I think he's probably correct in his assessment. So the question is, is network tv just not able to afford the good showrunners and writers that streaming platforms can lure in? Will we never again see a Vince Gilligan writing network shows like X files? Only writing streaming shows like Pluribus?

My thoughts as well. I don't WANT 23 episodes of a show like Pluribus (for example) i want 10-12 QUALITY episodes.

I like the shorter seasons and self-contained story arcs per season. I think Slow Horses is a great example of this.

Shorter seasons are perfect for some storylines, but not all. For example, Season 2 of Paradise absolutely sucked because they tried to fit a huge storyline into 8 episodes.

Jim01 said:

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My thoughts as well. I don't WANT 23 episodes of a show like Pluribus (for example) i want 10-12 QUALITY episodes.

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But most won't even do that. They'll create 6-8 episode seasons where half the show time is credits and intros

Jim01 said:

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My thoughts as well. I don't WANT 23 episodes of a show like Pluribus (for example) i want 10-12 QUALITY episodes.

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The quality depends on the writing, not the length of the season. Something tells me that Vince Gilligan wouldn't turn into a **** writer/showrunner if he had to do more than a dozen episodes per season. But some story arcs like Pluribus are just better suited for shorter, tighter seasons. And conversely, there can be really good episodic shows that contain 20+ episodes per season.

Counter to Pluribus....short seasons but then we have to wait 2 years for the second season. That sucks hard.

Slow Horses has been a perfect mix of short seasons, efficient story arcs, and quickly released subsequent seasons.

Sounds reasonable. Its also why they now prefer to release a series 1 episode at a time - to string you along for a few months so you don't do the cancel/re-subscribe every few months thing.

javajaws said:

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Sounds reasonable. Its also why they now prefer to release a series 1 episode at a time - to string you along for a few months so you don't do the cancel/re-subscribe every few months thing.

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Agreed. I think HBO/Max is the gold standard for this. I think we were watching some series around the holidays and when it was done I was going to shut it off. Oh wait, Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. So I didn't. Then the ads for DTF start running. Know absolutely nothing about it but the cast is great. So I keep the service. And once that wraps up, am I really going to cancel until House of the Dragon? Probably not. And just like that, HBO has kept me subscribed for the half the year.