Shows Including Stranger Things and Yellowjackets Are Growing Overextended. I'm All For the Limited Program

This scenario is painfully common. Season two of your top TV show premieres online, and optimism runs high. Season one ended flawlessly: upcoming stories were hinted at provocatively, and a key figure faced a shocking fate – or did they?. During the hiatus, you scoured online forums with other hardcores to decode subtle references shedding light on future developments.

Unfortunately, the return episode disappoints. The writing appears robotic and uninspired. By the next installment, a key performer makes a choice that viewers recognize as jarringly uncharacteristic. As the story progresses, it’s clear that the showrunners have had collective amnesia regarding plot points heavily emphasized earlier. By the lackluster conclusion, you long for an earlier termination.

The Curse of Too Many Seasons

Regretting a show's continuation is hindsight; viewers usually oppose premature cancellations. Take Kaos, an amusing Greek myth parody with Jeff Goldblum, axed by Netflix because of weak audience numbers. However, supporters might find comfort knowing the show's quality wasn't tarnished by a weak follow-up.

Reflecting on Yellowjackets, I now wish it had been a limited series. Season one had a creatively abundant premise, with ten flawless installments. In 1996, a plane carrying an all-girl high school football team crashes in the middle of nowhere. Skilled performers (with Juliette Lewis, Lauren Ambrose and Sophie Thatcher) played the characters across timelines. Numerous awards recognition occurred, and the showrunners proudly announced there would be five seasons to tell the story in necessary detail. However, a season four finale was just confirmed. And as a fan, I let out a sigh of relief.

Gaten Matarazzo, Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin and Noah Schnapp in the forthcoming fifth season of Stranger Things.

Story decisions have weakened the core. In place of exploring post-rescue life, and watching how they deal with their horrific new secrets, the story grew padded and excessive. This involved a wearying pattern of highlighting added personalities (like the underdeveloped daughter Callie) who added little to the overarching plot. It's aggravating, and watching a beloved program become tedious is sad.

A Common Phenomenon

Yet this issue extends beyond Yellowjackets. Series like Emily in Paris, House of the Dragon, Squid Game and Stranger Things lack original impact, and embraced predictable tropes. Sometimes shows need to quit when they are ahead.

Actually, benefits come from self-contained series. Considering Sharp Objects, I May Destroy You, and Adolescence, writers understand when narratives find completion. However, the magic fades with series like Big Little Lies, originally a limited series, come back for more and more with diminishing returns. Maybe Adolescence's creators hesitated about continuing.

The Perfect Example

I wish Yellowjackets could have been a one-and-done series, occupying our minds endlessly, mysteries intact. My favorite TV show of all time has played out like that. The classic teen series, the perfect 90s teen dramedy, ran for just one year but achieved film-like breadth: its characters were difficult and contradictory, the cinematography was perfectly autumnal, and the conversations avoided cliched adolescent writing. Its final episode was bitterly unresolved, but this reflects truth appropriately of never having real, definitive answers to the open-ended questions from your teenage years. Following 18 excellent installments (plus one weak one), I mourned its end and drafted follow-up stories to answer some of those questions. Though stored on outdated technology, it shows how series resonate profoundly.

The Sacred Bond

When producers honor the special viewer-program bond, more shows can end gracefully.

• The author writes about the arts, music and fashion.