Debate: Do seasons with 8 episodes hit the story better than the old 22 episode format?

Ever since Stranger Things dropped that tight 8 episode first season, I've been hooked on the shorter format, but my buddy swears those long network seasons like Lost gave him time to actually care about characters. Which side do you lean on for a proper binge?

2 comments

2 Comments

johnson.lee10d ago

Heard a showrunner on a podcast say the old 22 episode grind was like running a marathon in quicksand - you'd get two great episodes, four filler ones, and a Christmas special nobody asked for. Remember when The X-Files had that whole season about alien conspiracies and then just dropped a random monster-of-the-week episode in the middle? Drove me nuts. For me, 8 episodes forces them to trim the fat and keep the story moving, but I get why some folks miss those lazy Sunday afternoons hanging with characters. Do you find yourself skipping the filler episodes on rewatches or do you sit through them?

evanfox9d ago

Hang on, I have to stop you there. You actually skip episodes on rewatches? I'm genuinely shocked. That feels like heresy to me. For shows like The X-Files, those monster of the week episodes were half the fun. They gave you a breather from the heavy mythology and let the characters just be characters for a bit. I can still remember sitting through the "ghost truck" episode with my dad and laughing at how ridiculous it was, but that memory is part of the show's charm. Skipping those feels like cutting out all the connective tissue that made you love the characters in the first place.