Written 9/30/24
-Like I did at the beginning of season nine, I wanted to share a few things about what to expect from season ten. However, this time, things will be different. I'm only going to discuss the first eight episodes of the season because as of right now, season ten is only half-finished. I feel confident that the remaining episodes will be completed by Thanksgiving, but I don't think it makes sense to talk about scripts that haven't been written yet. Also, things were a lot more difficult with season ten than with season nine.
-I started writing episode 1001 on September 24, 2023, almost exactly one year ago. At the time, this episode wasn't supposed to be part of season ten because it was a Halloween episode. It was meant to be a standalone show released a month later as the first Halloween episode since 2019. However, I wasn't satisfied with the script and didn't finish it. I decided to come back to it this year, and I was a lot more positive about it the second time around. It's coming out next month on the 27th.
-I started writing "16 Candles" on October 13, 2023. Originally, I had plans for another Halloween episode released that day because it was Friday the 13th, but that ended up not working out. That episode is also coming out on October 27, but it wasn't the concept I originally thought of. I finished "16 Candles" in January and wrote two more episodes the following month after the Super Bowl episode I had planned didn't work out. I felt like things were finally moving with season ten since there was a lot of procrastination before then.
-When this year started, the plan was to have season ten premiere on June 24, the twelfth anniversary of the pilot episode. I tried to do the same thing with season nine two years ago, but what happened with season nine ended up happening with season ten. Months of inactivity, procrastination, writer's block, ideas being changed, and my own mental health taking a turn for the worse. By the beginning of May, I was five episodes in and I felt like too much time had passed for a June premiere. Episodes four and five weren't even finished by then. I spent a lot of time thinking about it, and I decided to push back the season premiere to September. In 2022 when "The Holidays from Hell" came out, I brought up the possibility of season ten coming out in September 2024, but I wasn't serious about that. Somehow, I ended up predicting it. I also predicted spending over a year on season ten (Season 9 Backstage Pass from "There's a Conspiracy Among Us").
-I didn't start to take season ten seriously until August, and I don't think I became locked in until this past month, which is the most productive I've been since March. I finally feel like things are back on track and I'm moving at the pace I'm used to. Season ten is the hardest season I've written so far, and it has nothing to do with the show itself, it's all me. It's reminded me multiple times of season eight, which was the first time I ever felt off writing the show and I had to make up for lost time. Unlike season eight, I feel like I have more experience now and more confidence to handle what's going on with me. 2024 hasn't been the best year, but I'm not letting history repeat itself. No matter what, season ten is getting finished ahead of time.
-Since season ten was pushed back to September, the Halloween episodes I had planned were no longer standalones. For months, I hated the idea of having the Halloween episodes in season ten because that wasn't my vision. I was still holding on to the June 24 premiere date and I thought they wouldn't fit. Eventually, I realized I was being difficult and I understood what needed to be done. This season is a lot more traditional than season nine, which was written mostly in late 2022/early 2023 and premiered in March. At least this time, there's a September premiere date and the Halloween episodes are returning in an actual season, not by themselves.
-There are going to be 16 episodes this season. For a long time, I thought season ten would have more episodes because I had a lot of ideas, but some of them ended up being replaced by the Halloween episodes. Also, I was completely against stretching out the season to next year, so I kept it at 16. At least it's longer than season nine. I'm considering having more episodes in season eleven, but I'll see how I feel in the next couple months.
-Like season nine, season ten is a combination of newer ideas (no earlier than 2023), hybrid ideas, and older ideas (ideas I came up with before I even started writing season nine).
-A preview of the next few episodes: Dr. Osborne moves in with RK and KG to get his life back in order (October 6), Buster finds out his favorite author has a ghostwriter (October 13), and Jaylynn tries to avoid humiliating herself when she gets a new crush (October 20).
-A Halloween tripleheader is set for October 27. Another reason season ten is like season eight is because they share the same air dates. Season eight was supposed to premiere on September 29 until I pushed it back two weeks. And I also wrote three Halloween episodes that season, but only one of them came out finished and on time ("The Blackout from Hell"). "Toys Have All the Fun" was a nightmare to work on and came out unfinished, and "Halloween XIII: The Unauthorized Tales" was delayed until Halloween because of all the issues I was dealing with. None of that is happening this season. I cancelled plans for a Halloween tripleheader in season three, but ten years later, it's finally a reality.
-I feel like Bitch Clock was an honorary main character in season nine because of all the screen time I gave him, and he even had his own episode. This season, it's definitely KG. I didn't plan on this, but there are multiple episodes this season with KG as the focus. The season premiere already set the tone for that, and that means Denise, Rodney, and Trevor are going to be making more appearances as well.
-I didn't forget about Bitch Clock. He appears in episode three and he stars in one of the Halloween episodes.
-Anja and Lynne appear as needed, but they will definitely be around as much as they were last season. Out of all the kids, they're still the most consistent recurring characters.
-Depending on how I feel, I might write another Backstage Pass for season ten next month. This time, I'll share information about the second half. I already know what I'm doing for the next couple episodes that haven't been written, but until the time comes, silence is golden.
