I think 22 episode seasons need filler episodes in order to work. The seasons I found the weakest are usually those where there aren't as many filler episodes, because they end up trying to stretch an arc over too many episodes, and that generally weakens it a lot.
Yeah, and as time went on you can see the show change from one major arc to mini arcs within it - much like TVD and The 100 were doing. SPN spanned from Buffy era, all the way up to streaming tv. It would be interesting to watch through the lense of the time it is from, rather than just the story it tells. Considering a lot of the megafans of the time had started watching as it aired, they did well to keep episodes like Mint Condition, in the mix to keep us happy, as new fans were not as keen on the slow burn.
I wonder how many series wound up being successful because of this format. Trying to dive into one of the current typically 6-8 episode seasons in the middle will result in you tuning out, totally lost, no matter what season. Something like Supernatural, Buffy and especially those lacking any arcs, such as TNG, and you can easily watch a standalone episode and get drawn in and want to watch more.
Yeah, exactly that. There were just a lot more casual fans, who didn't care much if they missed a bit, but were content enough to consume whatever was on at the time they sat down to watch tv. Most also couldn't go online and find an episode, so were reliant on reruns to see what we had missed. There was overall, just less to choose from. More people across the world were united by the same tv. There are a lot of complaints about the lack of diversity in some of the biggest shows of the 90's, but they were all pretty much coming from the same place, which frankly wasnt as diverse in profession as it is now. It wasnt about excluding certain groups, they just were not prominant in that working space yet.
Generational tv, in the sense that most tv viewers of that generation have heard of or seen a particular show, is largely lost now, there are a few stand outs, but mostly we are more fragmented with the media that is consumed. Even more so with political divides. Certain types will stay away from, or seek out, networks with the same ideals. I notice locally that the government is grappling to find ways to get public service announcements out because we're not all locked into the few channels or radio stations, everyone has fragmented off into their own streaming groups. It will be fun to watch how mass media starts to be reined back in, or phased out.
The rate of consumption is another point that changes the pace of the story telling. SPN was originally made for week to week. There are few shows that do that now and a lot of people will just wait for the lot to be released before binging. How that affects the viewership numbers hasnt been properly quantified, with shows being cancelled due to low viewership, when really people have just changed the way they view.
