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Bring back 24 episode seasons, so we don't have to cram so much into 8 episodes.
Most shows like that though didn't "cram" much into most of their episodes though. They were often at least partially episodically designed where the cast just solved a weekly crime, or case or slayed some monster and then soft-reset at the end with only small effects to the wider season/series arc.
Yeah, I miss episodic/monster of the week shows. Not ever single damn show needs to be serialised.
Well to each their own, but a serialised show doesn't really work elongated out to 20 episodes a season. Unless it's a really long book series adaptation.
Yes, I know, you would have to write a completely different show to do something episodic? I didn't even say anything about number of episodes, I just want more monster of the week style stuff!
One of the problems these days is that that they take a good concept for a movie, and stretch it into an entire series full of slow spots and too much exposition, when the whole story could have been tightly told in a 2 hour film.
Then there's the acoloyte where they had a flashback episode even though the season was only 8 episodes long.
The problem with a lot of those shows from back in the day is they were filled with a lot of filler, and I don’t mean the “monster of the week” in between larger arcs counting as filler. Writers said they didn’t have time to really care about all 22-24 episodes, so many were half assed. Then you have the budget constraints, which would lead to bottle episodes, because there never really was enough budget to make 22-24 episodes a season. Every once in a while you’d get people who try, and you’d get something like the famous Breaking Bad Fly episode.
When Netflix started doing their own shows at 13 episodes, you’d get people complaining that they were just stretching it out to fit 13.
Personally I think 12 or 13 episodes is a good balance and I liked that we got a higher number count on something like Andor. 6 episodes of something is often way too short.
I miss seasons being like 20 episodes long. Don't they have any idea how hard it is to keep finding new shit to watch when all their series come out 8 episodes at a time.
After not watching them for at least a decade, I'm going back through the old Star Trek seasons (specifically Next Generation, DS9, and Voyager), and each season is between 22 and 26 one hour episodes. So much great stuff!
Yeah I rewatch them every couple years. They're good stuff.
Not only 8 episodes but sometimes the entire 8 episode season on one day which can be watched in an afternoon. The new season comes out 1.5 years later and you have absolutely zero recollection of what happened previously.
Yes and no I miss filler episodes in sitcoms and nonsense like star trek and comedies like IASIP.
I detest making docuseries longer than 90 minutes unless it is outrageous and twisty.
I did like non standard episode counts because I told myself they werent beholden to a certain number and could just tell the story but GoT ruined that theory.
The counter to this is why not let the artists cook (hehe) unconstrained from somewhat arbitrary episode lengths. Those lengths were originally created to make a nice cookie cutter TV schedule. HBO used to actually brag about not being confined to set blocks of time and giving shows like the Sopranos the option of running long or short if they needed to.
So in the days of streaming, why does that matter?
Why add 10 minutes of filler to an episode that doesn't need it? Or cut important plot points that might not work well in different context because you're at 34 minutes already?
Why not give a show room to grow and evolve (Ted Lasso is a great example)? And The Bear certainly fits this mold.
As for Stranger Things, those are basically just three movies, not your traditional episodes.
Counter-counterpoint, movies don't have limits to their time, but they are still edited down. Having a tight, concise story is still important. As well, I'd personally prefer longer seasons instead, 16 episodes over 10.
I point to Snyder's JL cut as an example against lack of restraints for artists in general. That guy clearly had no one to reign him in and it shows.
Imo, working within restraints is what makes art/media pop. Obviously shoving everything into a single mold isn't the answer, but I don't think letting artists meander endlessly will result in anything particularly interesting.
I'm not too bothered by variable lengths but I do think the lack of time constraints can lead to bad writing and show making. If the episode needs to be 40 mins, fine, but sometimes it just feels like as no one is saying "cut this back, tighten it up" so episodes become uneven or series sprawl and never get to the end.
Exactly. It’s like a book with no editor.
Disagree. I think a much more common problem is that there isn't enough good stuff to fill all of the available time, so the writers have to put more filler in and it makes the show terrible
The traditional HBO model of being approximately 30 minutes or 60 minutes, more or less, was reasonable. Some episodes were long (Sopranos Season 4 finale was 75 minutes long, about 25% longer than its time slot), and some were short (Sopranos season 2, episode 8 was only 43 minutes). But they generally stuck around that time frame, and the majority of the episodes were between 50-60 minutes long.
The Bear's shortest episode was 18 minutes. Most of its episodes are between 30-40 minutes. But it has two monster episodes, season 2's "Fishes" at 66 minutes, and Season 4's "Bears" at 69 minutes. Those ratios are way off, and hard to plan sequential non-binge watching. At a certain point it's disrespectful of the audience's time.
I like the length, especially when not constrained by broadcast TV time slots (e.g. you can get a few extra-long episodes for finales and such). I think my biggest gripe is the hyper-serialized format making every season a 10 hour movie.
Getting back to the episode length, then I guess some series could benefit from being twenty, 30-minute episodes as opposed to ten 1-hour ones. Never thought I'd say this, but sometimes you just need a "filler" episode.
Edit: Gonna tack on my second gripe. You only get ten episodes and then it's nearly two years between seasons for some shows. By the time the next season rolls around, I've completely forgotten the prior one and have to re-watch it to have any idea what's happening.
Not even that, just have a nice arc that actually fits into a single episode rather than it be a chapter in a 10 hr movie. I consider most episodes filler because they can’t stand on their own and only make sense in the bigger picture which is frustrating if you actually want to want an episode in isolation and don’t want to binge a whole series in one sitting.
I know the exact kind of episode you mean but a filler episode is the exact opposite, it's an episode that doesn't advance the plot in any way.
I tried to find a term for an episode that can't stand on its own but came up short so I'd like to propose a term:
Bridge Episodes.
An episode that is useless without the episodes connected to either side.
Did an advertising block owner write this?
Really don’t care about length if it’s good. I hate they went back to releasing an episode week by week though. Give me the whole damn thing to binge. I can manage my own time thank you very much.
Disagree/personal preference. I like both at times, depending on mood/concentration etc.
It's good to also do things that take focus for longer periods of time, to train staying focused. Too many shorts, TikTok etc. Reduce attention span.
TV is just the new movie with sequels filmed back to back.
Meh, I don't really care.
Half the time I'm binging shows anyway so longer episodes means less interuptions by having to skipping credits and intros.
And when the episode goes on for too long I can just stop it midway. I assume most streaming services support resuming of episodes these days (my selfhosted plex server does).
Opinion: Your opinion sucks because it generalizes to an exten that it loses all meaning.
Miss me with that, I love 60 minutes episodes
I love long episodes. If i watch a show for a long time, i personally love seeing more of the characters.
I have a cognitive impairment so maybe that’s why but I can only watch shows with 10-30min length episodes. Longer is too much for my brain.
I like to joke that it takes me 3 hours to watch "60 Minutes" because I just keep pausing/rewinding because I've zoned out and have to go back and catch up.
Been watching through Modern Family for the first time and appreciate how many plot points they can fit into a 20-minute episode.
I'd agree, they're getting too long. And it's not just TV shows, it seems like big movies and games are also too long too often.
It's like every major work thinks it's the be-all culmination of human creativity. For the people who work on it, it may have that place of importance. But as a viewer, any given work is, by default, just yet another in a huge sea of art that might occupy my time.
But also, I get it. When you find something you really resonate with, that you devour each second of, sometimes it can feel like the longer the better. You almost don't want it to end. And if you pay money for something, and it's surprisingly short, that can feel disappointing.
Weird example to use bear for this. Those episodes are action packed start to end. Make the episodes as short or as long as needed. If it's "too long" just watch it by halves. What a stupid take In the streaming era.
IMO, it varies from show to show and by genre. Some shows have plot and material that don't really need an hour per episode, while some have so much going on that keeping it to 40 mins isn't enough without having to rush. The problem is sometimes those things don't match.