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- Your Show Should Be a Show, Not a Movie
- Too Many Shows Are Taking Too Much Time Off
- Television’s Production Model Is Unsustainable
As a longtime television enthusiast and someone who has watched countless series come and go over the years, I must admit that I find myself increasingly frustrated by the prolonged gaps between seasons that have become all too common in recent times.
As a passionate film enthusiast, I’ve noticed an intriguing shift over the past few years – it seems we’ve moved beyond the Peak TV era. Just like how a golden age can’t last forever, it’s hard to pinpoint a single cause when so many social factors and popular trends influence its longevity. However, it’s evident that the rise of streaming services has played a significant role in this transformation. In fact, 2022 witnessed nearly 600 scripted series airing! Although the number has slightly decreased due to last year’s writers and actors strikes, it’s undeniable that the volume of TV content today is overwhelming, making it challenging for even the most dedicated viewers to keep up.
It’s quite disheartening to note that it seems as though there are fewer exceptional TV series available today compared to a decade ago, and there’s a growing concern about the lack of originality. Shows like “Shogun” and “The Last of Us,” which are among the best currently airing, are adaptations rather than original creations. It feels as if we have moved past the era of innovative series launches such as “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad.” There’s still a lot of high-quality television, but the trends that raise concerns for the industry revolve around the creative processes behind these shows.
Your Show Should Be a Show, Not a Movie
Netflix’s move to create original programming in 2013 was far more groundbreaking than just a new method of television viewing. It can be convincingly argued that it represented a fresh medium altogether. Unburdened by the constraints of advertisements, show creators were given the liberty to craft episodes as long as they saw fit (within budget considerations) and, crucially, to structure them in a manner that aligned perfectly with Netflix’s core strategy: maintaining viewer engagement.
In the days ahead, binge-watching emerged as a popular trend, and TV shows were tailored accordingly. Netflix’s initial lineup of series, such as “House of Cards” and the reboot of “Arrested Development”, were predominantly serialized, featuring minimal standalone episodes and concluding each installment with tantalizing cliffhangers to keep viewers hooked for more consecutive viewings. This trend coincided with the rise in popularity of “Game of Thrones”, where the creators envisioned the series as a long-form movie spanning 73 hours.
In today’s creative landscape, it seems that the extended episodic format has become the standard approach in the industry. For instance, “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” was initially conceived as a six-hour movie, while each season of “Stranger Things” is structured like an eight-hour movie. However, this method has repeatedly demonstrated creative limitations. Shows like “House of Cards” and the Marvel Netflix series, despite having over 10 episodes per season, frequently exhausted their plot midway through, leading to a lackluster finish. Even when “Game of Thrones” was at its creative zenith, many of its episodes felt incomplete, only slightly advancing the plot and character arcs.
Essentially, television series like “Breaking Bad” and “Succession” are designed as a collection of episodes rather than one continuous movie. Even though they may have been serialized, the creators construct them in a way that each episode stands independently as a self-contained part of a larger narrative. This structure allows showrunners to introduce fresh ideas or delve into character development each week, without needing the plot to advance constantly. For instance, “Breaking Bad” could have missed out on episodes like “4 Days Out” or experimented less with its format in “Fly,” and “Mad Men” might not have had the chance to present its standout episode, “The Suitcase.
“Perhaps the most compelling example of the creative edge given by episodes is seen when comparing how the Disney+ series often praised as Marvel’s finest, WandaVision,, also excelled as a television program.
Too Many Shows Are Taking Too Much Time Off
A major challenge contributing to creative stagnation in television is having too many high-end series spread out over extended periods between seasons, which can slow down the industry’s pace. Granted, lengthy gaps may occur due to unavoidable circumstances such as the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, causing a nearly year-long halt in production, or last year’s writers’ and actors’ strikes that temporarily paused operations. In certain instances, an actor’s escalating fame might limit their availability for filming (reportedly, this was one of the causes delaying the production of Euphoria‘s third season).
It appears that a significant gap between seasons has become commonplace in recent times. Stranger Things will return for its last installment next year, marking almost three years since its previous run. Severance, arguably the most buzzed-about show of 2022, is set to debut its second season this January. House of the Dragon premiered its second season nearly 18 months after its first season finale. For reference, Game of Thrones’ longest break, which lasted more than a year, was between its final two seasons.
It’s challenging for viewers who watch TV casually to recall the intricate details of complex series, especially when there’s a long gap between seasons, particularly in an era where binge-watching is promoted. For instance, the wait for the final season of Game of Thrones was manageable due to its massive popularity and prolonged anticipation. However, lesser-known series risk losing viewer interest or focus by taking too long before their return, as seen with the relatively low anticipation for the upcoming season of Severance, despite its previous hype. One might expect swift production on a second season given its popularity, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
This issue becomes even more challenging for series featuring younger actors, such as Stranger Things which is concluding nine years after it began and has seen its characters age significantly. Max’s new Harry Potter series is planning a casting call soon, but given HBO’s current production model, it appears difficult for the creative team to realistically produce an entire season each year. Moreover, as a franchise heavily reliant on its youthful perspective, having the main cast in college by the time of Prisoner of Azkaban would make it much harder to portray the original narrative accurately.
Television’s Production Model Is Unsustainable
Absolutely, neither situation automatically spells doom. In fact, various series have successfully employed the “x-hour movie” format (notably those with fewer episodes per season), and it’s important to remember that sometimes unforeseen events lead to delays. However, it is troubling that these production methods appear to be common practice today, and more worryingly, for a medium grappling with issues of overabundance, this pace feels unsustainable.
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2024-09-20 01:31