Honestly, the show falls apart quite a bit towards the end (much of that due to no fault of the people working on it), and it has some... unfortunate themes at times, but overall it's an incredibly solid serial.
ELEMENTARY has dropped on Hulu (was it there before and I hadn’t seen it?) and as I’m busted with COVID, I’m indulging. The pilot’s a masterclass, the show’s an A+ example of procedural writing, balancing the serialization and B plots.
I know! And the flaw in my theory is I can’t nail that number down. There may also be some sort of subconscious shift in the writing framed by the way showrunners think of each season, perhaps.
Honestly, one of the things I loved about Leverage was the reduced episode number. It felt that there was emphasis on getting great episodes out and less on fluffing out for a 22-26 order. The downside was wanting more, but damn that five season run was fantastic.
Oh true, there can be GREAT works in all of those formats, and I tend to agree with the "leave them wanting more before we all get tired" of something around a 5 year level.
I take some comfort that we have not yet nailed down a single "this is how to do it" as it allows for experimentation.
My mother was just visiting, and got me into watching Midsomer Murders, a series that has now gotten to season 24 (ranging from 4-8eps) with changing cast over the years.
And it still works great (procedurals may be the exception that proves the rule).
Midsomer Murders is lovely, save for the fact if I think too long about it I get stuck on how many people in that county have died in the last few decades. At least 2 per episode! What's their murder rate!!!! Rural UK counties don't have that big of a population!!
I always thought 7 was a good number, but maybe that's because it takes a couple of years for a show to find its footing.
Star Trek TNG and DS9 were seven seasons, but the first two were arguably not great. Same with X-Files, which probably should have ended after seven.
I think it overburdens itself first with trying to bring in every concept from the canon, and then demanding of itself that it tie up all the ends. The latter's usually not necessary (as long as the Big Story gets resolution, the rest can drop), and the former a misstep.
