this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2025
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Some shows are episodic and work well with many episodes per season, some do better with fewer for a focused storyline. It really depends on the show.
I couldn't imagine The Last of Us having 24 episodes seasons. SG1 having ten episodes per season wouldn't be the same either.
I think the biggest thing is that sci fi shows have tended to trend fewer so they can have movie quality special effects make up a more significant amount of their run time which has caused costs to skyrocket.
Not only that, I am grateful that sci-fi generally has less ”filler” episodes now. I prefer they only make as many episodes as is necessary to get the story arc and side stories filled out.
A lot of sci-fi shows like Star Trek generally just have "filler" episodes since they're supposed to explore themes of humanity, life, diplomacy, the devastation of war, whacky science, and exploration. The episodes should be numerous because the scope and ethos of such a show demands it. That's partially why I'm not fond of most contemporary Trek shows because they tend to gloss over all that for some story sequence that doesn't really pay off in my opinion.
Yup. And also they could take some more risks. There were a lot of strange new worlds that might've been a little too strange and didn't quite work. But that was fine since there would be a bunch of episodes where it did work.
With a shorter run, the risky episodes that don't work represent a larger percentage of the season. So the writers either have to play it safe or risk a large portion of the season no working.
My opinion is the opposite
Absoutely.
Star Trek TNG certainly had a lot of cheap "bottle episodes" but rather than finding them boring I appreciated how these episodes let us spend more time with characters in a different setting, and flesh out the wider universe of the show. The ship doesn't have to be blowing up every single week, there are other things going on too.
And great things can happen when you slow down.
The episode "The Measure of a Man" in which the question of Data's 'humanity' is put on trial was itself a low-budget bottle episode that only happened because of a writer's guild strike, and mostly consists of just a few members of the cast sitting around a table for the whole episode.
And yet, it turned out to be an amazing episode that is widely regarded as one of the most defining and influential in the entire show.
Episodes like that simply can't happen when you only get eight per season.
What side stories?