Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-24674051-20160602175241

Ok, ABC execs have mentioned that, in general, they are going to review the whole hiatus issue, and look into shorter intervals. Which is all well and good, but what does that mean for Once?

On Season 1 and 2, there was no official hiatus (that I recall anyway). There were periods where the show was not aired due to conflicts with other special programs (Holiday programs, Awards shows, etc). And this type of format was the norm for network television for decades. Season 3 introduced the Split season on Once, and also the Winter Hiatus. What this provided was a long break that encompassed the Holidays, and also bypassed the Winter Awards shows that aired on Sundays. This allowed for show arcs of 11 episodes to air weekly without interruption (well, mostly, anyway) which supposedly helped the continuity of the show.

Now, season 2 is actualy a good argument that the Hiatus does not necessarily impact the story arcs. My impression of season 2 is that there were actually 3 story arcs. Arc 1 was the time that Snow and Emma were in the EF trying to get back home. Arc 2 covered the time that Cora and Killian came to SB until Cora's death. and Arc 3 was the "home office" arc.

I guess my point is that we will still probably get a dual arc season. However, if the winter Hiatus is shorter, I could see that the writers would not put as much empasis on building up a mid-season finale (like we had with Seasons 3-5), in favor of an episode (still written by A&E) that bridges the 2 arcs. 