TV Tuesday: Seasons and An Announcement

[yourlibrarian]

Do you prefer short seasons for your shows, long seasons, or no seasons at all, like soap operas that go on without a clear break? What do you consider the minimum number of episodes to make up an effective season of a TV show?

Also, an announcement! Starting January 12 the mods would like to kick off a weeklong rec fest. Although people do rec shows on other days, we thought a tagged recs event would help newcomers find shows they might enjoy more easily.

So for 7 days of genres we'll have Sunday: Family viewing/Children's Shows, Monday: Comedies, Tuesday: Dramas, Wednesday: Sci Fi/Fantasy, Thursday: Mysteries or Horror, Friday: Romances, and Saturday: Miscellaneous (any shows you don't think fit the other categories!)

We hope you'll put together some recs to share over the next month -- they can be shows you've discussed before in other tv_talk posts, new things you've just tried out, or shows others have recced before!

Comments

[naushika]

Nothing beats the classic 22-24 episode season of the Old Days of TV. Current TV seasons are way too short for me. Not enough time to marinate in the universe, or to let the characters breathe and get to know them outside of mission-critical plot elements. I still get enjoyment from some modern TV shows (some great stories are being told) but they just don't stick in my brain like a long season does. I think because for me, what I love about TV is the characters, and with long seasons I spend a lot of time with the characters.

[yourlibrarian]

The amount of time spent with the characters does make a difference (perhaps answering the question of does quality time really matter more than quantity of time?)

I've noticed that with older TV shows with long runs, I've often developed a fondness for the characters even if I'm not that engaged with the show. For example, Mission Impossible, the very definition of a show centered around plot, I found that the characters grew on me.

[naushika]

I am the same way. I'm currently watching Criminal Minds, and regarding the episode plots themselves, I can take or leave it most of the time. But what I am enjoying is getting to know the characters in this world, which is why I keep watching. Good characters can make up for a lot of flaws in the show at large, imo.

[sweettartheart]

I do enjoy letting a show have a longer time to breathe and let things play out, but that's probably because I nearly always stick with a program for its characters. It's nice to have more time with them.

[yourlibrarian]

I've noticed that a lot of fanfic tends to fill in daily activities or domestic moments in shows, which I think expresses that desire to just hang out with the characters.

[dirty_diana]

I don't have much of a preference - I like hanging out with favourite characters for longer, but I also enjoy a clearly told limited episode narrative arc. The worst of all worlds is when it's a short season that doesn't really say anything for a whole bunch of the middle part.

[yourlibrarian]

I'm with you there -- I find it amazing that a 6 episode show could stand to be an episode shorter.

[ecto_one_spengler]

Personally, I prefer limited series / miniseries formats as oftentimes the episodes will be much longer and there is overall less season clutter. Then again I have ended up finding myself enjoying long seasons with long episodes as long as it is interesting and meaningful.

That being said, it has to have REALLY good plot, characters or music to keep me there. Otherwise it may be not worth it for me.

Also I would be excited to give recs now that I have seen a few more things, hehe!

[yourlibrarian]

Yay for coming recs!

Your comment reminded me that I would be fine with shows that were just intentionally a miniseries. Fairly often I think the ending is sufficient for the show and doesn't need to go on. Of course there are more shows that get cancelled too soon but there are also others that get dragged out way past the point of any enjoyment.

[ecto_one_spengler]

Totally agreed. Miniseries really do better when they are creative with the short timeframe.

[feurioo]

A couple of years ago, a 22-episode season seemed ideal to me. Then I started a new job, got busier, and now the prospect of such a long season with an episode running time of 40+ minutes makes me tired just thinking about it. I quite like 12-episode seasons now. However, I don't mind longer seasons if we're talking about shows with shorter episodes. Comedies, for example.

I love the idea of a rec fest! At one point, I was thinking about doing a post where people could name a show and the aspects they loved about it, and people would recommend similar stuff. But I wasn't sure if that would work in a random post that only a few people see.

[yourlibrarian]

Yay, glad to hear we'll have some recs to kick us off with!

And yes, the overall runtime does matter a lot. Having someone try out 2 or 3 episodes is an easier sell when it's shorter. What's interesting is to see how seasons changed just over the run of a single show. A lot started out with the standard 22 and then shrank slowly to 13 or even 8 as seasons went on.

[rogueslayer452]

Considering the current state of television these days, I much prefer longer seasons. While it does depend on the show, the 22-24 episode per season was honestly perfect, and something I think most took for granted until we didn't have that as the standard anymore. Longer seasons guarantees just more material in general, giving more substance to the story, the characters, allowing the audience to spend time with the way things are unfolding rather than it being a race to binge-watch.

As for "no seasons at all" approach, TTRPG actual play shows like Critical Role definitely apply to this as their campaigns are ongoing and can last for years (each campaign has over 100 episodes, with each episode being around 4 hours long). It only works for this kind of story platform though, as I probably wouldn't have had the energy to continue on with watching such a show otherwise.

In addition to that, Asian dramas often don't have more than one season and their episode order can vary depending. Cdramas now have a max limit of 40 episodes, though previously it had been up to 60 or 70 episodes.

[yourlibrarian]

Your comment about the "race to binge-watch" struck a chord with me. I wouldn't say that the change in season length really affected the pressure to keep up, because I think it was there before to make sure a favorite show was watched live and the conversations would begin even as it was airing. I remember having to wait for video tapes for certain shows we couldn't get locally and I never joined those fandoms because I was so out of step with viewing.

But I do feel that the quantity of content has not just increased because of the variety of outlets but because the format itself has shortened. That means more different stories can be started (cancellations happen just as often) and there's a wider variety of talent available because the commitment to a single project isn't as demanding. But the glut makes shows seem ever more disposable. It's take one in and on to the next.

And to digress a bit, a single episode is also different now. When web series began they might be 6 10 minute episodes. Streaming shows means that viewing time can vary from episode to episode and, of course, the whole season is shorter. I notice, for example, that Brit shows shown in the U.S. via PBS get chopped in half to create "hour" long shows (even though they're about 40 minutes) when they were originally about 2 hours in their original broadcasts. I do personally feel that an episode should last as long as the story requires so that's a real plus of streaming. I wouldn't want to go back to a strict format where valuable scenes get cut out or things are drawn out to fill air time. It also means comedies might run for an hour or drama for 30 minutes (or so). But overall there's a lot less that's "standard" any more.

[shadowkat]

Depends on the show? Some shows fit a six to ten episode arc better, others need more time.
I love serials - which usually require a longer arc to build character and develop story, as do fantasy and sci-fi. However a good tight story told within six to ten episodes is wonderful.

In short, I don't really have a preference? I'm not a fan of the episodic style series, where it's basically a lot of stand-a-lone mystery/case/crisis/monster of the week, and the characters change in small bite-size snippets each season.

The minimum is six, preferably 10, I can kind of see why the requirement of 13 was in place for DVD releases. But I think 6-10 is the best minimum. Maximum 22 per season, unless it is a soap opera or serial.

[yourlibrarian]

Your comment about the episodic style made me realize it does depend on the type of show for me. For example, with mysteries I prefer to have 80% mystery and 20% personal character plot. I like learning about them and seeing some character development, but prefer it to take a backseat to the plot.

It also depends though on whether there is an A and B plot. The recent season of D.I. Ray was a good example as there was the police case plus an internal affairs type plot. Examining the system characters work in makes for a good substitute (to me) of a lot of specific character development.

[tinny]

Considering cdrama doesn't do more than one season at all (except for rare exceptions like Under The Skin (yay!)), I've kind of fallen out of the expectation for more seasons in the first place. cdrama of course makes things with 40/50 episodes and calls it a season instead. (That's also bad. As is the fact that they release everything at once or 4 eps at a time/per day.)

But, for everything except cdrama, my personal preference is 8+ episodes (no upper limit lol) with one ep per week. I'm okay with waiting a year for the next season. Coming back to a show you've loved before is one of the best things! Season premieres ftw!



I have three shows on my list that I have 'promised' to write rec posts for, so I guess I should get on that then! \o/ (I love this comm, thanks for running it - it does take effort to keep a place alive. <3)

[yourlibrarian]

Wow, that is quite the release schedule 0.0 Seems like a telenovela rather than a regular drama. (Even so, 4 episodes per day...)

It can definitely be a celebratory thing when a new season is released, more so after a year's gap I agree.

Aw, thank you. misbegotten and I certainly appreciate everyone who reads and comments! It's great to hear we'll have some recs from you 😊

[luvbarryfefe]

Looking forward to the rec fest!!

[yourlibrarian]

Woohoo! \o/

[bradygirl_12]

22-24 episodes are perfect.

Ha, ha, what would people do with 39 episodes per season as was the norm in the '50s/early '60s? 😝

[yourlibrarian]

Indeed, what a work schedule for all the cast and crew as well! Mind you soaps still exist and do that for years on end but I think that makes more sense in an era when there were only so many shows.

[bradygirl_12]

I've read that you did the 39 weeks and got 13 weeks off, then back at it. The Honeymooners' one full season is known as the Classic 39. Guess it would be the Classic 10 these days, lol! 🤩

[yourlibrarian]

10 does seem to be the most likely number! As I've been watching some older cable shows it was clear they were using the 13 episode benchmark, which was the half season order for broadcast. But apparently Netflix determined 8-10 were the optimal length for keeping viewers so it's definitely less now.