Poll Longer seasons? (with compromises)

[Alan Roi]

Not including DSC, what I've watched in the past five years that's serialized:
Mad Men
Better Call Saul
Halt & Catch Fire
Orange Is the New Black

I want to watch Matt Weiner's new series The Romanoffs and one of these days I'll watch Downton Abbey.

I've only seen some of Hell On Wheels (but I think we should still compare notes, since I don't mind spoilers) and Sons of Anarchy, though they were both longer ago than five years. The last genre show I watched before Discovery was Caprica, which was glacial but I still liked.

Anyway, Halt & Catch Fire moved the fastest of the shows I watch. Orange Is the New Black's fifth season spent 13 episodes focused on just three days and incidents that happened in the fourth and fifth season carried on through the entirety of the sixth. Normally a season of OITNB will focus on a particular heavy or set of heavies, who eventually have their downfall and that will be the main story of the season, with other character stories in the background. Better Call Saul, as I've said, is a slow burn. It's not in any hurry to tell the story it wants to tell. With Mad Men, a common complaint was how slow it moved, especially in the earlier part of a typical season.

With Discovery, limiting myself to just "Point of Light" and "The Sounds of Thunder", I think enough went on in those episodes that they could've spanned much more than one episode each.

In the first season, the Klingon War had beginning, middle, and end, and it ended that same season, before moving on to something else this season. I don't want to talk about the Klingon War, we've beaten the specifics about it to death, but it wouldn't be much of a war if it were over in three episodes. Taking a break from it for four episodes was The Mirror Universe. I thought it was fun, and I thought it was the best portrayal of the MU we've ever seen, with a new twist at the end of every episode, though I know we don't agree.

For Burnham: she betrays Captain Georgiou and mutinies on the Shenzhou, loses her rank and gets sent to prison, gets sprung out by Lorca, has to prove herself to the crew of Discovery, makes friends with Tilly, has a relationship with Tyler that has a beginning, middle, and end. She goes to the Mirror Universe, finds out the person who sprung her out of jail isn't who she thought he was. Comes face to face with Emperor Georgiou, rescues her from the Mirror Universe, stands up to Cornwell (who probably wanted to be talked out of her plan anyway), got her rank restored after her actions in ending the war some some argue she started (not the point of my post, just pointing out she got her rank restored)... and then we hit the second season. That's the point where things slow down for her. A lot.

In the second season, Burnham wants to know where Spock is, has to come to terms with the fact that she brought Emperor Georgiou in her universe, brings Spock to Talos IV, where the Talosians find out what she said to Spock as a kid, then she brings him to Discovery. The second season isn't much of a Burnham Year, like the first season was. At least not until "The Red Angel", when she encounters her mother, Gabrielle.

So I guess I half agree with you about Burnham (the second season) and half don't (the first).

EDIT: Spartacus. That's one I forgot. I only watched the first season. But Spartacus is captured, enslaved, and then breaks from from his Master when he stages a rebellion. And gains and loses a friend in the process. I don't see how that's any more than what happens in a season of Discovery.

I've watched a lot of serialized stories.

The fastest moving series I watched was probably Z-nation. You could have as much plot development in an episode of Z-Nation than you'd get in an entire season of The Walking Dead.

Discovery to me is reminiscent of series like Black Sails, 12 Monkeys, Killyjoys, The 100, Gotham and the like. All of which move along fairly quickly and require the audience to keep up with the pace and pick up character development as series move along. Absorption is on the fly. But it does require a quick mind and eye to catch everything that is spinning by. But I don't find they actually skimp on character any more than slower shows, they just do it differently.

i didn't find Halt and Catch Fire to be somewhere in the middle. Not to fast, not to slow, IMO.

On the other hand things like Counterpart, Man in the High Castle, the aforementioned Better Call Saul and Hell on Wheels are for a slower state of mind, sit and enjoy the scenery, feel the narrative waves lap along the beach. A lot less happens, and there's a lot more of people ruminating, sitting around and talking. But that doesn't mean those conversations always offer some kind of amazing insight that faster paced shows don't. And a lot of the time the narrative swings around to the same thing more than once.

Each and every one of these has value providing one can speed up for the faster shows and slow down for the slower ones. But one does get a lot of "this show is batshit crazy bonkers" with shows that move fast, whether they are indeed batshit crazy bonkers or not. I think some people just can't keep up with a fast paced show.

Its not a problem for me to match the speed I need to for whatever show I'm watching in order to pick up what's needed to get the story being presented.

 

[drt]

I don’t think the number of episodes needs to change, but I wouldn’t mind if some episodes were 5-10m longer, that might keep some from feeling rushed, and to slip a little more characterization into others.

 

[ALF]

Not sure if it even boils down to quality/quality, for me. The length of the seasons, given the breakneck speed of the episodes and generally favorable broadcasting tempo... 14/15 episodes per season is perfect. I don't think I'd want any more/less a year.

 

[Ralphis]

I kind of feel like if you kept the episode number the same, or even dropped the number to 10, but did more Short Trek episodes and focused them on DSC's supporting characters like Detmer or Reno or whoever, and made them a little longer (25 minutes), it would almost feel like having your cake and eating it too. You'd have your main serialized arc, but you'd also have these other slightly smaller episodes that could potentially give DSC the vibe of being an ensemble show, similar to 90's Trek.

 

[Delta Vega]

I think a 12 or 14 show season is just about right, but maybe they should standardise the running time to 50 or 60 minutes
Maybe a 90 minute finale show.