Why only 8 episodes?

[lwhite53]

(30-12-2009 04:12 PM)Tomsdouble Wrote:  Yeah, a lot of American shows are 20-26 episodes long and usually they run for the hour including adverts, so that makes the usual running time about 42 or 43 minutes. (Think of 24, an hour of which runs for about 43 minutes!) Am I to undersand that in the US Spooks (or MI5, as it's called) is shortened so it fits (with adverts) into an hour slot?

When MI5 ran on the A&E network in the US, the eps were cut back to 43 minutes to allow for commercials (adverts) which was VERY problematic, as the eps are already tightly cut by Kudos. Now that PBS has the airing rights, the eps are shown in full but not all PBS affiliates run the show so it's a bit difficult to find it.