Imagine a world with only one season of “The Office.” What a tragedy that would be. With the first season being only six episodes, we would have never gotten to hear Michael say “That’s what she said!,” celebrate when Jim and Pam got married or pity Kevin when his homemade chili spilled everywhere. NBC took a chance on “The Office” in 2004, but were it airing today, it probably wouldn’t have made it to nine seasons.
Unfortunately, the majority of sitcoms nowadays don’t last half as long as “The Office” did. On the surface, the issue with modern shows is that their seasons simply aren’t long enough. With eight episodes being the new norm rather than the 22 sitcoms used to get, neither the viewers nor the writers have enough time to develop strong relationships with the characters. Even with hour-long episodes in much shorter seasons, the run time restricts the number of arcs that can reasonably be embarked on; the plot-driving scenes take precedent over character-driven moments. The reason seasons two to nine of “The Office” look vastly different from season one is that it took time for the writers to figure out each character’s strengths and weaknesses.
However, if sitcoms were to return to 22-episode seasons, they would need to first address why seasons have become so short: streaming services’ never-ending thirst for profit. Streaming companies are routinely shooting themselves in the foot with constant cancellations and inconsistent plot lines. And I’m tired of it.
The rise of streaming services has, without a doubt, made television more accessible. Long gone are the days where college students needed to add “TV” to their packing lists; we can instead opt to binge-watch a show whenever we want with our mobile devices or laptops. Other major applications partner with streaming services to make watching TV more affordable — for example, Spotify’s bundle with Hulu. However, accessibility in story excess doesn’t — and shouldn’t — equate to quality, especially when the streaming model is hindering a show’s ability to succeed.
A big reason why streaming services are so popular is because it’s easier for people to binge-watch their favorite shows. From an entertainment perspective, streaming services contribute to an increase in binging because full seasons are often released all at once, instead of episodes airing once a week. Because the show can be finished in a week, it won’t be able to maintain consistent popularity on social media; people will quickly move on to another series.
Even then, the chance that your favorite show is on your preferred streaming service is low. For example, I’ve found Netflix’s show options subpar at best because they take off my favorite old shows and cancel my favorite new ones. I was an avid fan of Netflix when it had “The Office,” but once Peacock acquired the show, I didn’t use the app anymore. I didn’t want to buy a streaming service for one show. The constant shifting of streaming homes makes starting a new sitcom a gamble on the ability to finish it off. Why invest in a new show and the everyday lives of its characters when it could all be gone from your view at any moment?
Netflix is notorious for canceling shows after the first season due to “low viewership,” especially its sapphic shows — despite significant popularity. “First Kill,” Netflix’s lesbian vampire dramedy series, was canceled after the first season in 2022 for not meeting viewership thresholds despite pulling over 100 million viewers in the first 28 days of its release. This short-term thinking in order to maximize profit has long-term consequences with maintaining a consistent audience base. If “The Office” was airing today, it may have shared a similar fate to “First Kill”: getting canceled after the first season and not having the chance to grow and develop because a fancy calculator told them it wouldn’t be profitable.
It all boils down to streaming services’ business models differing from cable. There’s no need for shows to last 20 plus episodes if there isn’t a certain amount of advertisement time companies need to fill. Syndication, when a show is broadcasted on another network, is the end goal because money can still be made years after the show concluded on air. On the flip side, because streaming services make their money via subscriptions, it reduces the amount of “filler” needed to hit advertising quotas, thus they can afford to make seasons shorter, but not without the trade-off that occurs when we spend less time with the characters.
My advice to streaming companies? Go back to the original script. If more sitcoms modeled themselves after “Abbott Elementary” with its 22 episode seasons, they may see more success with viewers. The show even airs episodes every Wednesday at 9 p.m. EST, limiting binge-watching. Stop canceling shows after the first season, and make the seasons longer to give writers time to flesh out their characters (though not without the expense of fairly compensating writers and giving them more mental health breaks). Appreciate how filler episodes can be used to develop characters’ personalities outside of the main plot.
Sitcoms are popular because of their relatability. Their ability to make mundane moments comical while also keeping the mood lighthearted makes average Joes across generations feel represented. Making sitcoms longer shouldn’t be so hard.
That’s what she said.
Daily Arts Contributor Liv Frey can be reached at livfrey@umich.edu.
The post This just in: Streaming services are killing sitcoms appeared first on The Michigan Daily.
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