Appreciation post: The limited series that actually stick the landing

I was visiting my buddy in Portland last month and we burned through the whole 8 episodes of 'The Patient' in one weekend. For a show that could have dragged, it ended tight at episode 8 without any filler. Anyone else find that shorter seasons are way more satisfying?

3 comments

3 Comments

black.mark4d ago

Shorter seasons almost always deliver tighter stories.

nina_lane164d ago

Has anyone actually watched a 22 episode season of something like The Sopranos or The Wire? Those shows had filler episodes but the long seasons let characters breathe and side stories develop in a way that feels more real. Shorter seasons can feel rushed and gimmicky, like the writers are just hitting plot points without any room for the world to feel lived in.

miles5811d ago

Man I gotta push back on that one @black.mark. Take The Wire season 2 with the whole dockworker storyline. That arc took like 5 or 6 episodes to really hook you, but by the end you understood the death of working class America better than any 8 episode show could pull off. Filler episodes in something like The Sopranos gave us the dream sequences and that random Columbus Day episode that actually told you more about Tony's psychology than any plot-driven scene ever could. Short seasons force writers to skip the messy human moments that make you feel like you're peeking into someone's actual life instead of watching a well-edited highlight reel.