Popular Streaming Series Lose Episodes

Shows across all the major streaming services have had their sophomore seasons roll out with fewer episodes than their first seasons, giving eager audiences less content despite the growing amount of time in between seasons. 

The Big Picture: Streaming shows have increasingly become as expensive as most blockbuster films, so each episode cut is a huge cost saving for companies currently in budget-contraction mode. But a lower episode count means a lower engagement (the Holy Grail of streaming). That push-and-pull could remake TV.

Behind the Scenes: Where did all the episodes go?

• Netflix’s The Diplomat, Hulu’s Tell Me Lies, AppleTV+’s Bad Sisters, and HBO’s House of the Dragon are just a handful of the popular shows whose second seasons had reduced episode counts — typically by two or three.
• In some cases, it’s the creator’s call (as was the case with The Diplomat), but more often than not, it’s the streamer who’s asking for fewer episodes. That’s pretty strange, considering companies will typically always ask for more.
• So, what gives? There are several forces at play here — new cost-cutting mandates, last year’s strikes that postponed production between seasons, and the time it takes to dub episodes in a different language.

Closing Credits: In the streaming age, audiences already need to wait between 18 months to over two years for new seasons to drop, so a reduced episode count could give audiences a case of diminishing returns. A prime test case could be the latest season of Squid Game — audiences waited over three years for the second season but are getting two fewer episodes than the first. If Squid Game doesn’t pull the viewership metrics Netflix hopes it generates, that’s a big tell.

That could swing the pendulum toward producing cheaper, more contained shows that are closer to the broadcast model (you know, the one streaming upended).