I would welcome more of that. Don’t write season 1 to set up an arc that will take 7 seasons to complete. Don’t end it on a cliff hanger. I would love more single season shows. That way, I watch the last episode, appreciate the fine work that the cast and crew did, and forget about it for the rest of my life (unless I want to rewatch it or recommend it to a friend).
Recently, there was a bit of an uproar because Spider-Man Noir is starting to be nominated for awards but Amazon has announced that they are not doing a second season. I think Amazon’s error was considering season 2 at all. The show has a neat arc, it ties up all the loose threads, and the final scene is the characters moving on with their lives.
The arc takes as long as they think they can get away with it and hold viewers. Stringing people along like Game of Thrones did. I doubt they have much of a plan beyond 3-5 seasons for most series these days.
I am sure that when writers start a show with a multi-season arc, they have a mental map of what they want to tell in each season. Then the studio comes along and cancels the show after they film a cliffhanger or tells them to stretch the final part of the story into 3 more seasons (and then cancels it after the first of the filler seasons flops).
From what I understand, that was not the case for Game of Thrones. Going into the last season, the show still had a great audience and ratings and HBO was eager to keep milking it. It was the writers who insisted on ending the show and had enough clout to get HBO to agree. My assumption is that they ran out of ideas to keep the show going, realized that George R. R. Martin was hoping they would come up with an ending he could use in the books, and resigned on a high trying to get other jobs before the final season ruined their reputations.
also the cancelling of the shows before season one finishes.
I would welcome more of that. Don’t write season 1 to set up an arc that will take 7 seasons to complete. Don’t end it on a cliff hanger. I would love more single season shows. That way, I watch the last episode, appreciate the fine work that the cast and crew did, and forget about it for the rest of my life (unless I want to rewatch it or recommend it to a friend).
Recently, there was a bit of an uproar because Spider-Man Noir is starting to be nominated for awards but Amazon has announced that they are not doing a second season. I think Amazon’s error was considering season 2 at all. The show has a neat arc, it ties up all the loose threads, and the final scene is the characters moving on with their lives.
The arc takes as long as they think they can get away with it and hold viewers. Stringing people along like Game of Thrones did. I doubt they have much of a plan beyond 3-5 seasons for most series these days.
I am sure that when writers start a show with a multi-season arc, they have a mental map of what they want to tell in each season. Then the studio comes along and cancels the show after they film a cliffhanger or tells them to stretch the final part of the story into 3 more seasons (and then cancels it after the first of the filler seasons flops).
From what I understand, that was not the case for Game of Thrones. Going into the last season, the show still had a great audience and ratings and HBO was eager to keep milking it. It was the writers who insisted on ending the show and had enough clout to get HBO to agree. My assumption is that they ran out of ideas to keep the show going, realized that George R. R. Martin was hoping they would come up with an ending he could use in the books, and resigned on a high trying to get other jobs before the final season ruined their reputations.
they were able to keep fans happy with house of dragons series.