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FX Boss John Landgraf on Lack of Long-Running TV Series: ‘Attention Spans Have Declined Radically’ (variety.com)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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FX's John Landgraf is not sure the media ecosystem supports television shows that run beyond just a few seasons.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That and writing goes to shit once an idea has been dredged far enough.

Even the good stuff sucks after seven + years, and there's usually a drop off before that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I would say it is number of episodes more than just years, as a show with 20+ episodes per year will run out of the same number of ideas twice as fast as 10 per year, and the latter has more time available to think up and refine ideas.

I would say long running shows should be the exception to the rule, and all those shows that drug themselves out for whatever the syndication minimum was are the best examples moat things having a limited lifespan. Plus the number of years tends to lead to staff turnover and the people writing season 7 are most likely not the same as the ones who made the show successful in the first place.