d2cheer

Small rant. To me a limited series should be limited to the amount of episodes for a season. 6 episode "limited series" 6 and done or 8 and done.

This has not become the norm for streaming services to call something a limited series and end it with a cliff-hanger hoping it will go another season or two. Man is this becoming frustrating. I want it to wrap up in the 6 or 8 episodes. It appears there is no way to know if it will continue either.

A recent example for this was Outer Range ( I could also name countless others). Thought it would be a cool one and done. NOPE and so I wasted 8 hours watching something I won't return to. Ugh...

Thoughts????

TomOpus

WRT Outer Range, I don't see anywhere, in the OP, trailer, on Prime's page, where it says "limited series". so not sure why the complaint?

dex14

I agree with your sentiment.

Though, Outer Range was never intended as a limited series.

RichC2

Agreed. Limited Series is tossed around like the new "mini-series" and it should be treated like one.

Why So Blu?

fujishig

I can't say I've noticed. But back in the day, if something was promoted as limited but was popular enough to continue, I got excited. Case in point:

d2cheer

Agree this was supposed to be my point...oh well.

Neil M.

I thought that for Emmy purposes, that is the definition of a limited series. Can we get some examples of shows that did this? I honestly don't pay attention to it as it doesn't really matter to me what they call it.

jjcool

So did you enjoy the show? Seems silly to not watch a second season and consider watching the first season of something as "wasted" simply because it was supposed to be a "limited series". If you didn't enjoy it and watched the entire season, that would be a waste of time.

Josh-da-man

d2cheer

No I didn't enjoy it. Thought it would be great with all involved but turned out to be shit.

jjcool

So you watched the entire season, and it was shit? Why stick with it for the whole season even if it did end up only being a one and done.

I guess I still don't get this point. If you didn't like it don't watch it. There are tons of shows that I have watched a few episodes of and have never gone back to because I didn't like them. Doesn't matter if it is a one off limited series or a 10 season show. It's not wasted time as I realized that I didn't like a show and moved on. The waste of time is to continue watching a season after you realize it is shit and you don't like it.

Runaway

I do get the notion of wanting to finish a movie/show/game, but I don't get the complaint. Please don't continue a limited series with a second season, because if the show's shitty, you feel duped? And Open Range isn't even a valid example, since it never claimed to be limited.

Mike86

I don’t really see it as a dupe either. If a show starts as limited but is popular enough and has enough story to go on then why not?

On the other hand there are instances where I wish shows would be or would have been limited to tell a better story.

I think a happy medium is a show that has a planned arc and doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. Breaking Bad is a good example of a show that knew the story it wanted to tell and lasted a limited time instead of dragging on and on.

fujishig

It's a tough balance, I think. Sometimes you can plot out a long form story but it's not popular enough and it gets cancelled before your planned ending. Sometimes you plot out a really tight first season, it gets renewed, and then every subsequent season seems rushed because that first season was planned out way better (like Veronica Mars). And sometimes if you're just super super popular you don't want to see the gravy train end. That seems to be more a product of network TV because British shows and a lot of streaming shows have a much smaller number of episodes per season and seem to be able to keep up the quality.

And then one time the showrunners seemingly got bored of the material and wanted to move on and even though the series was super super popular and it seemed like the network would've shelled out endless money for extra seasons, they just said screw it and ended it when they wanted to, and most people hated it.

Kdogg

Because then we get a second season on Under the Dome. The network tried to milk a fun, silly limited summer show and tried it into crap.

jjcool

Oh for sure. I would agree on that series. I would add Prison Break as a series that would have been much better as a true one and done. But even after they got second seasons, I didn't think I "wasted" my time watching the first seasons simply because they ended up not being "limited".