Bring back 24 episode seasons, so we don't have to cram so much into 8 episodes.

I miss seasons being like 20 episodes long. Don't they have any idea how hard it is to keep finding new shit to watch when all their series come out 8 episodes at a time.

The counter to this is why not let the artists cook (hehe) unconstrained from somewhat arbitrary episode lengths. Those lengths were originally created to make a nice cookie cutter TV schedule. HBO used to actually brag about not being confined to set blocks of time and giving shows like the Sopranos the option of running long or short if they needed to.

So in the days of streaming, why does that matter?

Why add 10 minutes of filler to an episode that doesn't need it? Or cut important plot points that might not work well in different context because you're at 34 minutes already?

Why not give a show room to grow and evolve (Ted Lasso is a great example)? And The Bear certainly fits this mold.

As for Stranger Things, those are basically just three movies, not your traditional episodes.

I'm not too bothered by variable lengths but I do think the lack of time constraints can lead to bad writing and show making. If the episode needs to be 40 mins, fine, but sometimes it just feels like as no one is saying "cut this back, tighten it up" so episodes become uneven or series sprawl and never get to the end.

I like the length, especially when not constrained by broadcast TV time slots (e.g. you can get a few extra-long episodes for finales and such). I think my biggest gripe is the hyper-serialized format making every season a 10 hour movie.

Getting back to the episode length, then I guess some series could benefit from being twenty, 30-minute episodes as opposed to ten 1-hour ones. Never thought I'd say this, but sometimes you just need a "filler" episode.

Edit: Gonna tack on my second gripe. You only get ten episodes and then it's nearly two years between seasons for some shows. By the time the next season rolls around, I've completely forgotten the prior one and have to re-watch it to have any idea what's happening.

Did an advertising block owner write this?

Really don’t care about length if it’s good. I hate they went back to releasing an episode week by week though. Give me the whole damn thing to binge. I can manage my own time thank you very much.

“Murderbot” has entered the chat.

TV is just the new movie with sequels filmed back to back.

Disagree/personal preference. I like both at times, depending on mood/concentration etc.

It's good to also do things that take focus for longer periods of time, to train staying focused. Too many shorts, TikTok etc. Reduce attention span.

Miss me with that, I love 60 minutes episodes

Meh, I don't really care.

Half the time I'm binging shows anyway so longer episodes means less interuptions by having to skipping credits and intros.

And when the episode goes on for too long I can just stop it midway. I assume most streaming services support resuming of episodes these days (my selfhosted plex server does).

Opinion: Your opinion sucks because it generalizes to an exten that it loses all meaning.

I have a cognitive impairment so maybe that’s why but I can only watch shows with 10-30min length episodes. Longer is too much for my brain.

I love long episodes. If i watch a show for a long time, i personally love seeing more of the characters.

Been watching through Modern Family for the first time and appreciate how many plot points they can fit into a 20-minute episode.

I'd agree, they're getting too long. And it's not just TV shows, it seems like big movies and games are also too long too often.

It's like every major work thinks it's the be-all culmination of human creativity. For the people who work on it, it may have that place of importance. But as a viewer, any given work is, by default, just yet another in a huge sea of art that might occupy my time.

But also, I get it. When you find something you really resonate with, that you devour each second of, sometimes it can feel like the longer the better. You almost don't want it to end. And if you pay money for something, and it's surprisingly short, that can feel disappointing.