Media Things

[Thalia]

@Nashville, my musical tastes are not particularly refined, but I've always liked drummers and indeed, Ringo was probably my favorite.   And I like his post-Beatle stuff better than the other three.  George was a genius though and I hope the biopic includes some of his work with the Pythons. 

[Aryanna]

On 2/5/2025 at 9:00 PM, Quilt Fairy said:

Well, at least it's going to be this year and not 2026, FFS.

When it started the characters were preteens. Now they're in their 40s and on their third marriage with a kid in college. Longest 5 seasons ever.

[Nashville]

On 4/16/2025 at 10:32 AM, Aryanna said:

When it started the characters were preteens. Now they're in their 40s and on their third marriage with a kid in college. Longest 5 seasons ever.

Ten years to produce five seasons - is that some kind of record…?  🧐

[Aryanna]

49 minutes ago, Nashville said:

Ten years to produce five seasons - is that some kind of record…?  🧐

If not it should be.

Looking at Wikipedia an old show like Leave It To Beaver had something like 39 episodes per season. By the 1980s most series were around 24 per. That seems reasonable. It stayed pretty much the same until streaming hit big. 

Streaming flips the ratio kinda like how huge SUVs flip the ratio of mpg to gallons per mile.

And the weird thing is that even with so few episodes per season it still feels like many episodes on streaming shows are filler.

[Taryn74]

1 hour ago, Aryanna said:

Looking at Wikipedia an old show like Leave It To Beaver had something like 39 episodes per season. By the 1980s most series were around 24 per. That seems reasonable. It stayed pretty much the same until streaming hit big. 

Gen X here, I definitely remember the days of 22 - 26 episodes per season. Seasons would run from August/September until May/June. The reruns during holidays and the summer seemed like such a slog to get through.

Now I can hardly bear to sit through more than 8 or 10 episodes in a season, and if they take a break for a week between episodes. Heh.

[Aryanna]

1 hour ago, Taryn74 said:

Gen X here, I definitely remember the days of 22 - 26 episodes per season. Seasons would run from August/September until May/June. The reruns during holidays and the summer seemed like such a slog to get through.

Now I can hardly bear to sit through more than 8 or 10 episodes in a season, and if they take a break for a week between episodes. Heh.

Going back and watching something like The Office it's kind of amazing how many good episodes they had per season with that many episodes. Now days I feel a lot if the "prestige" television is just a formula. Filler up until the last 10 minutes and then a cliff hanger to make people come back for the next episode. They're not all like that but many are. Even with only 6 or 8 episodes. 

Edited April 17 by Aryanna

[roamyn]

It has nothing to do with streaming.

It's the CGI and special effects.  They take as long as filming does.  Then there's editing, getting music rights, advertising and trailers.  All of this take much longer than a typical 22 episode show.  Only some fantasy shows like Buffy, Stargate, Charmed, Supernatural that have some CGI have ever been able to accomplish this.  And the quality - esp the first three - is nothing compared to shows like GoT, Dragon, Stranger Things, Boys, etc.

[Sarah 103]

On 4/17/2025 at 1:34 PM, Aryanna said:

Looking at Wikipedia an old show like Leave It To Beaver had something like 39 episodes per season. By the 1980s most series were around 24 per. That seems reasonable. It stayed pretty much the same until streaming hit big. 

It happened slightly earlier with the rise of cable original series. Premium and basic cable series tended to be around 13-16 episodes. 

11 hours ago, roamyn said:

It's the CGI and special effects.  They take as long as filming does.  Then there's editing, getting music rights, advertising and trailers. 

Here's the part that I don't understand. There are people who are working on CGI, special effects, and all of the other post-production aspects/elements. However, those people are not the writers, directors, and actors. Why can't the Stranger Things overall production team work on two seasons simultaneously? Give the actors, writers and directors some time off (3-6 months), and then they start work writing and filming the next season, even if the current season is in post production. The writers can write and everyone who needs to be on set can film new material even if there is a season in post production. 

This used to happen all the time, even into the 1980s and 1990s. Actors finish a movie, and then go off to film a different movie even if the first movie hasn't been released to theaters yet. I've heard about directors doing post-production on one movie while filming another.