By Michael Clauw

Recently, I sat on my couch watching the last several minutes of the Season 2 finale of the HBO show Game of Thrones, and it was like Christmas morning. My jaw nearly dropped to the floor watching the epic and brilliant show. But then came the bad part of Christmas Morning,  the part when it was no longer Christmas morning.

I realized I’d have to wait the majority of the year to see more, but maybe it’s not such a bad thing. There is definitely something to say for quality over quantity in TV shows. 

Television is an interesting storytelling medium because different types of shows are made in different ways. In the past, , shows were not made to have very continuous plotlines for a variety of reasons. 

The first reason was that audiences in the early days were not as educated about different filmmaking styles. Although most don’t have formal educations about filmmaking, the hours of television and movies they have watched during their life makes them keen to pick up on the filmmakers’ suggestions, themes, and attitudes that are necessary for a complex plot. As an audience today, we  have a much more defined view of realism and style which allows us to explore more complex and mature themes and content.

Another reason was that, until recently, it was difficult to watch an episode of a show that you missed.. Today, a variety of technological means,legal and illegal, allow you to keep up with television shows that require continuous viewership, even if you miss them when they first air.

Ever since these two problems were solved, shows with continuous and complex plots have become common, and traditional sitcom-like shows whose episodes have self-contained plots have become rare.

But the problem is that this newer type of story-based television has much shorter seasons. If you have quality, it seems you must settle for lower quantity. 

This is for a variety of reasons:

1. The simplest explanation is that when a crew only has to make 10 episodes of a show rather then 18-25, they can take their time and produce higher quality work. Some would guess that it has something to do with budgets, but this is not always the case. Sitcoms that take a very short time to produce can still rack up a hefty budget simply due to paying actors’ high salaries (take Friends for example).
2. A show can suffer a decrease in quality due to the timing of the filming and whether or not the people working on the set are consistent. If a show only has 10 episodes scheduled, chances are that the same crew and talent will be there for the entirety of the shoot. But if a show has 30 episodes, there will not be the same amount of artistic consistency if directors, editors, or cinematographers are being switched out. If the show is renewed for multiple seasons, the chances of the quality dropping because of having to do a dreaded actor change or premature write-off are much higher.
3. A great story and great writing usually makes a great show. Often the best stories are not original pilot shows, but shows adapted from literature likeTrue Blood, Dexter, Justified, Game of Thrones, and Deadwood. Depending on how closely these shows choose to follow their source, they may not have a choice in the number of episodes they shoot. Most work within the framework of the story, so often the best stories don’t have the time to make episodes with self-contained plots. In a sense, quality can prevent quantity even if the network wanted more.

There are some shows, like Seinfeld or Friends, that have self-contained plots, and others, like Game of Thrones, whose plotlines operate like really long movies. The problem with having your plot operate like a movie, is that you are actually expected to maintain a certain level of quality for the show to be enjoyable. People often say things like “Oh man I wish they weren’t making an Anchorman sequel because I liked the first one so much and it will probably ruin it.” But when is the last time you heard someone say “Gosh, I wish they would stop making new seasons of 30 Rock.”

Although the dilemma of quality vs. quantity is ever-present in the world of television shows, the different types of shows give the viewers a wide variety of choices that make the medium even more enjoyable.