A key figure behind Star Trek's classic era has likened the shortened seasons of modern TV to the equivalent of a Tinder relationship, and said he hoped the sci-fi franchise would return to 22-episode seasons.
I disagree. I don’t think episodic TV cranking out 24 episodes in a season is the best way to do it. There’s too much filler and not enough attention paid to the overall story arc. Many shows were excellent for seasons 1-2 but then the creativity faded.
There is a middle ground, I think. Breaking bad, for example, had a contiguous storyline, but also had limited episodes. Critically, I think, the network didn’t come in and say “can you do another 3 seasons of the same thing”.
Babylon 5 is literally the only show I can think of with full length seasons and seasons that don’t have episodes wasted on filler, and that really only applies to seasons 3 and 4, when the showrunner personally wrote every single script. He also wrote all of season 5, but there were production issues that messed with the pacing of the front half. The stress of writing 22 cohesive and relevant episodes every year was also getting to him. Somewhere in the 10-14 per year range feels like the sweet spot to me.
That said, a season needs to come out each year, not every other year. When there’s too much time between seasons, the audience and the writers start losing track of how little time has passed in-universe and then characters start getting over things oddly fast.
Going to be completely honest, Dexter isn’t worth finishing. The first few seasons are fun, but the show struggles to actually go anywhere until the final season, at which point it goes straight into a ditch. I think I lost any lingering respect for the show around season 6 and kept watching due to sunk cost fallacy and nostalgia for the first couple seasons. I haven’t watched the spinoffs, but the only one that’s finished so far apparently followed the same trajectory over much fewer episodes.
The problem with season 5 was they didn’t know if they were going to be able to do it or not, so season 4 had to have at least something of an ending for the series. It really messed with his five year plan for the story.
Worse. The network went under and they finished up the show with the remaining budget, cramming the front half of what was supposed to be season 5 into season 4. They didn’t get picked up by TNT until after they filmed the series finale. After unexpectedly getting renewed, they filmed a new season 4 finale and pushed the already filmed finale back to the end of season 5. And JMS had to scramble to fill content now that half of it had already been used.
it made the seasons so awkward, like with invincible, people are so over it, plus the bad animation, especially if they have the comics they can read instead of waiting multiple years. AOT , was by far the worst offendor.
Most importantly, this just isn’t how TV is made anymore. Nobody comes home on 6 on Tuesdays cause their favourite show is on, and it’s a routine.
Viewers today (and I do include myself there) want either something lowkey engaging to have as background noise or something that demands your attention—and really, I’ll give my attention to 10x1h but not 24 times per year.
Yeah, I think that’s a big part of it. My in laws watch tv religiously from 5-10 every night and that’s what a lot of people did on cable, and some people watch in the morning too. It’s pretty crazy to me because I grew up without a tv. (Mind you I’m scrolling my phone). But that’s the scenario for episodic tv. 30 min of “content”, 10 min of development, and 20 min of ads.
most of did what your inlaws did, because there was internet, but nothing on it was entertaining, no reddits,or social media to distract people, no wikis. some people also get REALLY wierd around others watching tv for more than 1-2hours, like obnoxius wierd(why you watching tv all day, instead of doing this or that)
For me it is, especially as I don’t get to watch it episode by episode, once a week, but see the whole lot of it at once and it’s honestly overwhelming.
I hear you. Depends on the show for me - some I just can’t and my experience is similar to your own. Old-school Star Trek? Absolutely bingeable - it’s a different vibe.
Yeah, but also in old school trek I’m not glued to the screen for the whole ep. Its whole pacing has in mind that you’ve got ad breaks and you can’t pause while you’re fixing a drink in the kitchen or the phone is ringing.
Forgot to add but: I’d rather have my new trek be something I look forward to and cherish, albeit rare, and not something that might as well be replaced by random episodes of 90s TV or a twitch stream.
I disagree. I don’t think episodic TV cranking out 24 episodes in a season is the best way to do it. There’s too much filler and not enough attention paid to the overall story arc. Many shows were excellent for seasons 1-2 but then the creativity faded.
There is a middle ground, I think. Breaking bad, for example, had a contiguous storyline, but also had limited episodes. Critically, I think, the network didn’t come in and say “can you do another 3 seasons of the same thing”.
Babylon 5 is literally the only show I can think of with full length seasons and seasons that don’t have episodes wasted on filler, and that really only applies to seasons 3 and 4, when the showrunner personally wrote every single script. He also wrote all of season 5, but there were production issues that messed with the pacing of the front half. The stress of writing 22 cohesive and relevant episodes every year was also getting to him. Somewhere in the 10-14 per year range feels like the sweet spot to me.
That said, a season needs to come out each year, not every other year. When there’s too much time between seasons, the audience and the writers start losing track of how little time has passed in-universe and then characters start getting over things oddly fast.
It’s on my watch list but considering I haven’t finished Dexter… i might see it in 2050.
Going to be completely honest, Dexter isn’t worth finishing. The first few seasons are fun, but the show struggles to actually go anywhere until the final season, at which point it goes straight into a ditch. I think I lost any lingering respect for the show around season 6 and kept watching due to sunk cost fallacy and nostalgia for the first couple seasons. I haven’t watched the spinoffs, but the only one that’s finished so far apparently followed the same trajectory over much fewer episodes.
i heard from others, that it fell of before s4, they probably ran out of material to draw from. i heard some of the new series dint do so well.
And I think that’s why I haven’t finished it tbh. I lost the drive to get there.
The problem with season 5 was they didn’t know if they were going to be able to do it or not, so season 4 had to have at least something of an ending for the series. It really messed with his five year plan for the story.
Worse. The network went under and they finished up the show with the remaining budget, cramming the front half of what was supposed to be season 5 into season 4. They didn’t get picked up by TNT until after they filmed the series finale. After unexpectedly getting renewed, they filmed a new season 4 finale and pushed the already filmed finale back to the end of season 5. And JMS had to scramble to fill content now that half of it had already been used.
it made the seasons so awkward, like with invincible, people are so over it, plus the bad animation, especially if they have the comics they can read instead of waiting multiple years. AOT , was by far the worst offendor.
Most importantly, this just isn’t how TV is made anymore. Nobody comes home on 6 on Tuesdays cause their favourite show is on, and it’s a routine.
Viewers today (and I do include myself there) want either something lowkey engaging to have as background noise or something that demands your attention—and really, I’ll give my attention to 10x1h but not 24 times per year.
Yeah, I think that’s a big part of it. My in laws watch tv religiously from 5-10 every night and that’s what a lot of people did on cable, and some people watch in the morning too. It’s pretty crazy to me because I grew up without a tv. (Mind you I’m scrolling my phone). But that’s the scenario for episodic tv. 30 min of “content”, 10 min of development, and 20 min of ads.
most of did what your inlaws did, because there was internet, but nothing on it was entertaining, no reddits,or social media to distract people, no wikis. some people also get REALLY wierd around others watching tv for more than 1-2hours, like obnoxius wierd(why you watching tv all day, instead of doing this or that)
Plenty of people binge-watch shows now with the advent of streaming services - 10x1h is not as daunting as you suggest.
For me it is, especially as I don’t get to watch it episode by episode, once a week, but see the whole lot of it at once and it’s honestly overwhelming.
I hear you. Depends on the show for me - some I just can’t and my experience is similar to your own. Old-school Star Trek? Absolutely bingeable - it’s a different vibe.
Yeah, but also in old school trek I’m not glued to the screen for the whole ep. Its whole pacing has in mind that you’ve got ad breaks and you can’t pause while you’re fixing a drink in the kitchen or the phone is ringing.
If green alien chicks or boobies don’t interest you, you can save around 3 minutes per TOS ep! Make an extra fancy drink!
Forgot to add but: I’d rather have my new trek be something I look forward to and cherish, albeit rare, and not something that might as well be replaced by random episodes of 90s TV or a twitch stream.