Why not show Simpsons Halloween specian ON HALLOWEEN? (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Jacobson]

I was just looking at Titan TV and noticed that on Sunday, October 31 (Halloween) FOX will be showing last year's Simpsons Halloween Special followed by the X-Files movie. Why don't they just show THIS year's special?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Because had the World Series gone to game 7, it wouldn't have been possible. As such, any of the back-up programming is repeats.

 

[Michael Harris]

Damn you Redsox for winning in 4! Another reason to hate you! Now we are stuck with repeat programming this Sunday.







Actually, congrats to the Sox and this from a Yankee fan.

 

[AnthonyC]

Still, it's not hard to reschedule it. I didn't mind it too much when it was Nov. 2 or 3, but when Halloween falls ON a Sunday, why not?

Well, last year's TOH was good, so I'll watch.

 

[nolesrule]

It's not hard to reschedule. But rescheduling isn't the issue. The issue is promotion. FOX has been advertising the new Simpsons show for November 7 for at least a month, probably more. The World Series ended on Wednesday. It would be unfair to viewers to change that on such short notice.

 

[ThomasC]

But it didn't go to Game 7. Ugh.

 

[Tony_P]

Fox has been doing this for a few years now (showing the Halloween episode in November). I had always assumed they delayed it to make sure it aired during November sweeps.

 

[Tarkin The Ewok]

I'm actually glad that Fox is taking this approach with the Simpsons special.

What if they had advertised the show as being on Halloween, and the World Series did go to a Game Seven? The network would either have to reschedule the Simpsons episode or air it very late at night. Either option would infuriate some of the fans. The November approach is reliable and safe for both the network and the viewers.

 

[BrianW]

Too bad they didn't give Futurama this kind of a break. If this had been Futurama, they would have scheduled it to air unless there were a Game 7. Then, after the WS ends in Game 4, they would have pre-empted it in any case with a reality program.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Yeah, so the series had ended on Wednesday which means they have basically Thursday/Friday/Saturday to promote the Change...but what if it had gone 5 games, that knocks out Thursday and if it had gone 6 that knocks out Friday and Saturday as being days that they could get the word out. So, it is just more convenient to schedule it for november 7...and I remember Kang and Kodos making a joke about this in 1 Halloween special.

The reality is you have to set that night aside just in case there is a game 7 because the game is almost guaranteed to get higher ratings than the Simpsons special.

I think I missed last year's special so I'm hoping to see it tomorrow night.

 

[AnthonyC]

I think the better solution is to just cancel the World Series.

--not a big baseball/sports fan

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Either way, its not like its that big of a deal to wait another week. Granted, it doesn't make sense to watch a Halloween episode when it's a week into November, but it makes more sense that they advertise it at a certain date and keep it there.

They could air the Treehouse of Horror for this year twice. But nobody would watch it when all the other shows start their new seasons (next sunday, Nov. 7) if they already saw it, unless it was THAT good (which, let's face it, is not a certainty anymore).

 

[Chris Bardon]

I'm with you on that one-I'm tired of Baseball and football screwing up when things are supposed to be on TV. Football killed Futurama dammit!

 

[Lee L]

I kind of like the fact that Fox has delayed the TOH the last few years, it gives it a little cachet. i think last year or maybe 2 years backm tehy even joked about it in teh commercials by saying "Halloween isn't over until The Simpsons say it is over" or something similar.


Also, as mentioned above, at least they set a schedule and stuck with it. How many times did CBS change their schedule at the last minute during the last few weeks and they were just competing against the baseball, not airing it.

 

[TheLongshot]

It is times like these that I miss Jeff Kleist.

Jason

 

[Paul Sandhu]

I always thought it was because no one would be home on Halloween night to watch it.

 

[James T]

They should have just shown the season premiere on Sunday and shown the same episode next week.

That's how most cartoons are aired for kids. Brand new Saturday, the same 3 episodes repeated during Monday to Friday for when the kids come back home from school. Ratings more-or-less stay the same.

 

[nolesrule]

The Simpsons isn't a kids show.

That trick works for kids because a child will sit and watch the same thing multiple times in a short time period and will sit through all the advertisements each time.

Adults don't have the same behavior pattern. Thus, you'd lose the potential ad revenue of having the same person watch on 10/31 and 11/7. By showing an old epsidoe on 10/31 and then a new one on 11/7, you are more likely to get the same set of eyeballs watching on both nights.

 

[Benson R]

I agree that its better to save it for another week if it might interfere with sports programming.

I am still pissed about what fox did to the king of the hill christmas episode last year on the east coast.

The late game ended at 7:35 and king of the hill was supposed to start at 7:30.

But at 7:35, they went to commercial, then to the postgame show, then to commercial, then to the intro credits for king of the hill, then to commercial, then they went to king of the hill already in progress at 7:52.

I mean really, whats the point by then?

 

[RyanAn]

As long as I can remember, they always have the new Treehouse the next week, after Halloween. "Halloween in November" was something they said a few years back.

Ryan