History Main / ThreeShorts

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Bibleman}}'' was released with three 11-minute segments per disc.
[[/folder]]

'''Director:''' Hey, what happened to part two? Was [[WesternAnimation/IAmWeasel that weasel thing ]] part two?

->'''The Red Guy:''' So get ready for part three of ''THE UGLIEST WEENIE!''
->'''Director:''' Hey, what happened to part two? Was [[WesternAnimation/IAmWeasel that weasel thing ]] part two?

* Jim Henson's last television project before his death "Series/TheJimHensonHour" follows this format exactly. With Jim as host, the first half of the show is Muppetelevision, which is a more futuristic version of The Muppet Show, complete with sketches and guest stars and Kermit as the head frog in charge of a TV studio full of monitors and video feeds. The second half would be a bit more serious, either showing an episode of The Storyteller or would be a random special created by the Creature Shop. At times the format would change and the whole hour can be one special, such as with Dog City and Monster Maker.

* ''Undercover High'' follows the AB format, despite being a show about pranks. Each half of an episode has Lisa work with the faculty of a different school, to help set up an elaborate prank on an entire class or a club.

Many shows follow an A-B-A form for this format, meaning one series has a short in the first slot and in the last. This "A" series is generally the one that gives the whole show its name. The middle slot is filled by a second "B" series, that may or may not get billing in the TitleSequence. The "B" series is often in the same universe as the "A" series, and the two can often CrossOver, with the virtue that everyone who has seen the one will almost inevitably see the other. Creator/HannaBarbera liked this format for its Cartoon Network original shows, and many of its older productions.

* Jim Henson's last television project before his death "Series/The Jim Henson Hour" follows this format exactly. With Jim as host, the first half of the show is Muppetelevision, which is a more futuristic version of The Muppet Show, complete with sketches and guest stars and Kermit as the head frog in charge of a TV studio full of monitors and video feeds. The second half would be a bit more serious, either showing an episode of The Storyteller or would be a random special created by the Creature Shop. At times the format would change and the whole hour can be one special, such as with Dog City and Monster Maker.

* Jim Henson's last television project before his death "The Jim Henson Hour" follows this format exactly. With Jim as host, the first half of the show is Muppetelevision, which is a more futuristic version of The Muppet Show, complete with sketches and guest stars and Kermit as the head frog in charge of a TV studio full of monitors and video feeds. The second half would be a bit more serious, either showing an episode of The Storyteller or would be a random special created by the Creature Shop. At times the format would change and the whole hour can be one special, such as with Dog City and Monster Maker.

This form has some advantages. The short episodes are easier to produce in parallel, since writing and animation tasks can be farmed out to a bigger staff, resulting in higher productivity. This, and carrying a comedic story for 22 minutes can be tricky. A six-minute short doesn't give the premise of a joke enough time to run out of steam.

Compare QuarterHourShort, where an eleven-minute short isn't paired with a companion short. Creator/CartoonNetwork is especially fond of airing new episodes of their shows in this format, later showcasing them in their Two Shorts form during re-runs.

* ''Series/DrunkHistory'' tells 3 historical stories an episode, with the exception of the Hamilton episode, which is a single 22-minute segment.

* ''Film/TheThreeStooges'' (2012 movie) follows this format, with three half-hour shorts in the spirit of the original series.

!!Examples:

The granddaddy of this trope, WesternAnimation, has so many examples that it [[ThreeShorts.WesternAnimation got its own page.]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* Some {{anime}} air (in Japan) in a form like this, notably ''Manga/RiskySafety'', ''Folktales From Japan'' and ''Anime/OruchubanEbichu'', although the series they aired with are less notable. More common are the half-length episodes (about 13 minutes) which air back to back in a half-hour timeslot.
* ''{{Franchise/Anpanman}}'' :
** Nearly every episode follows the two story format, with the exception of a few half-hour special episodes. Because of [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters the amount of characters]] in the franchise, the episodes are simply created by pairing up two characters (or a [[CastHerd defined group]] and a separate character) and have them work off each other based on their personalities.
** Some of the theatrical shorts that accompanied the films from 1992, 1994, 1997, 1998 and 1999 are about three shorts or more.
* ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'' was broadcast as one five-minute episode per weekday, which were then stitched together into a half-hour Five Shorts form on Saturday.
* ''Anime/CrayonShinChan'' usually runs the three episode format.
* ''Anime/{{Doraemon}}'' uses the ABA format, with a mini segment in between each episode. Most dubs cut these mini segments out, making it Two Shorts, and some episodes are full length.
* ''VisualNovel/FinalApproach'' and ''VisualNovel/WWish'' aired together in this manner.
* Most of the ''Anime/FullMetalPanicFumoffu'' episodes were made up of two different stories.
* ''Anime/GalaxyAngel'' after its first season (26 thirteen-minute individual episodes) had a 2 shorts format.
* ''Franchise/{{Jewelpet}}''
** ''Anime/JewelpetSunshine'' uses the two shorts format in more than half its episodes.
** ''Anime/JewelpetMagicalChange'' uses two shorts in most episodes, canon to the plot, and at the end there's a very short segment detailing some Jewelpet's misadventure (so, AAB).
* ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt'', being a tribute to Western cartoons in many ways, follows this format.
** It sometimes deviates from it, like with the full-length episode 6.
* Episodes two and onward of (Zoku) ''Manga/SayonaraZetsubouSensei'' follow this format.
** As does ''Goku'' (the OVA) and, so far, ''Zan'' (the third series).
* ''Manga/{{Sazaesan}}'' does the three shorts format.
* ''Manga/SchoolRumble'' is a subversion. While the episodes are divided into three shorter ones (each with their own title, except for the season finales), they are all linked together in one overarching plot.
* The anime version of ''Manga/SgtFrog'' usually followed a Two Shorts format.
* ''Shima Shima Tora No Shimajiro'' does the ABA format, with a live action segment featuring a costume Shimajiro being the B.
* ''Manga/SquidGirl''
* ''Manga/ShizukuChan'' does two stories per episode.
* ''Manga/SoredemoMachiWaMawatteiru'' anime adaption features two thematically linked chapters of the manga per episode.
* The 2009 ''Anime/{{Tamagotchi}}'' anime has two 11-minute stories per episode. This changed to one 22-minute story per episode starting with episode 95, then changed back to the "two 11-minute stories" format in the fourth installment, ''GO-GO Tamagotchi!'', where apart from the occasional 22-minute story the episode format remained like that for the rest of the series.
* ''Anime/ThrillerRestaurant''
* ''Motto Manga/ToLoveRu''
* ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'' began as a Two Shorts format, sometimes leading to confusion about how many episodes there are since the shows from this period may be counted as either one or two.
* ''Anime/YokaiWatch'' has up to four segments an episode.
[[/folder]]

* ''Manga/ShinryakuIkaMusume''

* The 2009 ''VideoGame/{{Tamagotchi}}'' anime has two 11-minute stories per episode. This changed to one 22-minute story per episode starting with episode 95, then changed back to the "two 11-minute stories" format in the fourth installment, ''GO-GO Tamagotchi!'', where apart from the occasional 22-minute story the episode format remained like that for the rest of the series.

* The 2009 ''VideoGame/{{Tamagotchi}}'' anime has two stories per episode.

* ''{{Franchise/Anpanman}}'' follows the two story format in nearly every episode, with the exception of a few half-hour special episodes. Because of [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters the amount of characters]] in the franchise, the episodes are simply created by pairing up two characters (or a [[CastHerd defined group]] and a seperate character) and have them work off each other based on their personalities.

-->--''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken'', "The Ugliest Weenie (Epilogue)"

* ''Film/TheThreeStooges'' (2012 movie) follows this format, with three half hour shorts in the spirit of the original series.

* Series/NightGallery. How many segments per episode varied, but was usually two or three. In series two, the segments were often followed by brief comedic skits. The formula was dropped for series three, where the series took on a more conventional format of each episode consisting of one half hour story.

* ''Series/Odd Squad'' follows an AB format, both for the first season and the second. In between, there is usually a Training Video from Oscar and Oona (the latter for the second season), or a Welcome to Headquarters video, sometimes followed by one of Ms. O's recruitment commercials. As of Season 2, the We Are Odd Squad shorts become more prevalent as the only short after each episode. In fact, most episodes have the We Are Odd Squad shorts directly after, and are the only shorts featured. The Training Videos, the We Are Odd Squad shorts, and the Welcome to Headquarters shorts also vary in turn, most prevalent in Season 1.