Victoria: Pacing in American movies and TV shows is completely fucked up. And I think I know who the people who started this disastrous trend are.
Back in the day, a classic episode of The Bachelor/ette went like this: Some contestants went on a group date, some other contestants went on smaller dates, some other contestants went on another group date, there was a cocktail party where people fought over the Bachelor/ette, and then there was a rose ceremony and you found out who went home. Basically every reality competition show followed some version of this formula. On Flavor of Love he gave out clocks instead of roses. On Rock of Love (and the iconic sequel, Rock of Love: Bus), Bret Michaels gave out backstage passes. Tyra Banks handed girls photos of themselves.
And then, the Bachelor decided that every episode didn't need to end with a rose ceremony. Sometimes it ended with a two-on-one date, where one, if not both, contestants went home. Sometimes it ended with a deranged, mid-episode cliffhanger. Sometimes it ended just before the rose ceremony, or even mid-rose ceremony. Chaos reigned.
Now I see this pacing problem basically everywhere. There are tons of docuseries on streaming services that could have dropped an episode or two, or even just been a documentary film! I liked Bridgerton, and I would like it even more if Shonda Rhimes had let me trim the fat. Succession should have half-hour episodes, and I will die on this hill.
Hayley, where have you seen pacing issues cropping up?
Hayley: Of course our good friend the Bachelor is culpable here. Leave it to reality TV to disrupt the system!
Most recently I thought about this issue of pacing with the Netflix docuseries, High on the Hog. I thoroughly loved the content, but the pacing was a mess. It was just the latest in a string of docuseries I had watched where I felt that it either needed to be 1) a single 90 minute documentary or 2) a series of eight, 30-minute episodes, like you suggested above. For this example in particular, I would love shorter episodes, and more of them! There is so much to unpack that I want deep dives into every little topic that comes up, which you can do with more freedom in shorter episodes. I think that tight editing is the friend of the documentary!
I do think that this problem goes back even further, to the decision to split the final Harry Potter book into two movies. And the decision to split the final Twilight book into two movies. These massive franchises with insane followings and nothing but money to make ended up stretching their final dollar even further by making you buy tickets to two separate movies, released a year apart! I know it's trite, but capitalism really ruined pacing. And a similar but separate issue is the art of adapting a book to TV or film — Big Little Lies was intended to be a limited series, with Liane Moriarty's book serving as the source material. Since everyone loved Reese & Co. so much, they fudged their way into a truly awful second series — with no book as source material — for no reason. Also, this very American concept of "more is more" is ruining things, too. Sometimes a single movie or a single series is enough!
I've talked before about how Catastrophe is my favorite TV show, and part of that is because it is so fucking tight. Catastrophe, like Fleabag and Derry Girls, uses the British streaming model of six, 22-minute episodes per season. Just over two hours for one season, totally bingeable while also being entertaining and digestible. The cultural impact of Fleabag, the depth of its writing and the strength of what it had to say, is not diminished by only having two seasons.
I read in an interview with Rachel Bloom that when she and Aline Brosh McKenna were writing Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, they knew from the very beginning what the end looked like, and knew it would take four seasons to get there. That is the kind of refreshing artistic approach I would love to see more of — because truly, I think every TV show should have three or four seasons, MAYBE five, and that's it.
Victoria: The extra Twilight and Harry Potter movies were massive mistakes and they still make me mad. Why did we do that! The pacing in all Marvel movies is pretty much wild — and in general, the movies tend to feel more like episodes in a weird TV show then standalone films, which sucks! The TV shows they've made for Disney+ I've overall enjoyed more, but they've also had huge pacing issues. WandaVision was half-hours, which I think was for the best, and the other shows should have cut their running timesm too. Two of the shows have made it clear EARLY on that a character was secretly going to be a villain, and then made us wait until the end episodes to have that confirmed. Like, make that person evil in episode two, and then we can deal with the fallout!!! That's what's actually dramatically interesting.
Let me stop before I continue to go off on Marvel. I think a huge issue is that when creators moved their shows on to streaming, they got very excited to live a life without limits. Like, in traditional network TV screenwriting, you have 45 minutes, and you have to write in 6 act breaks so they can put in commercials. Things have to be cut to accommodate that! I'm sure it's exciting to not have to cut those things when you're making a show for Netflix or HBO Max.
Yet! I think structure and time limits are actually helpful. In a traditional act structure, you write into the commercial break — something exciting happens before the commercial! The episode maintains momentum. A lot of streaming shows are very same-y until the end of the episode where they give you one cliffhanger to keep you going (this was how I watched two and a half seasons of House of Cards before realizing I didn't like it).
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is actually an interesting example because they imagined the show as a half-hour for Showtime. When CW picked it up they had to expand the episodes, and I think ultimately it worked! Good job Rachel Bloom.
Hayley: Wow, gonna be really hard for me to not title this issue, "Good job Rachel Bloom."
The constant end-of-episode cliffhanger is incredibly aggravating. And to your point, so much of TV and film lately seems to be built around the Big Reveal. Sometimes (99% of the time) it is a final episode reveal of a character from the MCU that we haven't seen on screen yet. It is incredibly boring to watch, not to mention lazy writing. Maybe this is why I love slice of life storytelling so much — the interesting part isn't the big reveal, or big kiss, or big murder, it's all the events that lead up to that moment, or the ones that happen after that moment.
You know what show does a good job of pacing??? Our friend, the Great British Bake Off. I think this is one of the many reasons why it is such a delight to watch. Sometimes being formulaic is a good thing. Can you imagine if GBBO started ending with a cliffhanger? With everyone holding hands, nervously glancing up and down, while Noel says "The person who will be leaving us today....is...." and then it cuts to the credits and the theme song plays. Honestly, with the way GBBO has declined in recent years now I'm nervous for even suggesting that. I DO NOT MANIFEST THIS!
Stuff Hayley Loves:
My brother got me Tadin Hibiscus Tea for Christmas and I've been drinking a cup every day, it's literally perfect.
I have made this Zuppa Toscana from Budget Bytes twice already, I can't stop eating it.
I found this YouTuber, The Budget Mom, who has a really digestible, realistic approach to budgeting that doesn't make me feel overwhelmed or stupid, two things I frequently feel around money.
Things Victoria Recommends:
Read this piece I wrote for Eater about fast food companies making merch that doesn't come in plus sizes.
I also watched all four Matrix movies over break which was fun! If you just want to dabble with the Matrix-verse, watch just the first one.
If you're on the same side of TikTok as me, you've seen the dance to Caroline Polachek's "So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings." I've been listening to the 2019 album that song is from, and it rules.
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