tv_talk | TV Tuesday: Dropping Shows

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TV Tuesday: Dropping Shows

This article from 2022 talks about how much content we now have.

"The number of available series on broadcast, cable and streaming has increased every year since 2008 save for 2020’s pandemic-impacted production slowdown, with 2021 setting a new record of 1,923 series. Streaming now accounts for over half (51.5%) of all original series in the U.S., a monumental jump from the 12.9% share in 2016."

Even if the number of new shows dropped since 2021, that's still a LOT of new shows. How often do you finish a series?

Poll #29840 Dropping Shows

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 30

View Respondents

How many of these are true for you?

View Answers

I usually finish any show I've watched a season of
12 (40.0%)

I will give up on a show no matter how much I've watched of it
24 (80.0%)

I watch a lot of shows only in bits or individual episodes
7 (23.3%)

Finishing a show depends a lot on whether I have continuous access to it
17 (56.7%)

Which one of these MOST applies to your viewing?

View Answers

I usually finish any show I've watched a season of
6 (20.0%)

I will give up on a show no matter how much I've watched of it
14 (46.7%)

I watch a lot of shows only in bits or individual episodes
1 (3.3%)

Finishing a show depends a lot on whether I have continuous access to it
9 (30.0%)

Which one of these MOST applies to your viewing in the past 5 years?

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I rewatch a lot of shows
11 (36.7%)

I hardly ever rewatch anything
18 (60.0%)

Most of my viewing is rewatches
1 (3.3%)

How many shows does it often take to keep you watching?

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I will give a show one episode to grab me
5 (16.7%)

I will give a show 2-5 episodes to grab me
19 (63.3%)

I will give a show a whole season to grab me
6 (20.0%)

Which of these applies to your viewing?

View Answers

I will stop watching if a show changes substantially in tone from its first season
6 (20.0%)

I will stop watching if a show changes substantially in cast from its first season
8 (26.7%)

I will stop watching if a show changes substantially in premise from its first season
7 (23.3%)

I will stop watching if a show does not deliver on the storyline it began with
10 (33.3%)

I don't mind a lot of changes as long as I still like the show
25 (83.3%)

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I drop a lot of shows because I tend to check a lot of new ones out. Usually, I try to give a show a couple of episodes but if there's something extremely off-putting about the first episode, I might not even finish that one.

I don't mind changes that much. It always depends on how much I was invested in the thing that's changed. Boston Legal went through several different actors, for example, but I didn't care as long as Spader and Shatner were still on it. I also don't mind a change in tone or premise as long as The One Thing That Keeps Me Watching is still there.

I hardly rewatch shows because I usually see a higher entertainment value in discovering new things instead. That said, I have rewatched The Expanse and really enjoyed it again.

::nods:: That's one reason we thought of making this poll. No one has the amount of time all these shows demand! So I suspect that a lot of people are quitting shows faster and more often than they might have 10 years ago.

I also don't mind a change in tone or premise as long as The One Thing That Keeps Me Watching is still there.

This does make things tricky since that thing can vary from show to show. One reason the last question has tickies!

There are shows I would actually like to rewatch but the way we circle from streamer to streamer means we always have an incentive to watch the new things on each that we've subscribed for and move on.

Pretty much ditto to both yours and feurioo's responses.

I used to re-watch shows, I don't have the time to do it now. Just today, a co-worker suggested four new shows on Netflix that he'd discovered. Obscure Australian shows - I only remember two of them (Fiske, and Almost Australian, mainly because those titles stuck out for reasons.)

I'm watching several now that I hop between - Good Omens, The Witcher S2 (decided didn't need to rewatch S1 for either - even though I vaguely remember those seasons), GABBQ Showdown, Daisy Jones, Justified City Primeval, Dark Winds...and I'm losing track of those. Also, one difficulty is half the shows are filmed at night or dark - so I can't see them unless it is dark in my apartment, and I've the lights off - and it's only like that at night.

I used to give a show 2-5 episodes, now if it doesn't catch my attention in one episode - I give up.
I might try again if people rave about it. I keep giving Daisy Jones second chances - mainly b/c it works as great background show or eating dinner during and I can't figure out why its done so well.

I feel overwhelmed by content. Life would be easier if I were more discriminating than I am. I need to cut some of these services - that will limit the content. Sigh, there are so many streaming services.

Boy do I hear you about the darkness. And we have a lot of windows in theTV room so that does make it very hard to watch certain things unless it's night.

I only have two - and they are next to the tv - with no direct sunlight - and I have issues. Ugh. The LED televisions also don't handle "Dark shows" well for some reason. It has something to do with pixel to eye ratio and HD? I don't know. Someone explained it to me once but it went over my head.

As result a result, I have all these television shows I have to watch after 8pm or 9pm depending on when it gets dark. And that's mainly weekend. And short period of time at that. It's why I was up late Saturday watching Interstellar - I couldn't see sections of it in the daytime. Had that problem with the Witcher and Justified.

I am increasingly short of patience with new shows. I will try to watch at least a couple of episodes, but also have zero qualms about not even making it through the first episode if I'm just not feeling it. I remember back when Black Sails started, it took me 2 or 3 attempts before I made it through the first season (which I think most will admit is a bit of a slog). I doubt I would do that today. I also used to pretty much stick with a show to the bitter end, no matter how bad the seasons got. Not anymore. There's just too much good stuff out there to waste time with something that's just not working for me.

I've found much the same. A lot for me depends on how well regarded it is, either critically or by someone I know. I also have no compunction about forwarding through stuff that doesn't interest me. I did a lot of this recently with Severance, though I finished the season.

I find that even if I gave up on a show a while ago, provided I watched several seasons I am still curious to know how it ends. That's all that got me to watch the endings of SPN and The Good Fight.

Out of curiosity, did you ever watch the rest of Black Sails?

How did you like TGF's ending? Never finished it (and probably never will) but I always wondered if it was satisfying re: Diane.

I would have to say that with both shows the endings simply proved I was right about giving up on the shows. I would say Diane's decisions were not clearly resolved.

Thank you, that's good to know. I made it through one season of TGF and I'm not going to get through the rest...I was mainly watching for Diane.

Oh yes, I totally devoured the rest of Black Sails. It just took me several tries to make beyond the first 2-3 episodes. There are shows I've given up on, but haven't even bothered to google how they ended. The Walking Dead is one of them. I watched the first 8 seasons, but nothing after that. Gave up on Manifest once it moved to Netflix.

I find now that any show I hear about/read about that sounds like it might interest me, I try to find out as much about it as I can -- reviews, news stories, etc. But even then, there are a number of critically acclaimed shows that I've just not been able to get into at all, e.g. Succession, The Bear, Reservation Dogs, to name a few recent ones.

And then there are shows that just sound so horrible to me that I don't even attempt to watch even for 5 minutes. Sex and the City is one of those.

I've had that same response to a few shows -- ended up enjoying it but didn't take to it at first.

Funny, I found the same about Succession and Reservation Dogs. I never even tried out The Bear as I didn't think I really wanted to spend time on it.

Your comment about Manifest reminded me that I only watched it because it was on Netflix! I'd missed too much of it by the time that happened 🙂

However it points out what I'd call a reverse aspect of my streaming on and off practice. And that's that I start to explore stuff I previously didn't bother trying out, exactly because I have time before the subscription runs out to watch other things.

I had the same problem with Black Sails - I think I made it through the first season but lost track of it, and didn't get through the rest. And it took 2-3 attempts to do that. And I admittedly don't do that any more...either. If it doesn't work for me - I will usually give up, unless it works as background noise or I get curious.

One reason I (sometimes unintentionally) stop watching shows is that seasons are short, 8-10 episodes, so they're not in my consciousness for a very long period of time, and then it's 2+ years before the next season comes out. Sometimes I'm just too distanced from it to bother seeking out the new season, and occasionally I just literally forget the show exists because it's been off my radar for so long.

Yes, I think that's a real risk with the current TV model. Unless you were passionate about a show or you're in a fandom for it, are you going to remember to check it out a year later?

It's the problem that I'm having with the Witcher at the moment, and oh so many other series. I just lose track of them. Bridgerton - doesn't matter - since it's kind of stand-a-lone anthology format. The next season is often two-four years later, by which point? I forgot the first season entirely. It's almost better to just wait until all the seasons drop first. I did that with Avatar.

Yeah, that's one advantage of waiting -- not just to see if a show is discontinued but being able to take most if not all of it in at once.

This exactly!!!

Ditto.

Yes, it can be hard to remember unless the streaming service remembers for me that I liked it.

Part of getting through a series depends on why it's taking me a while. If it's got just a little too much drama but it's good I'll take time between episodes and try to make it through. Otherwise it really only has 1, 2 at the most tries to interest me.

Yes, a lot depends on why I am trying it out in the first place. Is it a premise I like? A performer or showrunner I like? Did it get very good reviews? If I'm just trying it out because I'm curious I may not stick with it past the first episode.

yes

I tend to drop very few shows entirely - though I have known to take longer breaks from them from time to time because, more often than not, I tend to think that I'm not in the mood for what a certain show has to offer, rather than the show being bad enough to drop.

At the same time, I stopped actively following the new stuff on all the streaming services I have and tend to watch new things filtered by recommendations from fandom and/or reviews and "best of [Year] lists". To save money, I've also now gone back to consciously rewatching and fannishly working with older shows (Criminal Minds being the current case in point *heh*). I noticed a while back that the flood of stuff available through streaming was turning me into a more passive consumer, and I didn't like that, so I'm trying to paddle against that stream a little.

I've have a friend who that applies to -- there have been at least two shows she ended up loving that she dropped after one episode and told me she wasn't at all interested. Later she told me she must not have been in the mood for them because when she was persuaded by someone else to give them another go, she ended up watching the whole thing.

That's an interesting point about how such a quantity of things to watch is more likely to make us become more passive about it. I could see that. I know that right now I'm not strongly engaged with much, largely due to a lack of time. But it's also that things I really enjoyed have ended. The exception in this past year was Andor. And even then it grew on me as the episodes went by. But it does seem quite possible that having a big reading list or watch list makes one write about or respond to those things less.

Being overwhelmed with choices, I tend to check out fewer shows than I used to. Now I'll focus on 1-2 "airing" shows and focus on 1 season of 1 show at a time.

Because I focus on a season at a time, "completing a show" isn't something I focus much on right now. It may be something I haven't completed but haven't abandoned and still be something I'm not currently watching (but it's in my queue).

I think it makes a lot of sense to do that given the changes in how shows are available (especially since they can also disappear from platforms).

especially since they can also disappear from platforms
Right?!! Ugh.
This is why I'm a digital hoarder. LOL

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TV Tuesday: Dropping Shows

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