Sterling K. Brown on why so many new seasons of TV consist of only 8-10 episodes

by mcfw31

32 Comments

  1. JennaElizabethAdams on

    Sterling has always been a reasonable king. I’ve loved him ever since This Is Us!

  2. Lances_Looky_Loo on

    Absolutely makes sense!

    Though I really miss the days of shows like Desperate Housewives that would literally have 23 hour long episodes every year.

    Now I have to choke down 12 episodes of the Real Housewives, which never has murder, tornados or Edie Britt.

  3. For dramas, I prefer shorter seasons, honestly. There’s a lot less filler in a season of 8 episodes than there is in a season of 22.

    For sitcoms, I always find myself wanting more when it’s a short season. I think the max amount of episodes Always Sunny has had in a season was 14 and the most recent series are only 8. It feels *really* short, in a way that it doesn’t with a drama.

  4. Fancy_Yesterday6380 on

    13 used to be the bare minimum. 8 is ridiculous for plot and character development

  5. I am obsessed with Sterling. If you guys are not watching Paradise watch it. He is brilliant. Julianne Nicholson is incredible.

    And omg Thomas Doherty, James Marsden and Sterling. Too much eye candy.

  6. eldritchdeergod on

    shows with long seasons aren’t dead or gone. they’re just mostly network procedurals now. personally I love network procedures so I’m sitting pretty

  7. fishonthemoon on

    Am I wrong for liking 8-10 episodes? I cannot sit through shows with long seasons. Even before streaming, I would tap out eventually (with minor exceptions).

  8. matnerlander on

    We just started watching Arrow (a bit behind I know ) but the fact that it has 23 episodes in a season was sooooo nice. Supernatural is another good one. I refuse to watch anything with 8 episodes un Les theres 3 or more seasons out already.

  9. paceisthetrick on

    Streaming sites like Hulu and Prime are getting the best of both worlds with all the ads they still push

  10. Wordnerdette999 on

    I don’t mind shorter seasons, but I do mind 2-3 year waits between seasons.

  11. It’s kinda funny to me as a Brit seeing the chat about 20+ episode seasons when our standard is like 6 episodes and you’re lucky if you get 8 😭

  12. MixedMediaModok on

    But these streamers are also fighting tooth and nail for those long running legacy shows like Friends and the Office. If they don’t invest in their own long series like those the demographic is going to age out of those 20-30 year old shows. And they’ll be left with no new replacement.

  13. Professional_Clue800 on

    I love that shows have fewer episodes as I feel it allows them to create a tighter story that isnt just trying to add filler. But also I assume they can spend more money per episode.

    I just finished catching up on the new season of Foundation and I I’m amazed at just how high the production value is. It’s a space opera where it truly feels like a whole living breathing universe. I doubt we could have anything like that with longer seasons.

    But I also do love old sitcoms like Friends, The Office or Parks and Rec and appreciate that they have long seasons which generally remain at a high level of quality. I hope they don’t die out, but it seems like they probably will.

  14. yeah cuz the mega corporate media conglomerates have nothing to do with this… it’s ALL on the consumers 😒

  15. Lyra_the_Star_Jockey on

    Yeah, and streaming sites notoriously don’t have any ads, so this makes perfect sense.

  16. SeanSweetMuzik on

    Shorter seasons with actual substance and content vs. a lot of filler to make up a longer season is better. But if it’s rushed and not developed then that’s worse.

  17. watching old 24 episode seasons is fun because one episode is the greatest hour of TV you have ever seen and the next one would be some bullshit that only a bunch of cocaine could provide. I am fine with 8-10 episodes, I just want annual seasons back.

  18. I don’t mind having only 8-10 episodes. What I do mind is that it takes 2-3 years for them to come out.

  19. Christianduty on

    Yeah, capitalism as I suspected lol. I knew it was never about actors being overworked.

    I don’t know how some people, viewers, don’t want filler in their shows. Like sure, a show can’t always be stretching a plot to 20+ episodes like lost and 24 did, but most of them only do hints of the overarching stories. You went many episodes of Buffy or Desperate Housewives without thinking about the season’s main villain or mystery.

  20. Star Trek fans have come on reddit for years bragging about how they subscribe to Paramount+ for each new Star Trek show and then cancel immediately after. Know what that led to? Star Trek shows getting canceled.

  21. Such_King_2547 on

    i mean, i don’t think billion dollar companies like apple and netflix are so parched for subscribers that they can’t give some of their shows seasons longer orders….

  22. And for the record, I prefer short seasons if they are well written and get the story told. I don’t need fillers.

  23. Impossible-Ground-98 on

    I actually prefer shorter shows, 16 episodes like Korean dramas are enough. My issue is with dragging series through several seasons when the shows become successful. Two seasons is usually fine, but anything else is almost always a drop in quality.

  24. NoBodyCares2000 on

    There’s a reason that Apple TV is filled with quality programming only. Their streaming service is not their main source of income. They can invest in content quality over quantity.

  25. In the UK it’s pretty common to have a small amount of episodes like this and I think it works well.

  26. It’s still wild to me that 24 had 24 hour long episodes every season.

    West Wing would have like 22 a season.

    Some shows have like 6 now….

  27. 2025TastyTreats on

    That likely explains the long production gaps between seasons. The data likely shows an increase in the subscriber base with longer waits between seasons.

  28. This is also why it’s important for the government to subsidize art in various forms.

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