Massive Leak of Pre-Air TV Shows: Piracy or Promotion?

Written by Ernesto on July 24, 2007

Several TV shows from the upcoming TV season have leaked to BitTorrent over the past week. Weeds, Chuck, The Sarah Connor Chonicles, Pushing Daisies, Californication, Brotherhood and Dexter, to name a few. It makes you wonder, Is this the work of hardcore pirates or just a new form of promotion by the TV studios?

weeds Most shows are rips from preview and review DVDs sent out by the studios to several media outlets and TV editors. Even though there is no hard evidence that these shows are leaked on purpose, the leaks will definitely get the hype going on the Internet. Unofficial, pre-air reviews are already popping up at several places on the Internet.

The Sarah Connor Chonicles, Pushing Daisies, Californication, Reaper, and Chuck are new TV shows that are about to start on their first season. The leak of The Sarah Connor Chonicles, highly anticipated by fans of The Terminator, stands out because this show is scheduled to launch in 2008. All the other leaks will air within the next few months.

For Weeds, it’s the second time that episodes have leaked before being aired on TV. Last year, exactly the same thing happened and thousands of people downloaded and watched the first episodes before they aired on TV. TV studios already offer a number of pilot episodes on the iTunes Store for free. Would it be too big a leap to assume they do the same on BitTorrent?

Here’s a list of the TV shows that leaked to BitTorrent this week, including the ‘offline’ air date:

Weeds: (season 3) scheduled to air on August 13, 2007

Chuck: (season 1) scheduled to air on September 24, 2007

The Sarah Connor Chonicles: (season 1) scheduled to air on early 2008

Pushing Daisies: (season 1) scheduled to air on September 26, 2007

Californication: (season 1) scheduled to air on July 24, 2007

Reaper: (season 1) scheduled to air on September 25, 2007

Brotherhood: (season 2) scheduled to air on September 30, 2007

Dexter: (season 2) scheduled to air on July 29, 2007

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Tags: bittorrent, Brotherhood, Californication, Chuck, Dexter, leak, Preair, Pushing-Daisies, The-Sarah-Connor-Chonicles, tv, Weeds

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68 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)

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1 Jul 24, 2007 at 16:36 by Flatlinebb

I just have a minor correction: Dexter will be starting its second season. And it’s a great show - I highly recommend it.

2 Jul 24, 2007 at 17:00 by kornflake

what better way to get intrest in a show then to leak it out i am watching the The Sarah Connor Chonicles right now and i think it is lookin good so i might give fox a try hen it airs

3 Jul 24, 2007 at 18:13 by Ernesto

[quote comment="136836"]I just have a minor correction: Dexter will be starting its second season. And it’s a great show - I highly recommend it.[/quote]

Thanks, corrected.

4 Jul 24, 2007 at 21:48 by Daniel

Along with newcommers Pushing Daisies, tSCC, Chuck and Calofornication, Reaper has also leaked. Just thought you might want to add it. :p

5 Jul 24, 2007 at 23:31 by Ernesto

[quote comment="136910"]Along with newcommers Pushing Daisies, tSCC, Chuck and Calofornication, Reaper has also leaked. Just thought you might want to add it. :p[/quote]

Thanks, added.

6 Jul 25, 2007 at 03:39 by mj

I’m in love with pushing daisies…but I’m worried most people won’t like it ‘cus it’s quirky

7 Jul 25, 2007 at 05:23 by mike

Californication doesn’t start until August 13th (same night as Weeds).

8 Jul 25, 2007 at 05:24 by luke

Its a marketing strategy for sure. Like the last season of 24, 4 episodes got “leaked”, and at the end of the 4 episodes was a huge cliffhanger. A fairly obvious marketing attempt to generate interest

9 Jul 25, 2007 at 05:34 by Jrad

Aliens in America (The New CW Show Coming October 1st) has been leaked. Although its labeled as a DVDSCR, The quality is quite low.

10 Jul 25, 2007 at 05:39 by John

Add Bionic Woman to the list.

11 Jul 25, 2007 at 07:54 by Shaded Spriter

I have not seen the Bionic Woman leak yet…(looking forward to that show.)

I am currently struggling to if I should get season 3 leak of weeds…because I have not seen season 2 (Sky owns the rights…but have not showed it for god knows what reason.)

12 Jul 25, 2007 at 16:11 by Manda

I’m not sure about BitTorrent, but 4 new Men in Trees episodes have been leaked on usenet.

13 Jul 25, 2007 at 18:20 by Grimmis

yep bionic woman is been up for almost 24 hours

14 Jul 25, 2007 at 21:20 by blahblah

For Bionic Woman, I do know it’s being screened at Comic-Con so leak might be from there.

15 Jul 25, 2007 at 21:56 by Jack Gater

Leaks happen every year. Weeds had about four episodes leaked last Season, Shark had it’s Pilot leaked and probably a bunch of other stuff too.

I think it would be a decent way to promote them. They can’t get rid of torrents, so why not use them to get viewers? I for one will be watching Sarah Connor, Reaper and Chuck new this season. As for Weeds and Dexter leaks…they’re just an added bonus.

16 Jul 25, 2007 at 23:10 by John

Because of these leaks I will be watching, when they premiere on TV:

CHUCK
PUSHING DAISIES
ALIENS IN AMERICA
REAPER

17 Jul 26, 2007 at 00:34 by papa

This is nothing new. It happens every summer. I watched the pilots to Heroes, Jericho, Studio 60, Shark, Kidnapped, The Nine, Smith, and a bunch of others this time last year.

18 Jul 26, 2007 at 00:36 by papa

Hell, I even watched pilots to shows that didn’t even hit the airwaves…Angriest Man in Suburbia, The Singles Table, and a couple of others I forgot the name too.

This is nothing new. I watched the two hour pilot to Lost a full two months before it aired back in the summer of 04.

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