Why is there such a long gap between TV seasons?

If you've "ever sat down to watch the return of one of your favourite TV shows" only to realise that "it has been so long" since the previous series "that you cannot remember what happened", then "you are not alone", wrote Alex Farber in The Times.

As viewers increasingly bemoan the long gaps between seasons, Katherine Pope, a Sony Pictures Television executive, admitted this week that the pauses between each series of TV dramas are "frustrating", "untenable", and "not fair to the fans".

Growing old waiting

"Back when the broadcast networks ruled the world", wrote TV expert Josef Adalian for Vulture, "we'd rarely have to go more than four or five months before getting a fix of our favourite shows" – but all that has changed with the advent of streaming. Now, wrote James Poniewozik for New York Times, "you will grow old waiting for your favourite show to come back".

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For instance, the new seasons of Apple Studio's "Severance" is not expected to return until January, three years after it last aired, while HBO's "Euphoria" will only start filming next year, three years after its last outing. Analysis of US drama found that the gap between seasons has now reached an average of 515 days, up from 381 days four years ago.

'Staggering' hiatus

The Covid pandemic and the US writers' strike have been responsible for some delays, but it's because "the process of making and distributing TV has become so expensive and complicated" that "an 18-month break between seasons has become common", wrote Adalian.

This is not only a post-pandemic issue because, as far back as 2018, Emily St James argued that the length of the gaps was becoming "staggering". Writing for Vox, she said shows are "getting more ambitious", in "both production values and storytelling". As "the degree of difficulty ratchets up a little more with every year", if a hit series "needs an extra three or four months to figure out how to top its previous season", most networks are "willing to take the risk of offering more time to get it right".

Speaking this week, Pope said the gaps are getting longer because broadcasters and the streaming industry are now too "data-driven" and this means they have to wait longer to make the big calls.

She believes that buyers are "biding their time before deciding on a recommission" because of "the growing focus on metrics in an on-demand world" in which "the bulk of viewing takes place in the weeks and months after the launch", wrote Farber.

Minding the gap

For some viewers, the longer gaps mean they forget the on-going plot lines. "More and more", wrote Poniewozik, re-joining a favourite series is "like trying to remember the details of high school trigonometry", as you wonder "which hobbit did what to whom".

The danger for the industry, then, is that this confusion means some viewers may simply give up. "In such a saturated world, we can't afford to lose fans," said Pope, and "it is hard enough to get them".

Although a "beloved franchise" such as "Stranger Things" or "Bridgerton" can "probably afford to make fans wait", said Adalian, when it comes to most shows, viewers "very much mind the gap".