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Our television shows are getting shorter, but what’s to blame?

Harkening back to the days of Sex and The City, Gilmore Girls and Friends, it was not uncommon for a series to extend beyond 20+ episode seasons.

Audiences were hungry for television that fleshed-out characters, explored backstories and leant on the odd filler episode or two.

But, in the age of streaming, season libraries have gone from well-stocked to … a meager half dozen.

But, what’s behind the downsize?

In Thursday evenings episode of The Briefing, Sacha Barbour Gatt is joined by legendary Australian tv writer and creator Michael Lucas to discuss what’s to blame.

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Responsible for Australian classics like Offspring, Wentworth and The Newsreader, Lucas is perfectly positioned to provide insight into the shift.

“I think there were these sort of two moments when TV started to change, one sort of in the late 90s, early 2000s, and then another one again in the 2010s when streaming started. That kind of killed that model of television,” he says.

Beginning in the early 2000s, a notable transition began in the quality of television production. There was no longer a clear division between film and television, and audience’s tastes began to shift with it.

“It’s much more expensive and time consuming to make that kind of television,” asserts Lucas, emphasising location filming, celebrity and audience expectation as key television pillars beginning to emerge.

This financial divide has only continued to narrow with the onset of streaming platforms like Netflix and Stan. Data from Screen Australia reveals that production expenditure has risen from $477 million in 2019 to $761 million In 2023.

Michael Lucas attributes this to a desire to compete with the quality of international products, particularly in US and UK markets.

“Largely, I think it just is an intensification of those expectations … and so I sort of understand from the streamers perspective, I guess they would rather spend more on less and try and get something that really travels and cuts through,” Lucas says.

So, as audience expectations continue to grow at an exponential rate, it remains rare that a series will extend it’s episode back out to previous lengths. However, Michael Lucas doesn’t believe that we should always expect to see six episode seasons.

“Now, we’re at a point where we need to hold people, and the way to hold people is to have things that come back. You won’t get rid of your subscription if you’ve got another season of a show you love.”