Will Donahue ‘24

Chief Copy Editor

This month saw the fifteenth anniversary of “Parks and Recreation,” a juggernaut of the early-2010s sitcom scene. “Parks and Rec” aired its first episode on April 9, 2009 and ran for a total of 125 episodes across seven seasons, coming to a heartfelt conclusion on February 24, 2015. In today’s age of streaming, a show with over a hundred episodes is absolutely unheard of; recent years have seen shows releasing as little as eight episodes every two years. Television has never felt less substantial, even with the staggering amount of shows to watch. It is in these times of crisis that I look to the savior of television: the full, fleshed-out, 22-episode season.

A common argument against the 22-episode season is its abundance of “filler” – episodes that only exist to pad out an overlong season. It is true that filler episodes exist, and that they would not exist without an arbitrary season length dictated by executives. But on the other hand, filler makes a show’s world feel alive. “Parks and Rec” is a testament to the art of filler; some of its most memorable episodes (such as “Flu Season,” “The Fight,” and “The Comeback Kid”) were non-event, non-finale episodes. They simply showed us the everyday lives of these characters, making the town of Pawnee, Indiana feel just as real and inviting as it was bizarre.

The lengthy episode count also gave “Parks and Rec” a much-needed opportunity to grow on its audience. Any P&R fan will tell you that the show took a while to hit its stride, with its seven-episode first season coming off as a poor imitation of “The Office.” In today’s television landscape, where every executive wants “the next big thing” as soon as possible, it is likely that P&R’s mediocre first season would have been a death knell for the series. But in 2009, NBC renewed the show for a second, 22-episode season. Audiences were given time to get to know the characters, and writers were given time to properly flesh them out. As a result, “Parks and Rec” grew to become one of the most beloved sitcoms of the 2010s.

But even if 22-episode seasons don’t guarantee a show’s success, they do guarantee employment for longer periods of time. Following two major labor disputes last year, the film industry is seeing unprecedented rates of unemployment (IndieWire). Shows are getting axed left and right, and the ones that survive are shooting fewer episodes less frequently. And with another potential strike looming on the horizon (Deadline), cast and crew members across the industry are facing months of continued unemployment. With production jobs being more in-demand than ever, there has never been a better time to return to full-length (and annual) seasons of television.
Of course, there is nothing – not even 22-episode seasons – that could restore the film industry to its peak streaming-era glory. Studios are beginning to realize that hundreds of new shows every year is not a sustainable business model, and they are scaling back their productions accordingly (FilmLA). But while it is true that the industry will never be what it once was, perhaps longer television seasons could soften the blow. And what’s more, full-length shows in the vein of “Parks and Recreation” are still popular. ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” is a spiritual successor to P&R in all the best ways, and it has proven to be a major hit with viewers. The demand for longer seasons is there; all we can do is wait for the studios to realize it.

Featured Image Courtesy of NPR