All the more reason why the quality and content of television and the cinema sucks these days.

How can educated network programming executives be so stupid for so many years without being intentionally stupid?

Sounds like your ability to suspend disbelief is lacking, because that’s a silly argument that can be used to dismiss any show. Like so: “We all know Captain Picard won’t be killed every week. Show over.” Only persons deficient in imagination would make such a claim and mean it. I imagine you don’t really mean it.

“They put them on at knuckleheaded times and make them go on hiatus for
months just so they can justify killing off the show and – I don’t know -
collect the cancellation insurance or something?”

This conspiracy theory has nothing to it. No one wants a series project to fail, let alone the expensive speculative-fiction type series. Money is lost. There’s no payoff. They often lose money on it up front even if the ratings are reasonably good; disc sales, merchandising and syndication deals are the big payoffs, but those are down the line and you have to succeed to get there.

What disturbs me is that it sounds like a show devoted to weekly attempted murders of a child. Not only that, but it sounds like they won’t have to do any special effects for seven years until she finally “comes into her own” and is actually able to demonstrate powers. So it’s a soap opera. But we all know she is as likely to get killed as Gilligan is to get rescued. Show over. (Same with Revolution and electricity). Plus, stupid networks don’t let these kinds of teaser shows run to length anymore. They put them on at knuckleheaded times and make them go on hiatus for months just so they can justify killing off the show and – I don’t know – collect the cancellation insurance or something? So what’s the point?