The dominance of limited series on our screens has grown considerably in the past couple of years along with the rise of streaming and binge-watching; they appear to be a staple for most of our TV viewing habits. Companies like Netflix and HBO have set their sights on the single-season commitment for shows and have produced a number of notable original works that have risen to the top of most-watched lists.
Limited series are shows with a single season, consisting of just a few episodes that tell a complete story. Rather than multi-season shows that span years and don’t always have a defined conclusion at their point of release, limited series are created and written with a distinct beginning, middle and end.
Some are intended to be binge-watched like an extended movie while others resemble more of a traditional format with standalone episodes. They’re longer than a singular film but not too long that they require lengthy commitment. The number of episodes, however, is always predetermined. While they generally seem to fall between four and 10, eight episodes seems to be particularly prevalent.
Eight episodes by no means dominates any other episode count, but it is the most common, at least in this data.
Across the genre, eight episodes appear to be pretty standard; it’s more than a simple four episodes covering a specific but less than 12 episodes portraying a more intricate plotline. Eight is a happy medium, one which many series creators have found to be the sweet spot when creating their shows.
Think “Tiger King,” which blew up the internet in 2020, “Pam and Tommy,” “The Dropout,” “Little Fires Everywhere,” or even “Sharp Objects” from 2018. All have eight episodes and all are thought of as extremely entertaining and generally well-crafted works.
The History of Limited Series
While the “first” is up for debate, one of the oldest miniseries aired in 1953 on BBC Television. “The Quatermass Experiment” spanned six episodes and told a story of the first crewed flight into space. It wasn’t until the late 1970s and early 1980s that miniseries became more popular. 1973’s “The Blue Night” spurred more esteem for the genre; in response, the Emmy Awards created the “Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series” in 1974. The award was defined as a “limited series with two or more episodes and a total run time of at least 150 minutes.”
While the 1990s brought an influx of long-running series, particularly sitcoms like “Full House,” “Seinfeld” and “Friends,” streaming transformed the way viewers watched television, and prompted the “second life” of limited series.
The momentum for newer and greater plot lines emerged, especially streaming services (in addition to standard networks) competing for prestigious awards. Most miniseries plots had originally been adapted from books, but historical topics took to the screen as well, with the fictional Hulu original “11.22.63” in 2016 based on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the Max miniseries “Chernobyl” released in 2019, which won the Golden Globe for Best Limited or Anthology Series as well as the Emmy Award.
More recently, Disney+ has even joined the competition, transforming the Marvel Cinematic Universe from movies to a broad variety of television shows, some of which are limited series. The mini-series is also becoming popularized on regular television now, with the traditional broadcast model of 18 to 22 episodes a year becoming less common.
Why is Short Better?
To most, the single-season, limited series appears more prestigious, with a higher budget, more established actors and sometimes famous directors.
The story feels more thought out due to the defined beginning, middle and end, and the predetermined number of episodes gives the creators the ability to fully explore a topic without the timing constraints of a feature film. It’s not necessary to cut certain parts to keep it under three hours and more pacing can be explored in the scriptwriting process. As a viewer, watching limited series feels like a more sophisticated approach to storytelling.
The COVID-19 lockdown certainly affected the watching habits of viewers, and the concept of binge watching, viewing multiple episodes of television or movies in one sitting, became popular to pass the time in early 2020. The new normal became binging entire seasons of shows rapidly; this suited the rise of the limited series format perfectly. From the comfort of their own couch, people could watch an entire story from start to finish in just a few days. Furthermore, the run time would total less than a movie but did not require nearly as much dedication as a multi-year show with 18 or more episodes per season.
Eight episodes at about 40 minutes per episode is approximately five hours of television. That’s equal to about two feature-length films, or 16 sit-com-length episodes. This short format is becoming more and more appealing based on what psychology professor Gloria Marks believes is human attention span. The average attention span of two and a half minutes (150 seconds) in 2004 declined to just 75 seconds in 2012. In the past five or six years, they found the average to be about 47 seconds. We need shorter pieces of media to keep our short attention spans, and limited series seem to do the trick.
Those aspects, in addition to the rise of streaming and the accessibility of all these shows, make watching an entire series appear achievable, something that wasn’t as common previously. Limited series feel approachable, with the ability to watch a couple of episodes as opposed to a multiple-season, full-length television show.
When viewers are able to consume a piece of media quicker, they can more easily tune into the buzz and hype. Watching shows quicker allows the audience to join the trend swiftly, rather than watching dozens of episodes to understand a few pop culture references or jokes. Limited series feel “low-stakes” and also make people feel a part of something. For example, as mentioned earlier, the success of “Tiger King” on Netflix felt like an event to tune into and follow, with 34 million viewers watching it in the first 10 days.
There’s also the recent phenomena of many of our favorite shows being canceled before the second season. It feels good to see the whole story in its entirety rather than investing time just to be let down later when it’s not renewed.
With the rise of limited series, it seems like entertainment creators are crafting stories that feel more meaningful and more significant. When quality matters over quantity, whether it be number of episodes, number of minutes or number of dollars, the characters and plot line are allowed to shine through to their full capacity.
Eight episodes of television give us the opportunity to learn about historical events long forgotten in our records; out-of-this-world individuals with insane, ridiculous tales to tell; dynamic and captivating love stories between fictional and nonfiction characters; and narratives overlooked by traditional television formats. Limited series may be disrupting the standard network format but its influence on storytelling may be worth the upheaval.