Hey, thanks for printing my comments in their entirety and not shitting all over them. I write and have written network tv for many years and so am hardly objective on this issue of longer show orders. I would suggest the concept that less is actually less in the new stunted production model which has proliferated. One would think having a 22-episode show order would lead to lots of middling eps but, at least in my experience, the opposite is true. The rigor of a big order forces the writers (and actors and every department really) to dig deeper, way beyond the handful of facile episode ideas you walked in the door with after pilot pickup. This crucible of exhausting effort tests everyone involved for the better — teaching them what the show actually is in the process — so that rather than diminishing returns I nearly always see my best work in the last third of a long season, episodes which would never have seen the light of day under the new parsimonious streaming model.
Hey, thanks for printing my comments in their entirety and not shitting all over them. I write and have written network tv for many years and so am hardly objective on this issue of longer show orders. I would suggest the concept that less is actually less in the new stunted production model which has proliferated. One would think having a 22-episode show order would lead to lots of middling eps but, at least in my experience, the opposite is true. The rigor of a big order forces the writers (and actors and every department really) to dig deeper, way beyond the handful of facile episode ideas you walked in the door with after pilot pickup. This crucible of exhausting effort tests everyone involved for the better — teaching them what the show actually is in the process — so that rather than diminishing returns I nearly always see my best work in the last third of a long season, episodes which would never have seen the light of day under the new parsimonious streaming model.
What is that OLLYWOOD picture from?