It’s officially fall! I’m super excited for the beautiful foliage, sweater weather and holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving. I am also excited for season premieres.
For decades, fall meant a new season of all your favorite shows coming out. Late September/early October was filled with watch parties for season premieres. You were reunited with your favorite characters and it was time for a new adventure. Over the next few weeks, you would watch them wear matching Halloween costumes, fight over fall break, make up at Thanksgiving dinner and fall in love by Valentine’s day. Long seasons gave the opportunity for fleshed out storylines and allowed the audience to be invested in the lives of the main characters of a show. But it seems lately that media companies have been opting for shorter seasons.
Is the 22-episode standard gone?
With the rise of streaming platforms such as Netflix and Max, media productions no longer rely on syndication, which is what allows media companies to air tv shows on multiple networks. To qualify for syndication, shows had to have at least 100 episodes. You can see why seasons were longer than in recent times. Media companies wanted their shows to reach 100 episodes and be available on multiple stations. With global, on-demand streaming, traditional tv stations have become less popular, so traditional broadcast syndication is not necessary anymore.
Streaming platforms have now adopted a standard of 8-9 episode seasons.
Shorter season shows have their pros: the storyline is often fast-paced, they have higher production quality and they are concentrated, but in my opinion, they lack depth. Filler episodes (episodes that do not necessarily add to the plot) are what immerse the audience in the fictional world of a show. Dragged out storylines are what make finales that much more climactic. For example, I love a slow burn romance storyline. Some of my favorite on-screen romances like Jake and Amy in Brooklyn-99 or Haley and Andy from Modern Family, would not have been as satisfying if they hooked up in 4 episodes. I’d prefer it to be 40, but that might be different for you.
If you like your shows direct with no beating around the bush, then what a time to be alive!
If you are like me and you miss the OG 22 episode style and feel like you are in the wrong timeline, do not worry, there are still shows being made today that stick to the original format and reach 100 episodes. If crime shows are your scene, Law and Order is still running with the standard 22-episode format. If you are more into light-hearted sitcoms, Abbott Elementary is a recent show that follows the 22-episode format. The Season 6 premiere comes out really soon, so if you like comedy, check that out!
I am not saying short seasons do not have their place and are not enjoyable. Shows like Bridgerton, Stranger Things and White Lotus are wildly popular, but I miss the simple days when I stirred my hot chocolate while watching the snow day episode or watched the Christmas episode with my family while setting up the tree.Â
