Small screen, big investment: TV episodes have become way too long

Episodes of The Bear, Stranger Things and Lena Dunham’s new show Too Much are stretching the limits of television and reducing our enjoyment in the processThe big debate over The Bear – apart from the one about whether it’s still any good or not, which is another matter entirely – regards its genre. Once the darling of the Emmys, The Bear initially called itself a comedy, despite not really having any jokes or levity or fun in it. And this was down to some bad maths about its duration. The Bear was a half-hour show, and sitcoms are half-hour shows, therefore The Bear must be a sitcom.However, in its fourth season, The Bear was no longer a half-hour show. Of its 10 new episodes, none are less than 30 minutes long. True, one is 31 minutes and three more scrape in under 35 minutes. But one is 38 minutes long, two more stretch on for 40 or more, and one somehow manages to be one hour and 11 minutes long. Continue reading...

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