A key figure behind Star Trek's classic era has likened the shortened seasons of modern TV to the equivalent of a Tinder relationship, and said he hoped the sci-fi franchise would return to 22-episode seasons.
It used to be 26, so you could plan shows covering half a calendar year, then over the years it got cut down more and more. And it was probably not a bad thing because you typically had the same budget but meant you didn’t have to do a cheap clip show to pad out the numbers.
That’s also why you see a lot of shows with 13 episodes, that seemingly arbitrary number is “half” a traditional season. Even Netflix, despite not traditionally caring too much about seasonal stuff or drip feeding week to week, has a lot of 13 episode seasons.
I guess at some point people wanted even numbers (10) as 13 does feel a bit arbitrary even if there’s a reason for it.
Personally for me I’d rather have 10 great quality episodes than 26 episodes where maybe 8 of them are great, 10 are okay and the rest are utter dogshit. The problem is that even (what I consider) great shows like Strange New Worlds, despite only having those 10 episodes per season, still has the odd naff episode.
I mean if we’re being honest then pretty much all 90’s trek fits the description I’ve given.
Don’t get me wrong, in principle I completely agree that more episodes can mean more character development and that’s a good thing, but it’s not as simple as “more episodes = better”, there has to be intent and desire there to make good things rather than a specific number of things.
I would say SNW, Lower Decks, and Prodigy, all have a clear desire to do that. And Id say the same for the Orville, which honestly may be my favorite, and I feel like SNW took a lot of notes from them.
It used to be 26, so you could plan shows covering half a calendar year, then over the years it got cut down more and more. And it was probably not a bad thing because you typically had the same budget but meant you didn’t have to do a cheap clip show to pad out the numbers.
That’s also why you see a lot of shows with 13 episodes, that seemingly arbitrary number is “half” a traditional season. Even Netflix, despite not traditionally caring too much about seasonal stuff or drip feeding week to week, has a lot of 13 episode seasons.
I guess at some point people wanted even numbers (10) as 13 does feel a bit arbitrary even if there’s a reason for it.
Personally for me I’d rather have 10 great quality episodes than 26 episodes where maybe 8 of them are great, 10 are okay and the rest are utter dogshit. The problem is that even (what I consider) great shows like Strange New Worlds, despite only having those 10 episodes per season, still has the odd naff episode.
First, name one of these shows that fits that description. Seasons have a few stinkers, but a lot ot of them have great B plots.
Plus it leaves so much more room for the most important part. Characters. And their development.
The biggest problem with the new shows is there will never be another DS9 level of characters changing over the show’s run.
“Cheers”
I mean if we’re being honest then pretty much all 90’s trek fits the description I’ve given.
Don’t get me wrong, in principle I completely agree that more episodes can mean more character development and that’s a good thing, but it’s not as simple as “more episodes = better”, there has to be intent and desire there to make good things rather than a specific number of things.
I would say SNW, Lower Decks, and Prodigy, all have a clear desire to do that. And Id say the same for the Orville, which honestly may be my favorite, and I feel like SNW took a lot of notes from them.