By this I mean do you think episode counts will change or it will stay 8-10 for the next 5 years or do we see a change where stuff like 13 episodes is back,how possible is this in current climate?
Pilots will be released every minute publicly.
Your brain implant AI will ping you a notification in the back of your eyeballs.
Before you even see the pilot, a different AI will rewrite the script, redo the visuals, and orchestrate all new music to tailor the experience to your tastes.
A brand sponsor will have 8 mins of placement in the 22 minute pilot.
Diet coke. Diet coke. Diet coke.
The season never gets more than a pilot, instead, your AI personalizes the rest of the show for you. You watch it until the AI determines you are not interested in buying diet coke. As long as you buy a diet coke a day, the show goes on infinitely.
If you are popular on social media, your version of the show gets blasted to others.
The show is credited to the trillionaire who bought the company made by an AI that made the AI in your head.
Diet coke.
12
VoraciousChallengeMar 30, 2026
+5
Please drink verification can.
5
oldfogey12345Mar 30, 2026
+1
I would run Star Trek:Discovery through that thing and give AI a shot at it.
1
unitedfan6191Mar 30, 2026
+3
Streaming TV will implode within 10 years as it’s already on its way there if it wasn’t for Netflix barely keeping it afloat because it was established early enough snd pumped enough money into it.
It’s just not really a profitable business and we’ve had over a decade worth of evidence of this and with regular price rises and less and less value being given to the consumer, i can picture a future where even Netflix eventually collapses or downsizes (although this is probably a long time off).
3
fdbryant3Mar 30, 2026
+1
Advertising is going to become the primary revenue stream for streaming services, and they will continue to become more like traditional TV services.
1
MikoSkynsMar 30, 2026
+5
Network TV does a lot more than 8-10 episodes. Can you be more specific?
5
Mat1711Mar 30, 2026
Scifi shows,horror shows,fantasy shows,stuff like that.
0
Ok-Midnight5719Mar 30, 2026
+2
People will decide they've had enough of paying for streaming and cable and they'll go back to over the air television.
The government will incentivize creatives to produce shows for network tv. Tax credits, reworking fcc regulations, rolling out atsc 3.0 and upgrading infrastructure, gateway boxes for consiners.
Maybe not *this* government, but eventually they'll get involved because ota is a public utility and needs to be looked after.
2
LowCalligrapher3Mar 30, 2026
+1
One thing with the Streaming medium and I know this isn't a popular thing to say, I won't cave in regards to subscribing to any services. I used Netflix at a time... over a decade ago, I used the WWE Network back when we had it in the States, but over the past 7 or so years the only Streaming service I use is youtube... which I don't pay any money for.
I hate what Streaming has done to physical media and essentially destroyed the business of "video" rental stores (a great deal which were family owned), I hate how ridiculously over-relying some have gotten on it...
Look at WWE, on top of stopping physical media distribution they've seen fit Raw and all "Premium Live Events" are now entirely Streaming-exclusive, what we once called "payperviews" have basically been glorified house shows (while the actual house shows don't even exist anymore). They hinge so much of themselves on just assuming all their casual viewers have the Internet and Streaming that goes along with it, only Smackdown and NXT are still on conventional television.
1
wizardrousMar 30, 2026
+3
Bleak.
3
Cyrano_KnowsMar 30, 2026
+2
I hate Shrinkflation and I highly, highly suspect our current format of 6-8 episodes per season with seasons spread across multiples of years is very much a product of that. Yes, tv budgets are up, but that doesn't mean that the money is going to giving us a better product. We are getting less and less and less and I think thats a pattern that has very little to do with overall quality.
But your "future of television" question made me think in a tangent. While I do NOT want AI to take money from or replace actors and you know it would, so this is a pipedream kind of statement, but I have to say, I would love to live in a time when AI is good enough that I can say something like:
"Siri, play Million Dollar Baby but make it a happy ending." and future Siri does just that.
2
longjumpingtoteMar 30, 2026
+1
> but that doesn't mean that the money is going to giving us a better product
It really is. Back when TV was the "b*** tube" there were TV actors, TV writers, TV directors. They used TV cameras, TV lighting, TV sets, TV special effects.
It was a huge deal if a TV actor actually made it in film.
Film was higher tier in all ways. And there were *still* crappy movies. Today, there are more good shows than at any point in the history of television.
What happened is that Netflix happened. Now everyone is trying to play at their game. It turned television into movies. With movie actors, movie writers, movie directors, movie sets, cameras, special effects. It costs more. But it's compete or perish.
There will always be exceptions. But this is what television is now.
As for the future, there are already young people who don't understand the distinction between TV and movies. It's arbitrary now. It's explosions and actors on their screen.
What *is* the difference between a 9-eps season of $12-million-per-episode television and a trilogy of 3-hour movies at $108 million? The TV actually comes faster...
1
Cyrano_KnowsMar 30, 2026
+2
Sorry not buying it.
But I absolutely appreciate the mature response and time the you took to write it.
When every product driven company in the world is giving us less and less and less its too much of a leap of faith for me to assume that television is the exception to all the others.
2
SandpaperTeddyBearMar 30, 2026
+2
> Today, there are more good shows than at any point in the history of television.
There’s more good *production quality* shows. Personally, I think they’re mostly quite boring.
2
fdbryant3Mar 30, 2026
+1
>I highly, highly suspect our current format of 6-8 episodes per season with seasons spread across multiples of years is very much a product of that.
The reason we have 6 to 8 episode seasons with multi-year breaks is because of Netflix. When they started making original series their only source of revenue was subscriptions. Because of that it didn't matter if a series was 20 episodes or 6 episodes. All that matter is that it brought in new subscriptions. So to save money, they made shorter seasons. They also only commissioned for one season. This meant when they renewed a show it meant a whole new round of coordinating schedules which lead multi-year breaks (granted a number of other uncontrollable factors like the pandemic, and strikes also play in this), and it also why most Netflix shows rarely go past 3 seasons since at that point it gets more expensive and isn't attracting new subscribers. Since Netflix paved the way other streamers followed suit, and here we are.
But the times are a-changin as the old song goes and history often rhymes. The streaming services are discovering what previous TV distributors (and pretty much every other form of media) did in that money is in the advertisement. Now it does matter how long you watch since the longer you watch, the more ads they show, the more money they make. This is why we are beginning to see shows with longer seasons released yearly.
1
itsjackbauer2021Mar 30, 2026
+1
I think we will get pit episodes length in a few years depending on the show
1
longjumpingtoteMar 30, 2026
+1
In 2021, there were 759 scripted shows; in 2026, that number has dropped to roughly 490.
Things don't get cheaper with time. Millions and millions per episode and it's only rising.
Now they are basically making movies, no difference in the cost, equipment, workflow, actors, etc. Seasons aren't getting any longer, talent is no longer totally under the heel of corporations.
Tht said there are sill quite a few shows 15+ episodes.
The One Chicago trio (Fire, P.D., Med), the Law & Order duo (Original and SVU), Happy’s Place, St. Denis Medical, and The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins.
> The FBI trifecta (FBI, International, Most Wanted), the NCIS expansion (NCIS, Origins, Sydney), plus Tracker, Ghosts, Matlock, Grey’s Anatomy (which remains the longest-running at 18–20 episodes), 9-1-1, The Rookie, and Abbott Elementary, Lone Star and the new medical drama Doc, Daredevil: Born Again, The Lincoln Lawyer.
1
SkavauMar 30, 2026
+1
>In 2021, there were 759 scripted shows; in 2026, that number has dropped to roughly 490.
Per year? I mean we're only about to enter April....
1
Sonichu-Mar 30, 2026
+1
I imagine the bubble will burst at some point before 2040.
Companies can’t keep sinking movie-level budgets into 8-10 episode seasons that release every two years to an audience bored of the wait.
1
rewardingsnarkMar 30, 2026
1 Hbo level episode every 2 to 3 years. So 20 to 30 years for a season.
0
fdbryant3Mar 30, 2026
As advertising becomes the primary revenue stream for streaming services episode counts should go up and seasons should release on a more regular and frequent schedule. This has already started happening with shows like The Pit (episode count and yearly release) and Daredevil:Born Again (yearly release).
0
firedrakesMar 30, 2026
itt wont. budget for shows now are to high
0
fdbryant3Mar 30, 2026
They will make cheaper shows then. The Pitt probably cost less than the average HBO show. But ultimately time will tell.
0
TheShowLoverMar 30, 2026
* 4 episodes per season every five years
* Viewers will complain and long for the days of 8 episodes every 3 years
* The same old tired excuse about high tech post-production and quality will be trotted out to justify the delay
* Bootlickers will repeat the tired excuse and then justify it further by saying this model is preferable to the low quality filler that the former *8 episodes every 3 years* model churned out
* Bootlickers will continue to be surprised when the streaming company CEOs still won't sleep with them.
* Solution: they bootlick EVEN HARDER!
And this is for successful shows.
Unsuccessful shows will be cancelled if the first episode is not viewed to completion within ten minutes of it becoming available.
24 Comments