Korean dramas don't know how to end their shows. A lot of otherwise great kdramas are ruined by how they end. They are great up until the last episode where the writers for some reason don't know what to do.
this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2025
11 points (92.3% liked)
Television
104 readers
339 users here now
Welcome to Television
This community is for discussion of anything related to television or streaming.
Other Communities
A community for discussion of anything related to Television via broadcast or streaming.
Rules:
-
Be respectful and courteous to all members.
-
Avoid offensive or discriminatory remarks.
-
Avoid spamming or promoting unrelated products/services.
-
Avoid personal attacks or engaging in heated arguments.
-
Do not engage in any form of illegal activity or promote illegal content.
-
Please mask any and all spoilers with spoiler tags. ****
founded 1 week ago
MODERATORS
26 episode seasons were way way better. 10 episode seasons don't give enough time to develop characters and have less plot driven episodes.
Depends on the TV series purpose. Many episodes in 26 episode seasons weren't plot-driven as such, as the episode was entirely self-contained and could be skipped without missing anything related to the wider arc
Yeah, great, more of that, please!
The same can be said for many episodes in 10-episode seasons, and due to that constraint those examples are more disruptive to plot progression and tend to be counterbalanced with episodes which rush progression but aren't actually good.
Do you think Black Sails, Dark were constrained?
I think most series are constrained to their respective runtimes and while those constraints do shape the nature of the themes they have the capacity to explore, it isn't always a problem even for series with fewer than 10 episodes. I haven't watched either of those recently enough to speak on them, but I think 10-episode series have become a de facto standard that is problematic for many shows and seasons. Severance S2 and The Bear S3 come to mind as recent examples. Both tend to experiment with the form of episodic storytelling in a way which, while interesting and worthwhile in my opinion, ultimately serves to make their respective season arcs less cohesive as a direct result of that constraint.
I find it strange because when you look at the highest rated TV series of all time, almost all of them are about 10-13 episodes long a season. Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad, Mr. Robot, Dark. The long-form 22-24 episode a season TV series are not as highly critically acclaimed, on average, in comparison.
I don't mean to appeal to popularity here, but the most 'prestigious' of content has mostly been serialised.
I think the trope developed over the course of the TV renaissance period post-early 2000s. At the time The Sopranos S1 was released, it didn't exist. The most interesting season of The Sopranos is S6, because it subverts expectation of a series runtime to experiment as a kind of celebration of the established universe and characters and their interactions. It is more than a pastiche of itself though, as it goes in genuinely new directions. 21 was the number of episodes which naturally suited the creative direction of the season and series, within reason of course. Not an even number or multiple of 5, not a number designed to perfectly fill a network timeslot.
GoT (earlier seasons) & Better Call Saul are great examples of shows that effectively harness the 10-episode constraint and deliver great story arcs in spite of them, as I recall. The Wire is another. I think Mr Robot S3 is harmed by the same constraint, where focus was diverted away from storytelling and toward marketability, both to studios and audiences. A different runtime could have improved the show, but by that point in the industry & culture that isn't something that would reasonably be on the table. The more modern version of what Sopranos S6 was is Ozark S4 - forced. Format is now restricted to a 'full length' 10-episode season or fewer, or it is purposefully different as a contrivance of industry. And I highly doubt that was a boon for those highly rated & popular full length series, good as they are.
TV shows are made with great skill but for some reason they lack the timeliness of a great movie.
The movie industry taking all their cues from TV shows has led to the consequence that nothing worth watching is produced nowadays.
Lower Decks is just Rick And Morty with a franchise.