Some of the most classic and timeless TV shows like Friends, Parks and Recreation, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine regularly had seasons of 20-25 episodes with a new episode airing each week for about half a year. Viewers got to enjoy drawn out storylines, stand-alone episodes, and even crossovers with this long-lasting season setup. So why is it that some of today’s most popular shows like Netflix’s Stranger Things and Heartstopper or Hulu’s The Bear are only producing about 8 episodes per season?
A lot of this shift has to do with changing TV models. As TV viewership shifted from cable to streaming, audiences became accustomed to more tightly knit narratives with season-long arcs instead of the more traditional cable model of long seasons with self-contained episodes. Part of this is due to the streaming model promoting binge watching—when audiences can sit and choose to watch the entire season in one sitting (without having to buy a DVD box set), they often prefer to feel that the narrative is continuously moving forward.
Another reason streaming shows tend to have shorter seasons is because unlike cable networks, which are incentivized by ad money to keep viewers watching as long as possible, streaming platforms just need enough hype surrounding a show to convince people to sign up for their service. Since there are (often) no ads to pay for the show, streaming services are better off keeping seasons short to reduce the cost of producing shows.
In fact, money is a big reason why TV seasons are so short nowadays. Because audiences respond well to big-budget prestige TV that blurs the lines between TV and movies, each episode of many series now costs as much to produce as a feature film. By keeping seasons short, the series budget can be spent on increasing the production value of each episode instead of sustaining production for 20+ episodes.
Will we see longer TV seasons in the future? Will they just keep getting shorter? As long as the current streaming model is the primary source of TV, it is unlikely that we will see many long seasons again. However, the success of cable shows like Abbott Elementary that have 22 episode seasons means there is still hope for those of us who like to enjoy a more classic TV structure.