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Paramount loses more than a quarter of its value, analyst believes they should "just quit streaming"

Same here. We actually saw a bit of that going on in Canada early on, as there were two competing streaming services, with Crave and Shomi, but after several years of profitability, Shomi was shuttered, leaving Crave be the only other big national streamer. Originally was only offered to Bell customers until the government stepped in to say it had to be available for everybody nationally. We also have network specific services, though sometimes they're ad-supported services like CBC Gem, with a premium option.
I don't see ads on Gem, nor do I have the premium option (actually pay for CBC news? WTF?).
 
I actually have always liked the British model for television seasons/series, where it can be as little as 3-5 episodes. I think even with 15-18, you're still going to get a lot of filler with side characters and b-story subplots that are there only to allow the show to spin its wheels before getting back to the main plot, or the writers are going to burn through story trying to fill time.

Back when the American TV model was 20+ episodes, there were a lot of TV series that burned through plot in their first few seasons, or used story ideas to fill some of those episodes, where if they had been allowed to develop them, devote more time to them as the main focus of a season, they could have been done much better.

If your show is a season long story, 6 episodes or less can definitely work, because you are keeping the arc tight. If you only have enough story for 6 or so episodes, just keep it that way.

13 episode seasons for arc based shows are difficult because so much of the middle just meanders. Look at DISCO seasons 1, 2, 3, and 4. Look at PICARD season 2, and to a degree season 1... and both those were only TEN episodes each.

Longer seasons work better for episodic shows, or even those that combine arc and standalones, like SUPEENATURAL. Shorter seasons definitely work best with arc based shows.
 
I don't see ads on Gem, nor do I have the premium option (actually pay for CBC news? WTF?).


Always see ads on mine since I've started using it last month, although admittedly it can be a bit glitchy and not show them at all, but it usually goes through a cycle of 4 or 5 ads.
 
CBC can be glitchy in some really frustrating ways. I recently went through a couple of weeks of being locked out of my account, figuring out myself how to get back in after an email to them went unanswered in ages (they hardly ever answer troubleshooting emails other than to spout a canned answer about checking the labyrinth of useless "help" pages)... then I got a reply from an actual customer service person who unlocked my account so I could sign in... but by that time the comment sections wouldn't load for me.

So I contacted them again and they sent a boatload of instructions for browsers I never use, and to basically delete every cookie I ever had (not good, as some of them are super-critical to keep and it's a pain getting them back if deleted accidentally).

But suddenly something worked, and I'm back in and commenting again. It's weeks too late for some of the stuff I really wanted to comment on, but oh well...

And I'm still confused as to why Downton Abbey shows up on Gem. What possible Canadian content could it have? (not that I don't like the show; I've watched it through at least half a dozen times over the years, but it's frustrating when it's there and other stuff I like that's definitely Cancon has been removed)
 
And I'm still confused as to why Downton Abbey shows up on Gem. What possible Canadian content could it have? (not that I don't like the show; I've watched it through at least half a dozen times over the years, but it's frustrating when it's there and other stuff I like that's definitely Cancon has been removed)


Possible that CBC has the Canadian streaming rights. But I don't really like using the service very much, as I watch most of my stuff using a Roku device, but CBC hasn't made an app available for it. Have to use the mobile app and cast it to the TV using an older chromecast, which I feel is a clunky solution.
 
Yeah, why have a sensible solution when a clunky one will do?

They need a different way of moderating the comments. I just got "deactivated" for pointing out that Justin Trudeau is not running for MLA in Alberta.
 
The writer’s strike may help Trek…as the suits look for filler content…they may decide to air things they wouldn’t take a chance on.

SNW is good enough to get the attention of the general audience…and any bump will be in favor of the writers.
 
But I think the ideal season length is probably around 15-18 episodes. That gives you enough episodes to have some variety and breaks from the main plot, but isn't so much that the writers end up spinning their wheels, and still gives enough room to tell a good season-long arc.
17 Episodes feels like the perfect # of Eps per Season.

Given that 1 week of the year (X-mas / New Years) is going to not have any real new content.

Splitting up the Year into 3x Seasons with 17 eps each can give you the balance between "Too Long" at 21-26 eps per year to "Too Short" (5-13) eps per year.

And if you really want, just add in a double length Season Premiere & Season Finale ep where you have an actual 2 Hrs of Primary Show Content to Book End the Season's content.

And keep the 1 actual Hr of content per ep, I really enjoy the slightly longer than 45 mins setup.
1 true Hour of Primary TV Episode Content per standard episode length is nice.
Then you can stack in (Last Time Segment, Prologue, Show Opening Intro, <Primary 1 Hr Content>, End Credits, Epilogue, Next Time Segment)
That should get you to 1 hr, 10-15 minutes depending on how you arrange everything and that allows you space for commercials in a 1.5 Hr regular Broadcast TV time span.

Longer seasons work better for episodic shows, or even those that combine arc and standalones, like SUPEENATURAL. Shorter seasons definitely work best with arc based shows.
Supernatural & "The Flash" likes to mix in arbitrary Arc lengths for certain Arc based or Multi-Ep stories.

So they have plenty of Stand-Alone Episodes, Arc focused episodes, and multi-Ep Arc stories.

You're not locked into 1x Long Arc Length Season.
 
The writer’s strike may help Trek…as the suits look for filler content…they may decide to air things they wouldn’t take a chance on.

SNW is good enough to get the attention of the general audience…and any bump will be in favor of the writers.

I'm not sure how that could ever result in them airing new Trek that hasn't already been greenlit considering there's no one to write it while the writers are on strike. And no reason for them to 'take a chance' on anything they wouldn't greenlight otherwise once the strike is over and there are once again writers to write it.
 
17 Episodes feels like the perfect # of Eps per Season.

Given that 1 week of the year (X-mas / New Years) is going to not have any real new content.

Splitting up the Year into 3x Seasons with 17 eps each can give you the balance between "Too Long" at 21-26 eps per year to "Too Short" (5-13) eps per year.
51 weeks of new content a year is definitely way too much and will lead to a burned out audience in no time. Something like 30-40 episodes across the franchise a year is just the right balance between plenty of new content and taking a break just long enough to whet the appetite again.
 
51 weeks of new content a year is definitely way too much and will lead to a burned out audience in no time. Something like 30-40 episodes across the franchise a year is just the right balance between plenty of new content and taking a break just long enough to whet the appetite again.
Japan has managed to be "Year Round" with 4 seasons worth of content.

It's not always from the same shows, different shows have different scheduling cycles.

But they've been doing that for decades.
 
Japan has managed to be "Year Round" with 4 seasons worth of content.

It's not always from the same shows, different shows have different scheduling cycles.

But they've been doing that for decades.
Good for Japan. I don't live there or watch any of their shows, and what their television schedule is like does not factor into how I prefer my television experience to be.
 
Actually, I'd be satisfied with one short season a year. I was just saying, if there have to be multiple Trek seasons a year, the combined total of 30-40 episodes would be preferable to 51 episodes.
Those 30-40 eps wouldn't be one show.

Either would the 51 eps, it's be multiple shows also.
 
It’s merging with Showtime whether you like it or not. And prices are going up next month.

I can’t see this working out well. Its catalog with Showtime is still tiny. And it’s not producing a lot of new content to make it more competitive.

Now, I’m gonna binge faster, so I can cancel faster.
 
51 weeks of new content a year is definitely way too much and will lead to a burned out audience in no time. Something like 30-40 episodes across the franchise a year is just the right balance between plenty of new content and taking a break just long enough to whet the appetite again.

I tend to agree it's probably better to have 10-20 weeks a year with no new episodes to whet the appetite, but in fairness part of the idea behind a 52-episode year is that different ST shows will be very different in style and tone. In theory, this would prevent burnout, and possibly also mean that the entire subscriber base isn't following every ST series.
 
but in fairness part of the idea behind a 52-episode year is that different ST shows will be very different in style and tone.
Yes.

In theory, this would prevent burnout, and possibly also mean that the entire subscriber base isn't following every ST series.
And yes. I'm not watching every series. If someone's into all of them, more power to them. But if they're not into all of them, but watching anyway, well, that's entertaining in a black humor kind of way. "I have to watch it all! I can't control myself! I have to watch it all! Oh no! I hate this! But I have to watch it all!"
 
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