Sometimes it takes someone outside of a situation to really see what's not working, and come up with ways to fix it. Since I'm not a television executive, I can objectively look at what they're doing each season as a fan, instead of someone who's getting paid way too much money to decide how long the 'American Idol' results show should be each week.

For the past few years, the networks have been trying to create a "summer season" of original programming. While they've found some success with reality shows like 'Wipeout' and 'So You Think You Can Dance,' true year-round programming still remains an elusive dream.

Programming a few reality shows, burning off failed fall entries and launching the occasional scripted series that aren't strong enough for your real season isn't the way to make it happen. You need to create a revolution!

But how to do it?

THE FIRST SWING

In any revolution, one needs to radically change the way we think. For decades, summer was the time when the networks threw on reruns, and we watched them because no one had invented the Internet yet. In recent years there have been way too many distractions for that to work, so they started giving us cheap reality fare. It's only summer, after all, they figured. No reason to spend the kind of budget you see on a fall show.

But now ABC is running ads touting their "Summer Season" -- even launching several new scripted series -- to try to convince us that they mean business this year. But how are we supposed to take all of these great new scripted programs seriously when the networks are inundating us with ads during them for their new fall lineup, and none of these shows are on it? Where's that show of faith?

When you treat your summer series as second-class citizens, your audience thinks of them as your B-listers. We figure these are the shows you sunk money into, so you're looking for some kind of return on your investment. You don't want to take up any of the precious real estate in the seasons that matter, so why not burn them off in the summer along with the last episodes of your other failed series from the fall?

If the networks don't think of the summer as a real season, then neither will we. It's time to show us how serious you are about the summer. If you program it, we will watch. Cable has proven that by dominating the summer season for years now with their own scripted shows. It's time the networks stepped up to the plate.

All it takes is one brave soul to schedule one hit series in the summer season to change everything. Imagine if CBS announced that 'CSI: Miami' was going to premiere its next season in May 2011, running through September. The cases, set in the Florida summer, would be sexier than ever and fans of David Caruso would be scrambling to figure out what happened.

Change doesn't happen overnight, and CBS can expect 'CSI: Miami' to take a hit in the ratings at first. But loyal fans will find it, and still want to watch it. With the continuing growth of DVRs in the viewing population, the distraction of all those summer outdoor activities becomes less of a factor.

SPREAD OUT

Once the gauntlet has been thrown, it's time to spread out the rest of that lineup. No longer should we be shackled to the September through May television season. It's impractical to spread a 22-episode season across nine months anyway, and the antiquated reasons behind that schedule no longer apply. The truth is, the networks have unprecedented freedom to program their shows whenever they want to.

Fox took a bold step several years ago when they decided to hold '24' until January so they could air the entire season uninterrupted. Traditionalists gasped, certain it would never work, and yet the move made the show more successful than ever. 'Lost' took it a step further by setting an end date for their series and reducing the number of episodes per season to 18.

Who said it takes 22 episodes a year to tell a season story? Why spread 22 episodes across nearly twice as many weeks? It's time to abandon this archaic system, and adopt a four season approach.

1) The Fall Season - Mid-August through mid-November.
2) The Holiday Season - Mid-November through mid-January
3) The Winter Season - Mid-January through mid-June
4) The Summer Season - Mid-June through mid-August

Summer and fall are great for procedurals, most sitcoms and other lighter fare. Many of these shows could be broadcast across both seasons. There could also be fall premieres of shows that will be broken into two scheduled pods; half in the summer and half in the fall. Integrating series across the seasons will help the audience to think of this as a 365-day schedule.

The holidays are when people start to lose their focus completely, so this shorter season is when you trot out all those holiday specials, as well as high profile mini-series and other short-form programming. It's time America embraced the beauty of a tight 6-10 episode limited series.

The winter season is our longest uninterrupted stretch, and thus the best time to reach your viewers on a regular and consistent basis. The weather has many of them at home far more often than the other seasons, so this is the time to hit them with serialized programming and other dense and complex television series. By the time spring rolls around, you've got them hooked already by your long-form masterpiece.

SLOW DOWN

The biggest mistake the networks are making now in regards to the summer season is dismissing it before it happens. They announced their fall schedules at the upfronts in May, well before the summer season had begun. By trying to get us all hyped and excited about what's coming in September, we're already forgetting about what's on right now.

If 'Rookie Blue' is a breakout hit for ABC this summer, there's no room for it on that fall schedule. At best, it could come back as a midseason replacement when something else fails. But if that momentum is now, then ABC needs to be able to capitalize on it immediately by parking it next to 'Castle' to see what it can do.

There's no reason September's lineup needs to be known in May. Networks need the flexibility to make decisions to nurture succeeding summer series in the fall without having to rewrite everything. Let us know what shows are coming, sure, but hold off on locking up that schedule when you've got new shows that might just break out this summer.

I'm not saying these things are what TV will do, but I am saying it's what they probably should do.


What do you think: How can the networks fix summer TV?


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