There’s too much content. I cannot keep up with even just the shows I know I want to see.

So it doesn’t bother me at all. Quality over quantity.

I think we’ve hit the other end of the pendulum and release length.

The traditional 26 season episode, each year like clockwork format had a lot of issues. It lent itself to TV shows with an episodic format, and a lot of episodes tended to be forgettable.

In that context, less episodes and more time to produce is great. However it’s gotten to the point where I think that philosophy is fucking up show quality in a different way.

First, a lot of TV shows have taken the “less episodes” philosophy as a way to cut costs. There are a ton of TV shows where I feel like important plot developments are either left out or rushed because they have to jam everything into eight episodes. Some are even going to six. Showrunners are blatantly doing this to save time/money, not to produce a lower quantity higher quality product.

Second, a lot of “filler” episodes were actually good for the show as a whole. A good amount of them had subtle character development and world building. This allowed for a much more robust main story. It also allowed writers to try out unique concepts that often ended up being fan favorites. With the eight episode format, TV shows often just end up jumping from major plot point to major plot point in a way that feels empty.

The long time between releases also can ruin the emotional investment in a TV show. With the best TV shows, you often feel some connection to the universe and the characters. Waiting a long time between releases breaks that connection. Stranger Things, the show that in many ways popularized the modern TV format, is the perfect example of this. It’s been a decade, two years since the last episode, and everyone is pretty much done. There’s probably a ton of lesser shows that died because viewers just moved on.

Finally, some shows should be episodic and have 26 episode seasons. We live in an era of binge watching. Older episodic shows with tons of seasons and episodes continuously outperform the high budget new stuff, yet nobody seems to ask themselves if maybe there needs to be a strategy shift for new content.

I don’t mind the fewer episodes, assuming the story still works.

As for waiting, I don’t wanna to wait, but I’d rather have higher quality content, so I’ll wait if I have to.

However the split seasons are the most annoying.

As an example, Invincible. Season 1 came out, I think 10 episodes, one a week, great. Then season 2 was 5 episodes in the fall. Then a break for a few months, then 5 more episodes. That wasn’t great. The show had already taken ~2 years between season 1 & 2, then to just get part of a season, then a few months away, then the rest. That sucked.

I appreciate seasons with fewer episodes as they are forced to focus on good pacing and less “fluff”. But longer in between seasons makes you forget the plot. I like anthology series as they don’t rely on plot carrying between seasons.

The wait for Severance has been ridiculous. I was so pumped about that show, but I don’t even care anymore.