Perpetual Hiatuses: The Long Wait for Great Television and TV Production Writ Large.
I've seen lots of great commentary about how scheduling conflicts, and past history have a role to play in the excruciatingly long wait for The Vampire Lestat (a.k.a. IWTV S3), so I'll comment on something I haven't seen much about:
This is a common trend amongst a lot of what I will refer to as "high quality television shows", because despite absolutely deserving to characterize as such, IWTV/TVL is not "prestige television" primarily because it airs on AMC. It's also likely that, despite probably having the biggest budget of all AMC shows, the show does not have near the budget nor backing of other shows of comparable quality.
Part 1: The Neverending Hiatus
Anyway, many TV shows have taken significantly longer to produce ever since COVID and especially after the SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild strikes for obvious reasons.
But it's also fair to say that even before then we saw a lengthening in time between seasons of television. This is especially true amongst shows that were native to streaming platforms like Netflix, and Prime.
Because of their extensive catalogues and the ability to work on several projects of varying genres, streaming platforms rely on a strategy I would describe as "feed the consumer a bunch of bullshit that nobody asked for to keep them from cancelling their subscription until we finish the next 3 episodes of Stranger Things." Streaming platforms also get the benefit of relying on cult classics and fan favorite shows like Friends, Supernatural, The West Wing, and the like to maintain subscriptions because these shows are beloved and have an insane amount of episodes to keep consumers busy and distracted.
Of course, the modern TV landscape is highly influenced by streaming. As such, prestige TV networks are following streamers' lead and lengthening production timelines. Except HBO isn't throwing nearly as much spaghetti at us to see what sticks. They are much more selective.
All of that is to say that what used to be a few months added to the production timeline for shows that were complex, innovative, and overall massive undertakings in a pre-COVID TV landscape has now turned into several years of waiting because circumstances have made it such that now most shows worth their weight can take an exorbitant amount of time between seasons and not loose their audience. Because now it's a common practice to ask consumers to come back even after way too damn long. Despite our frustrations we do it anyway. They have us on a fucking leash.
Part 2: Streaming and Broadcast Networks Filling the Gaps
Ironically, this phenomenon creates opportunity not only for streaming platforms, as previously discussed, but also could be a big positive for broadcast television.
Unlike prestige TV, streaming, and other cable TV programming, broadcast networks spend lots of money to curate a primetime TV lineup that drives viewership all year by staggering their greatest hits throughout the calendar year.
Historically, primetime TV shows on broadcast networks had an average of 20 to 30 episodes per season. A show that long could carry a network for a whole year if you consider a winter (or summer) hiatus and off-weeks throughout the season for different holidays or major events where viewership would naturally go down (Thanksgiving, Halloween, Superbowl, Olympics, etc.).
Today, streaming has brought that number way down to 10.2 episodes per season. Lots of the same factors discussed previously have affected primetime television (COVID-19, strikes, streaming trends). But a study done by Parrot Analytics suggests that audiences actually prefer more compact, shorter seasons. The justification used for this hypothesis is that networks have struggled to maintain viewership throughout a full season of TV ("[T]he share of network-released shows that saw their peak demand at the season finale has been around 40% over the last six years.").
However, surprisingly, some of the most popular broadcast tv shows have seasons much longer than the average found by Parrot Analytics. The following shows are listed in descending order based on overall viewership:
Tracker S1 (CBS): 13 episodes.
High Potential S1 (ABC): 13 episodes.
Matlock: S1 (CBS): 19 episodes.
Georgie and Mandy's First Marriage S1 (CBS): 22 episodes.
Ghosts S4 (CBS): 22 episodes.
Elsbeth S2 (CBS): 20 episodes.
Will Trent S3 (ABC): 18 episodes.
9-1-1 S8 (ABC): 18 episodes.
Those are the first 8 to appear, I'm gonna skip to the first NBC show to just go give a fuller picture.
Chicago Fire S13 (NBC): 22 episodes.
And for shits and giggles.
Abbott Elementary S4 (ABC): 22 episodes.
Law & Order: SVU S26 (NBC): 22 episodes.
Now, there are some very clear trends here:
CBS clearly dominates broadcast TV in terms of raw viewership numbers.
The top 4 shows were in their first season. As a general practice, in an effort to minimize spending and avoid losses, networks will produce a shorter first season of a television show. They are taking a risk with an unproven show, and have no idea how audiences will react. There are exceptions, however. Matlock stars Kathy Bates, who is a legend that will drive viewership numbers, so she gets 19 episodes. Georgie & Mandy is a Big Bang Theory spinoff, so that also provides a level of security.
ABC and NBC clearly have their own target number of episodes per season: 18 for ABC (with Abbott being an outlier); 22 for NBC. CBS is a clear outlier, and I'm not really sure what they use to determine how many episodes to air, but clearly it's working for them.
Fox's first appearance on the list is at #66. Doc S1 (FOX): 10 episodes. They are struggling mightily.
All of that is to say, broadcast networks have a different strategy altogether: Create enough shows to have a fall and spring lineup and maintain yearlong viewership. And if it isn't their goal already, they should definitely capitalize on attracting viewers who are in the midst of The Great Hiatus.
So, during the gruelling 2 year wait for TVL; the 3 years you were waiting for S2 of Severance; the 4 years fans were "patiently" waiting for S3 of Atlanta, or S6 of Black Mirror; the 5 years between S2 and S3 of True Detective; the frustrating 6 year hiatus between seasons 8 and 9 of Curb; and the agonizing, quite frankly futile wait for S5 of Sherlock, which is now going on 9 years strong; you probably tried your hand at a fair amount of broadcast TV shows.
In the unlikely event that you haven't, you've definitely given shows like Friends (NBC), The Office (NBC), Supernatural (CW), ER (NBC), Seinfeld (NBC), Buffy (WB), Star Trek: Next Generation (CBS), Bones (FOX), New Girl (FOX), NCIS (CBS), Gilmore Girls (WB), Cheers (NBC), or The West Wing (NBC) a watch (or rewatch). And what do you know? They all aired week-to-week on broadcast.
Speaking of, this post is also way too long. I'm so sorry.
I had fun writing it though.
