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As we all know too well by now, there is too much television.
Too many shows, too many streaming services, too many tech companies launching their bids for original programming.
From the standpoint of sheer bulk, unnecessary second seasons are obviously contributors to the current TV glut.
But these unnecessary second seasons are not just a problem of greed, or of a more-must-be-better ideology.
This is largely a problem for TV dramas.
And like so much of culture, this is a cyclical phenomenon.
At that moment, endings were a problem posed by the rise of serialization.
The wepromisewehavefiveseasonsofstory claim became something like a talismanic mantra against cancellation.
(Like many talismans, it did not often work.)
The second was the streaming season, which Netflix first popularized withHouse of CardsandOrange Is the New Black.
It could neither have sharp episodic limits, like the connection procedurals (God forbid!
), nor could it go on and on like the ever-maligned soap operas.
Its worth noting: Theres beenlotsof writing and thinking about this.
As long ago as 2012, there were essays like HBO and the decline of the episode.
TheresJason MittellsComplex TV,pieces like Poniewoziks Streaming TV Isnt Just A New Way to Watch.
I suspect that there is an additional cost to the TV season that ends itself too well.
Still, the beauty of television is that itsgreatat evolving.
Make space for the new.
Learn how to say goodbye.
And let Madeline Martha Mackenzie live.
