Depends on the TV series purpose. Many episodes in 26 episode seasons weren’t plot-driven as such, as the episode was entirely self-contained and could be skipped without missing anything related to the wider arc
The same can be said for many episodes in 10-episode seasons, and due to that constraint those examples are more disruptive to plot progression and tend to be counterbalanced with episodes which rush progression but aren’t actually good.
I think most series are constrained to their respective runtimes and while those constraints do shape the nature of the themes they have the capacity to explore, it isn’t always a problem even for series with fewer than 10 episodes. I haven’t watched either of those recently enough to speak on them, but I think 10-episode series have become a de facto standard that is problematic for many shows and seasons. Severance S2 and The Bear S3 come to mind as recent examples. Both tend to experiment with the form of episodic storytelling in a way which, while interesting and worthwhile in my opinion, ultimately serves to make their respective season arcs less cohesive as a direct result of that constraint.
26 episode seasons were way way better. 10 episode seasons don’t give enough time to develop characters and have less plot driven episodes.
Depends on the TV series purpose. Many episodes in 26 episode seasons weren’t plot-driven as such, as the episode was entirely self-contained and could be skipped without missing anything related to the wider arc
The same can be said for many episodes in 10-episode seasons, and due to that constraint those examples are more disruptive to plot progression and tend to be counterbalanced with episodes which rush progression but aren’t actually good.
Do you think Black Sails, Dark were constrained?
I think most series are constrained to their respective runtimes and while those constraints do shape the nature of the themes they have the capacity to explore, it isn’t always a problem even for series with fewer than 10 episodes. I haven’t watched either of those recently enough to speak on them, but I think 10-episode series have become a de facto standard that is problematic for many shows and seasons. Severance S2 and The Bear S3 come to mind as recent examples. Both tend to experiment with the form of episodic storytelling in a way which, while interesting and worthwhile in my opinion, ultimately serves to make their respective season arcs less cohesive as a direct result of that constraint.
Yeah, great, more of that, please!