Ask Matt: Is Streaming More Susceptible to Long Breaks?
Welcome to the Q&A with TV critic — also known to some TV fans as their “TV therapist” — Matt Roush, who’ll try to address whatever you love, loathe, are confused or frustrated or thrilled by in today’s vast TV landscape. (We know background music is too loud, but there’s always closed-captioning.)
One caution: This is a spoiler-free zone, so we won’t be addressing upcoming storylines here unless it’s already common knowledge. Please send your questions and comments to [email protected] and follow me on Twitter (@TVGMMattRoush). Look for Ask Matt columns on most Tuesdays and very occasional Fridays.
Are Streaming Fans More Patient Than Network Viewers?
Question: Why is the streaming audience so much more tolerant of lengthy time gaps? I’m asking this in response to last week’s discussion regarding the strikes’ impact on broadcast TV shows and their ability to keep an audience after a prolonged absence. I realize that, unlike the broadcast TV, we don’t have clear metrics to know to what extent these streaming shows are holding their audiences. But given the shorter episode counts and (potential) binge releases, many shows seem designed to go at least 12 months between new episodes. Is it merely audience expectations and tradition — long live Fall TV! — that explains this discrepancy? Or is it the ability of streaming audiences to easily access the previous season to fill in any memory lapses associated with long gaps between episode drops? What is your take on this divergence in viewer behavior?
As an aside, I clearly remember in 1990 watching Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Season 3 finale “The Best of Both Worlds – Part I” and wondering how I was going to survive the summer hiatus to discover Jean-Luc’s fate (those 3 months seemed to last forever!). By contrast, it’s already been 12 months since Resident Alien’s Season 2 finale and I don’t even know if Season 3 will be making its way to my screen in 2023. Even if I have to wait until 2024 or longer, I will absolutely watch Season 3. An even better example: Carnival Row went 3.5 years between Seasons 1 and 2, but I came back and finished the series.
On an unrelated note, Holland Taylor on the Sept. 20 episode of The Morning Show was fantastic! The interview scene with Nicole Behari (whom I haven’t seen since Sleepy Hollow) was sublime. I hope she sticks around; she definitely makes the show better. – Kelly
Matt Roush: As you noted in your thoughtful question, we don’t really know the exact viewership metrics, so it’s unclear if a long wait between seasons impacts streamers to a lesser degree than it does the broadcast nets. I’m not convinced that this unconscionable strike hiatus — which as this weekend’s tentative agreement reveals could have been achieved far sooner if the studio/network alliance had come to the table in a timelier fashion — will be a disaster for the networks when they’re presumably able to launch new and returning series in early 2024. (I bet the core audience for NCIS, the various Dick Wolf franchises, Ghosts and Abbott Elementary among others will welcome them back, especially if they’re promoted properly.)
But I’m also sure when a series as popular as Stranger Things finally returns to Netflix for its final season, it will be a smash. And some of that will be due to the fact that fans will no doubt be replaying the most recent season in anticipation of its return. The bonus of a streaming platform is its accessibility (at least when they’re not dumping shows from their library to cut costs). But this can also be helpful to network shows via their streaming partners like Peacock (for NBC), Hulu (for ABC and Fox) and Paramount+ (for CBS). These long breaks are aggravating, but we’re all grown-ups, and when our favorite shows return, I’m confident we’ll be there.
And I second your Morning Show comment. Nicole Beharie is a great addition this season, and her confrontation with the remarkable Holland Taylor was dynamite. Her character of Chris Hunter is around all season, and hopefully for seasons to come.
Wondering About a Post-Cancellation Future
Question: I appreciate your reviews. They have exposed me to a number of great shows. As to my question: Is it possible that The Wonder Years will be picked up by another network like OWN who will treat them better than ABC? It was such a good show. — Kristi
Matt Roush: Thanks for the feedback. Variations of this question get asked after nearly every cancellation, and the answer is usually no, or not likely. This seems an especially long shot, given that the second season sat on the shelf for the past year and comes from a studio that’s attached to the network. OWN would be an appropriate platform for the culturally reimagined Wonder Years, but it isn’t known for airing comedies or much family programming. It’s a shame this fell through the cracks, with ABC inexplicably treating these episodes like a shameful secret. I can’t explain it.
Does Every TV Crime Need to Be Solved?
Comment: We all like “happy endings.” Conclusions to storylines. And more often than not, especially in weekly series that do not carry a storyline on for a whole season, each episode is usually one and done. Whether the good guy wins or the bad guy loses, there is a conclusion. Law & Order: SVU normally has that conclusion with very limited exceptions. Even if it takes a few episodes, or even a season, the story arc is finished. How about one in which the crime is so horrific that it upsets the whole squad? They spend the entire episode searching for the evil person. And the episode just ends without knowing who did it, or much in the way of clues. It fades to black at the end as it normally does. And a few weeks go by, and a similar crime is perpetrated and again it happens. Throughout the season, perhaps into the next season, things come up reminding the crew of what they couldn’t solve. But the crimes continue to remain unsolved.
This would add, IMO, more authenticity to what happens since as we all know, not every crime is solved. It could cause increased angst for the cast to experience and demonstrate. I think something like this would really shake things up and be a way to reinvigorate the series after the layoff. — Mark G
Matt Roush: Once upon a time, there was a groundbreaking series that dared to present a haunting crime that, to the consternation and frustration of its fictional detectives, was never solved. That show was Homicide: Life on the Street (1993-99), which unfortunately doesn’t appear to be available for streaming on any platform, and the case involved the Baltimore murder of 11-year-old Adena Watson, the centerpiece of an Emmy-winning interrogation episode. Not being able to solve and close this case dogged Detectives Bayliss (Kyle Secor) and Pembleton (Andre Braugher) through the duration of the perennially low-rated series. It was great drama, but while Homicide was acclaimed for its realism, it struggled to find and build an audience — which helps account for why so many of today’s crime procedurals stick to the formula and tend toward tidy resolutions. I would obviously be on board with any show like this that dares to take us outside our comfort zone, but I wouldn’t count on it on a weekly episodic network drama.
Anticipation Getting Rusty
Question: I’ve been anxiously awaiting news about the second season of American Rust ever since Freevee resurrected the show last summer (after a shameful cancellation by Showtime). Now, it’s more than a year later, and we still don’t have any information on story or release date. Can you help shed some light? It’s such a good show that I hope more people discover it in Season 2! — Matt G.
Matt Roush: All I can confirm is that a second season was filmed and it is in the Amazon Freevee pipeline. Beyond that, no word just yet on when episodes will premiere.
More Cooking with Julia
Question: Do you have any news on the premiere date for the second season of Julia on Max? I love this series and I can’t imagine anyone else playing Julia except Sarah Lancashire — she is so divine! The whole cast is superb and it’s such a well-done show overall that I’m really looking forward to more episodes. — Melissa H.
Matt Roush: As published in TV Guide Magazine’s current Returning Favorites issue, Season 2 of this delectable series will premiere Nov. 16 as something of a Thanksgiving curtain-raiser, with episodes airing through December. I’m looking forward to this as well — and while you’re waiting, consider checking out the adaptation of Lessons in Chemistry on Apple TV+ starting Oct. 13 — starring Brie Larson as a brilliant chemist who becomes a popular TV chef in the 1950s, fascinating housewives of the era with her clinical approach to home cooking. It’s terrific.
And Finally …
Question: I recently discovered the wonderful Dark Winds on AMC. Do you know if we will have a Season 3, any news? – Diane B.
Matt Roush: More good news. Not long after the second season of the Indigenous mystery drama wrapped earlier this month, AMC green-lighted a third season. But you’ll need some patience. The industry trades reported that given strike delays among other factors, we may not see new episodes until early 2025. This echoes our first question about long delays between seasons, to which I say: Better late than never.
That’s all for now. We can’t do this without your participation, so please keep sending questions and comments about TV to [email protected] or shoot me a line on Twitter @TVGMMattRoush. (Please include a first name with your question.)
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