Too Much of A Good Thing: Why So Many TV Shows Drag

You find a new tv show, fall in love and become utterly consumed with anything and everything to do with it. You’ll tell anyone who will listen to watch it, look forward to every new season and will analyse every single episode to very last detail. But then one day, it starts to feel different. What once felt like a joy starts to become a chore.

But why do so may tv shows drag? The main reason is money.

Let’s look at Stranger Things. Originally, the Duffer Brothers pithed the show as a self-contained one season-anthology series, but Netflix wanted more. And it’s no wonder when the fourth season made a total of a whopping $270 million compared to the first season which made $48 million. On paper, it might sound greedy. But it’s basic business.

Kate Ngai, a lecturer in media and journalism at Strathchycle University, explains: “Production companies and distributors want to make money; they have access to viewing numbers and several other contributing factors that they can consider that the public won't. If there is still a demand and it makes sense financially to do so, they'll keep producing the programme.”

Another reason for the overconsumption of television shows is viewer demand.

Take Pretty Little Liars for instance. The show was meant to end after season five, but due to an excessively large viewership (2.5 million viewers per episode during its peak) it was renewed for another two seasons. This was evidently a mistake with the series finale having a rather poor rating of 54/100.

So why do we continue to watch these shows even when we’re not enjoying them anymore? Its’s because of community.

Greys Anatomy is a great example. Season Two had an average episode rating of 82. whereas season 22, has an average rating of 76. However, although the enjoyment of the show has gone down, there’s still a sense of love there. Or at least, a sense of familiarity with the Reddit forum currently having 6.4K weekly contributions.

Katie Tran, who has been watching the show for years, explained why she keeps watching:“Even though every character I liked either left or died on the show and it’s full of people I don’t know, like, or care about, I keep watching because I’ve invested 20 seasons into it and it would annoy me to not watch until it ends.”

Reality TV is similar. Big Brother fan Amanda Telfer, weighed in on why she kept watching the show: “No matter how much I disliked some of the housemates, no matter how much I found it boring, I still watch because I want to see what the drama is.”

Kate Ngai clarified that while the average person wouldn’t continue to watch something they aren’t enjoying, there are reasons why some fans may keep watching. “It could be habit, sunk cost fallacy, loyalty or just enough interest to see what happens.” Kate makes some excellent points. It’s true that many tv shows overstay their welcome.

But can we really complain about their decline in quality if we keep watching them?