Why are streamers calling three strikes and TV series are out?

There’s an ever-increasing trend for streaming shows that could see the way we watch and enjoy television change forever.

TV series are starting to feel more finite than ever before.

While years ago shows such as Friends or The Office ran for countless seasons, with episodes in the double digits, now it’s often a tight three-seasons with eight episodes.

The Emmy-award winning, mega hit Ted Lasso has just dropped its first episode of its third – and widely tipped – final season. Jason Sudeikis, who plays the mustachioed American fish-out-of-water coach of a Premier League team, has repeatedly said he plans to blow the final whistle after three.

“The story that’s being told – that three-season arc – is one that I see, know, and understood,” he said in an interview with US publication EW.

“As far as what happens after that, who knows? I don’t know.”

Nathan (Nick Mohammed) and Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) come face to face in season 3 of the AppleTV+ series. The first episode in its widely tipped last season dropped on March 15.

Another of the best shows on television, Succession — the almost Shakespearean drama following media mogul Logan Roy and his ambitious children — will air its fourth and final season, dropping on Binge at the end of the month.

Showrunner Jesse Armstrong said he never thought the show could go on forever.

“There’s a promise in the title of Succession,” he said. “The end has always been kind of present in my mind. From season two, I’ve been trying to think: is it the next one? …

“I got together with a few writers before we started season four … and I said, ‘Look, I think this maybe should be it’.”

Just how will the Roy children fare in their succession plans when the final season of the epic almost Shakespearan drama plays out from March 27s. Picture: BINGE

Epic BBC West Yorkshire-set police drama Happy Valley, starring Sarah Lancashire as the sergeant grappling with a very personal tragedy, also took the three-season approach bringing an end to its tumultuous ride last month.

“Just because it’s been successful, we weren’t going to let it drift on until it became a pale shadow of itself,” creator writer Sally Wainwright said.

They’re just three on an ever-increasing list shows adopting a streamlined approach. There’s no doubt creators have the right to make that decision, and at first glance, it appears this trend is about giving the characters – and the show – a beginning, middle and end. But it’s not quite as clear cut as showrunners wrapping it all up neatly with a bow.

Catherine (Sarah Lancashire) had her resolution in the third series of Happy Valley earlier this year. Picture: Supplied

David Knox, of blog TV Tonight, says while US networks have traditionally loved a hit that can run for years and continue to serve advertisers, it’s a completely different proposition in the streaming world.

“It’s why (long-running) franchises like NCIS, Law & Order, Grey’s Anatomy are crowded with heroic characters and reusable sets,” he said.

“It just makes economic sense.”

Knox said in a bid to stay a few steps ahead of each other, streaming had opened up a world of antiheroes, flawed characters.

“Think Ozark, House, Better Call Saul – big budget fantasy, true crime docos and original movies,’ he said.

“There’s a lot of competition – if you don’t keep replenishing the shop window with sexy titles, there’s a risk people will vote with their feet.

“The costs of 10 seasons for one show can feasibly get you three separate shows.

“When we pay a monthly fee, we tend to demand more of the service than what is served up for free.”

Could we see a spinoff of the Emmy Award-winning Succession once it finishes this year. Picture: BINGE

The research is clear – the number of new subscribers a scripted show can generate in its fourth season is fewer than a new series on debut.

There will be exceptions. Amazon Prime, for example, may just continue to make The Boys forever, but long runs will be increasingly rare.

So while we are unlikely to see a rebirth of the Friends - or Seinfeld-era, the upside is there’s always potential for spin offs from our favourite shows.

Armstrong has said while this Succession story is complete, he has a “feeling there could be something else in an allied world, or allied characters”.

“Even some of the same characters – that’s also strong in me,” he said.

“I have caveated the end of the show … like maybe there’s another part of this world we could come back to, if there was an appetite?

“Maybe there’s something else that could be done, that harnesses what’s been good about the way we’ve worked on this.”

Ted Lasso, Wednesdays, AppleTV+

Succession, Monday, March 27, Binge

Originally published as Why are streamers calling three strikes and TV series are out?