century, the whole family watched one set together. Also, many channels have deviated from their original programming focus throughout the years because of channel drift.

Most television networks throughout the world are 'commercial', dependent on selling advertising time or acquiring sponsors, broadcasting executives' main concern over their programming is on audience size or eyeballs. Once the number of 'free to air' stations was restricted by the availability of channel frequencies, but cable TV (outside the USA, satellite television) technology has allowed an expansion in the number of channels available to viewers (sometimes at premium rates) in a much more competitive environment.

Genres[link]

Scripted entertainment[link]

• Animated
• Award shows (partially scripted)
• Drama—which includes:
  • Action-adventure or Thriller
  • Comedy-drama
  • Family drama
  • Legal drama
  • Medical drama
  • Police procedural
  • Political drama
  • Science-fiction / Fantasy / Horror / Supernatural drama
  • Serial drama
  • Soap opera
  • Teen drama
• Miniseries and Television movies
• Comedy
  • Mockumentary
  • Satire
  • Sitcom
  • Sketch comedy

Unscripted entertainment[link]

• Game shows
• Reality
• Talk shows

Informational[link]

• Infomercials—paid advertising spots that are up to an hour long
• News programs
• Documentaries
• News magazines—dealing with current affairs

Development[link]

United States[link]

When a person or company decides to create a new series, they develop the show's elements, consisting of the concept, the characters, the crew, and cast. Then they offer ("pitch") it to the various networks in an attempt to find one interested enough to order a prototype first episode of the series, known as a pilot.

To create the pilot, the structure and team of the whole series must be put together. If the network likes the pilot, they pick up the show to air it the next season (usually Fall). Sometimes they save it for mid-season, or request rewrites and further review (known in the industry as Development hell). Other times, they pass entirely, forcing the show's creator to "shop it around" to other networks. Many shows never make it past the pilot stage.

If the show is picked up, the network orders a "run" of episodes—usually only 13 episodes at first, though a season typically consists of at least 22 episodes. (The last nine episodes are sometimes called the "back nine"—borrowing the colloquial golf term).

The show hires a stable of writers, who usually work in parallel: the first writer works on the first episode, the second on the second episode, etc. When all the writers have been used, episode assignment starts again with the first writer. On other shows, however, the writers work as a team. Sometimes they develop story ideas individually, and pitch them to the show's creator, who folds them together into a script and rewrites them.

United Kingdom[link]

In contrast to the US model illustrated above, the UK procedure is operated on a sometimes similar, but much smaller scale.

The method of "team writing" is employed on some longer dramatic series (usually running up to a maximum of around 13 episodes). The idea for such a programme may be generated "in-house" by one of the networks; it could originate from an independent production company; it sometimes is a product of both. For example, the BBC's long-running soap opera EastEnders is wholly a BBC production, whereas its popular drama Life on Mars was developed by Kudos in association with the broadcaster.

However, there are still a significant number of programmes (usually sitcoms) that are built around just one or two writers and a small, close-knit production team. These are "pitched" in the traditional way, but since the creator(s) handle all the writing requirements, there is a run of six or seven episodes per series once approval has been given. Many of the most popular British comedies have been made this way, including Monty Python's Flying Circus (albeit with an exclusive team of six writer-performers), Fawlty Towers, Blackadder and The Office.

Production[link]

The executive producer, often the show's creator, is in charge of running the show. They pick the crew and help cast the actors, approve and sometimes write series plots (some even write or direct major episodes). Various other producers help to ensure that the show runs smoothly.

As with filmmaking or other electronic media production, production of an individual episode can be divided into three parts. These are:

Pre-production[link]

Pre-production begins when a script is approved. A director is chosen to plan the episode's final look.

Pre-production tasks include storyboarding, construction of sets, props, and costumes, casting guest stars, budgeting, acquiring resources like lighting, special effects, stunts, etc. Once the show is planned, it must then be scheduled; scenes are often filmed out of sequence, guest actors or even regulars may only be available at certain times. Sometimes the principal photography of different episodes must be done at the same time, complicating the schedule (a guest star might shoot scenes from two episodes on the same afternoon). Complex scenes are translated from storyboard to animatics to further clarify the action. Scripts are adjusted to meet altering requirements.

Some shows have a small stable of directors, but also usually rely on outside directors. Given the time constraints of broadcasting, a single show might have two or three episodes in pre-production, one or two episodes in principal photography, and a few more in various stages of post-production. The task of directing is complex enough that a single director can usually not work on more than one episode or show at a time, hence the need for multiple directors.

Principal photography[link]

Principal photography is the actual filming of the episode. Director, actors and crew gather at a television studio or on location for filming or videoing a scene. A scene is further divided into shots, which should be planned during pre-production. Depending on scheduling, a scene may be shot in non-sequential order of the story. Conversations may be filmed twice from different camera angles, often using stand-ins, so one actor might perform all their lines in one set of shots, and then the other side of the conversation is filmed from the opposite perspective. To complete a production on time, a second unit may be filming a different scene on another set or location at the same time, using a different set of actors, an assistant director, and a second unit crew. A director of photography supervises the lighting of each shot to ensure consistency.

Post production[link]

Once principal photography is complete, producers coordinate tasks to begin the video editing. Visual and digital video effects are added to the film; this is often outsourced to companies specializing in these areas. Often music is performed with the conductor using the film as a time reference (other musical elements may be previously recorded). An editor cuts the various pieces of film together, adds the musical score and effects, determines scene transitions, and assembles the completed show.

Budgets and revenues[link]

In the United States, the average broadcast network drama costs $3 million an episode to produce, while cable dramas cost $2 million on average.^[1] The pilot episode may be more expensive than a regular episode. In 2004, Lost's two-hour pilot cost $10–$14 million, in 2008 Fringe's two-hour pilot cost $10 million, and in 2010, Boardwalk Empire was $18 million for the first episode. In 2011, Game of Thrones was $5–$10 million, Pan Am cost an estimated $10 million, while Terra Nova's two-hour pilot was between $10 to $20 million.^[2][3]

Deficit financing is the term used to describe how many scripted network television shows in the Unites States are financed. A studio finances the production cost of a show and a network pays a license fee to the studio for the right to air the show. This license fee does not cover the show's production costs, leading to the deficit. Although the studio does not make its money back in the original airing of the show, it retains ownership of the show. This ownership retention allows the studio to make its money back and earn a profit through syndication and DVD and Blu-ray disc sales. This system places most of the financial risk on the studios, however a show that is a hit in the syndication and home video markets can more than make up for the misses. Although the deficit financing system places minimal financial risk on the networks, they lose out on the future profits of big hits, since they are only licensing the shows.^[4]

Costs are recouped mainly by advertising revenues for broadcast networks and some cable channels, while other cable channels depend on subscription revenues. In general, advertisers, and consequently networks that depend on advertising revenues, are more interested in the number of viewers within the 18–49 age range than the total number of viewers.^[5][6] Advertisers are willing to pay more to advertise on shows successful with young adults because they watch less television and are harder to reach than older adults.^[7] According to Advertising Age, during the 2007–08 season, Grey's Anatomy was able to charge $419,000 per commercial, compared to only $248,000 for a commercial during CSI, despite CSI having almost five million more viewers on average.^[8] Due to its strength in young demos, Friends was able to charge almost three times as much for a commercial as Murder, She Wrote, even though the two series had similar total viewer numbers during the seasons they were on the air together.^[5] Glee and The Office drew fewer total viewers than NCIS during the 2009–10 season, but earned an average of $272,694 and $213,617 respectively, compared to $150,708 for NCIS.^[9]

Distribution[link]

After production, the show is turned over to the television network, which sends it out to its affiliate stations, which broadcast it in the specified broadcast programming time slot. If the Nielsen ratings are good, the show is kept alive as long as possible. If not, the show is usually canceled. The show's creators are then left to shop around remaining episodes, and the possibility of future episodes, to other networks. On especially successful series, the producers sometimes call a halt to a series on their own like Seinfeld, The Cosby Show, Corner Gas, and M*A*S*H and end it with a concluding episode, which sometimes is a big series finale.

On rare occasions, a series that has not attracted particularly high ratings and has been canceled can be given a reprieve if DVD sales have been particularly strong. This has happened in the cases of Family Guy in the US and Peep Show in the UK.

If the show is popular or lucrative, and a number of episodes (usually 100 episodes or more) are made, it goes into broadcast syndication (in the USA) where broadcast to the program rights are then resold.

[edit] Seasons/series

The terminology used to define a set of episodes produced by a television series varies from country to country.

North American usage[link]

The term "series", in North American usage, refers to a connected set of television program episodes that run under the same title, possibly spanning many seasons. A new series is often ordered (funded) for just the first 10 to 13 episodes, to gauge the audience interest. If it is "picked up", the season is completed to the regular 20 to 26 episodes. The term "midseason replacement" usually refers to an inexpensive short-run (10–13 episode) show designed to take the place of an original series that failed to garner an audience and has not been picked up. The term "series finale" can lead to confusion outside of North America. A series finale is the last show of the series before the show is no longer produced. (In the UK, it means the end of a season.)

In North America the term "television season" is used inconsistently. A "full season" typically runs from September through May, with a hiatus between December and February. This broadcast programming schedule typically includes 20 to 26 episodes. A full season is sometimes split into two separate units (confusingly also termed seasons) with one before and one after the hiatus. These smaller "seasons" usually contain half the number of episodes (10–13).^{[citation needed]}

Since the 2000s, these shorter seasons have been referred to as ".5" or half seasons, where the run of shows between September and December is labeled "Season N", and the second run between February and May labeled "Season N.5". This is typically done to increase DVD sales of the show.^{[citation needed]} Distributors release the first half of the season in stores just before the second half first airs to increase interest in the season's second half.^{[citation needed]} Examples of this include the 2004 incarnation of Battlestar Galactica, ABC's FlashForward, and ABC Family's Make It or Break It.

UK and Australia usage[link]

In the United Kingdom and other countries, these sets of episodes are referred to as a "series". In Australia, the broadcasting may be different to North American usage, however, the terms "series" and "season" are the same. For example, Battlestar Galactica has an original series as well as a remake, both are considered different series with their own number of individual seasons. It helps to avoid much confusion when talking about a TV Series.

Australian television does not follow "seasons" in the way that US television does. So there is no "Fall Season" or "Fall schedule", for example. For many years popular night time dramas in Australia would run much of the year, and would only go into recess over the summer period (December–February) where ratings are not taken. Therefore popular dramas would usually run February–November each year. This schedule was used in the 1970s for popular dramas including Number 96. Neighbours and other dramas continue this routine as of 2011. Australian situation comedy series usually have seasons of about 13 episodes, and might premiere at any month between February and November.

British shows have tended toward shorter series in recent years. For example, the first series of long-running science fiction show Doctor Who in 1963 featured forty-two 25-minute episodes, which had been reduced gradually to fourteen 25-minute episodes in 1989. The revival of Doctor Who has comprised thirteen 45-minute installments. However, there are some series in the UK that have a larger number of episodes, for example Waterloo Road started with 8–12 episodes but from series three onward, it increased to 20 episodes, and season seven will contain 30 episodes. Recently, American non-cable networks have also begun to experiment with shorter seasons for some programs, particularly reality shows such as Survivor. However, they often air two seasons per year, resulting in roughly the same number of episodes per year as a drama.

This is a reduction from the 1950s, in which many American shows (e.g., The Twilight Zone) had between 29 and 39 episodes per season. Actual storytelling time within a commercial television hour has also gradually reduced over the years, from 50 minutes out of every 60 to the current 44 (and even less on some networks), beginning in the early 21st century.

Japanese usage[link]

The Japanese have sometimes subdivided television series and dramas into kūru (クール^?), from the French term cours for course, which is a three-month period usually of 13 episodes. Each kūru generally has its own opening and ending image sequence and song, recordings of which are often sold. The number of episodes permitted per season ranges from three to 65. (See also Japanese television programs.)

[edit] Running time

In the United States, in general, dramas usually last 44 minutes (an hour with advertisements), while sitcoms last 22 (30 with advertisements). However, with the rise of cable networks, especially pay ones, series and episode lengths have been changing, with 55–60 minutes per episode, and shorter seasons overall.

See also[link]

• Category:Television schedules (by country and year)
• List of animated television series
• List of television programs by name in alphabetical order
• Lists of television programs
• Network programming (television)
• Radio programming
• Television advertisement

References[link]

External links[link]

• FCC

v t e Lists of television series by country Africa Algeria Burkina Faso Cameroon Egypt Kenya Ivory Coast Libya Moroccan Nigeria Senegal South Africa Asia Bangladesh Cambodia China Georgia Hong Kong India Indonesia Iran Iraq Israel Japan North Korea South Korea Lebanon Malaysia Mongolia Nepal Pakistan Philippines Singapore Taiwan Vietnam Australasia Australia New Zealand Europe Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia-Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Czechoslovakia Denmark East Germany Estonia Faroes Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kosovo Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Moldova Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Soviet Union Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom Yugoslavia North America Canada Quebec Cuba Dominican Republic Haiti Jamaica Mexico Puerto Rico United States South America Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua Panama Paraguay Peru Uruguay Venezuela

Look up series in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

series (singular/plural) may refer to anything of a serial form:

Mathematics and science[link]

• Series (botany), a taxonomic rank between genus and species
• Series (mathematics), the sum of a sequence of terms
• Series circuits, a kind of electrical network
• Seriation (archaeology), a method of dating objects
• Seriation (semiotics), a concept in interpreting phenomena
• Series (stratigraphy), a stratigraphic unit deposited during a certain interval of geologic time

Media[link]

• Book series
• Film series
• Television series
• Video game series
• Comic book series

Music[link]

• Serialism including the twelve-tone technique
• The ordered sets used in serialism including tone rows
• The harmonic series (music)

See also: sequence

Other uses[link]

• Series (United States currency), referring to the year that a bill's design was adopted
• A book series
• A sequence of competitive sports events, sometimes to decide a championship; see also World Series (disambiguation)
• Serial (radio and television), series of television programs and radio programs that rely on a continuing plot that unfolds in a sequential episode by episode fashion
• "Television series", the Australian, British, and a number of others countries' equivalent term for the North American "television season", a set of episodes produced by a television serial.
• Land Rover Series, early Land Rover workhorses (forerunners to the Defender)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Adrian Pasdar
Pasdar at ComicCon, July 2008
Born	Adrian Kayvan Pasdar (1965-04-30) April 30, 1965 (age 47) Pittsfield, Massachusetts, United States
Occupation	Actor and film director
Spouse	Natalie Maines (2000–present)

Adrian Kayvan Pasdar (English pronunciation: /ˈpæzdɑr/, Persian pronunciation: [ˈpɒːsdɒːɾ]; born April 30, 1965) is an Iranian-American actor, voice artist, and film director. He is known for playing Jim Profit on the TV series Profit, for his roles in Near Dark, Carlito's Way, Mysterious Ways and as Nathan Petrelli on Heroes. Additionally, he directed the feature film Cement. Pasdar is the current voice of Iron Man in Marvel Anime, as well as in the animated series, Ultimate Spider-Man.^[1]

Early years[link]

Pasdar was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. His father, Homayoon Pasdar, was an Iranian immigrant and cardiac surgeon, with a practice near Philadelphia. His mother, Rosemarie (née Sberesny), was born in Königsberg/Kaliningrad, a German city until 1945, now part of Russia. She worked as a nurse before becoming an English teacher and travel agent in France.^[2]

Pasdar graduated from Marple Newtown Senior High School in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, and received a football scholarship to the University of Florida to play linebacker.^[3] He was badly injured in a car accident during his freshman year. The accident left his face scarred, his legs badly injured, and kept him in a wheelchair for several months, at which time he had to finish his freshman year while undergoing intensive physical therapy.

Anamarie "Pink" Pasdar is the younger sister of Adrian Pasdar. She appeared in the Mysterious Ways episode "Handshake".^[4] She was the Associate Artistic Director (c. 2007-2008) at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.

Acting career[link]

Pasdar turned his attention to campus stage productions and rediscovered an early interest in writing and acting. No longer able to play football, he dropped out of school and returned home, taking a job with a theater group, People's Light and Theatre Company. There he worked on sound and lighting as part of the stage crew responsible for set construction. He had a painful accident on the set, cutting off the end of his left thumb. His resulting medical compensation paid for attendance at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute in New York.

Pasdar was also selected to play a bit part as a police officer in the Dixie Chicks video for their song, "Goodbye Earl". The music video won both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association's Video of the Year Awards in 2000.

Acting and directing[link]

Film[link]

At the age of 19, he auditioned for a role in Top Gun. Director Tony Scott was so impressed that he wrote the part of "Chipper" just for him. This led to bigger roles in Solarbabies (1986), Streets of Gold (1986), and Kathryn Bigelow's cult vampire movie Near Dark (1987), with Pasdar in the lead role of Caleb Colton. Other major roles include Vital Signs (1990). Pasdar got his biggest break in movies, when he starred as a beautiful woman opposite Julie Walters in the British movie Just Like a Woman. In 1992, he left Hollywood and returned to New York, working as a cashier for room and board, while taking the occasional small part, such as Frankie in Brian De Palma's Carlito's Way (1993).

Adrian Pasdar wrote and directed the short film Beyond Belief^{[disambiguation needed ]} and directed his first feature film, the art-house neo-noir Cement, a contemporary re-telling of Othello, in 1999. The $1.7 million independent feature, which won Best Picture awards on the festival circuit, starred Chris Penn, Jeffrey Wright, Sherilyn Fenn, Henry Czerny and was written by Farscape's screenwriter Justin Monjo. "I've used every ounce of energy and every drop of money I had to make Cement," Pasdar said.^[5]

Television[link]

Pasdar's major break into television came in 1996, when he was cast as the title character on the short-lived but critically acclaimed Fox series Profit. He also guest starred in the 2 hour season finale of the fourth season of Touched by an Angel, "The Spirit of Liberty Moon". From 2000 to 2002, Pasdar played the lead role of Anthropology Professor Declan Dunn in the spooky cult drama series Mysterious Ways on PAX.

Pasdar played David McClaren in the final two seasons of the long-running CBS drama Judging Amy, from 2003 through 2005. In 2006, he had a high-profile guest role as Gabrielle Solis's sleazy lawyer in Desperate Housewives.

Most recently, he starred as Nathan Petrelli in the NBC superhero drama Heroes. Pasdar based his mysterious character on "the most morally liquid characters" that he's encountered in his life. The character is not based on one particular political figure, but on a melange of different ones, both good and bad.^[6] Pasdar's character was killed off in an episode that aired November 30, 2009.^[7]

Pasdar voices Hawkeye in the animated series The Super Hero Squad Show. He also voiced Captain America in the Black Panther animated series, as well as Iron Man in the English dub of the Iron Man anime series.^[8]

He currently plays a role on The Lying Game as Alec Rybak, a corrupt district attorney.

Personal life[link]

Pasdar married lead singer Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks in June 2000. The couple first met in May 1999, with Maines as a bridesmaid to her bandmate Emily Robison and Pasdar as a groomsman to his friend singer-songwriter Charlie Robison. They were married in Las Vegas's Little White Wedding Chapel, in a $55 no-frills ceremony officiated by the chapel's "Pastor Ann". They have two children, Jackson Slade Pasdar (born March 15, 2001) and Beckett Finn Pasdar (born July 14, 2004) and live in Los Angeles, California and Austin, Texas.

He has a tattoo of an anchor on his arm. His children's names are written on it. It symbolizes that his family is his anchor and support in life.^[9] He also has a tattoo of the Chinese character for Strength, which he got while filming Shanghai 1920 (上海1920, Shang Hai yi jiu er ling)]] (1991).^[9]

Pasdar is a guitarist for charity rock band Band from TV. Part of the proceeds from the band's concerts go to his nominated charity, the Rush Epilepsy Center.^[10]

Pasdar was arrested on January 27, 2010 on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.^[11]

Awards and nominations[link]

Award Wins for Acting

• 2009: Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films: Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor in Television, Heroes^[12]

Award Wins for Directing

• 2000: Grand Remi Award (WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival): Cement^[13]
• 2000: AngelCiti film festival: Audience Award, Cement

Other Award Wins

• 2009 (ensemble): Hollywood Note Foundation's Change the World Awards, Humanitarian Award of Inspiration: Band From TV^[14]

Filmography (as actor)[link]

Filmography (as director)[link]

Audiobook narration[link]

In 2010 Pasdar narrated an audiobook edition of the cult novel Queer Fish in God's Waiting Room by the British writer Lee Henshaw. It was released in early 2011.^[15]

Further reading[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Adrian Pasdar at the Internet Movie Database