Michael Schur Says TV Is Counting the Wrong Thing
Michael Schur says the TV business is measuring the wrong thing. Speaking at Variety's annual Night in the Writers' Room: Awards Season Edition, the writer and producer criticised the industry's focus on "completion rates", meaning the share of viewers who watch a show all the way to the end.
Schur argued that the focus matters less than how many people sample a show in the first place. He went further, describing the emphasis on completion as part of a "tech bro" ethos, a slang phrase for a certain Silicon Valley style of thinking, that he said has seeped into television. His latest series is Peacock's "Dig".
He also looked back at how sitcoms used to be made. The old broadcast model involved 22 or more episodes per season. Most streaming comedies now top out at eight or 10. Shorter seasons mean fewer episodes for a show to find its footing, and Schur pointed to his own history as an example. He said "Parks and Recreation" only found its voice at the end of its first season.
Actress Lisa Kudrow made a similar point about "Friends". She said the show did not take off until the summer after its first season, when repeats ran after "Seinfeld". Patience, in other words, was once part of how a hit was built.
For a current example of that tension, FX has renewed "Adults" for a third season with 16 episodes. A renewal is a decision to make more of a show. The series was created by Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw, and FX asked the creators to shoot a new pilot, the first episode, retroactively. The new episode is meant to introduce the characters and the show's world more fully.
FX boss John Landgraf told the creators that the show was resonating with Gen Z, viewers born roughly between the late 1990s and early 2010s, and could become bigger. Landgraf's comments were reported by Variety.
What this means for viewers is simple. A show with a shorter run can arrive sooner, while a show with more episodes gives its audience more time to settle in. Schur's argument is that the way success is counted should leave room for both. Whether the industry changes its scorecard is still an open question.
