Stranger Things’ season 4 format is a terrible TV show

I like Stranger Things As much as the next nerd, but this new release schedule feels, um…a little weird.Here are the details; the penultimate season Stranger Things It will consist of nine episodes divided into two “volumes” with a one-month wait in between.According to a Netflix press release, the first seven episodes Volume 1 It will be available on May 27th.The last two episodes, titled Volume 2will be released on July 1.

One more thing; at least three of these episodes are expected to be very long. Episode 7 (Volume 1), 8 and 9 are all around 90 minutes or more. The finale reportedly took nearly two and a half hours. The three episodes are basically feature film length, and even the first few episodes of the first volume were rumored to be “oversized”. Duffer Brothers‘ letter posted in Netflix.

I think the Duffer brothers are good at what they do and know what they’re doing? Yes, in general. But it feels like a capital G stunt to keep fans engaged for as long as possible and extend their popularity for a month instead of a weekend, as often happens with Netflix-produced TV shows. It doesn’t feel like TV, it feels like another franchise movie universe… maybe that’s what they’re supposed to be doing in the first place. Just make two or three movies and call it a season.But no one seems to be saying no to the Duffer Brothers lately…or theirs Budget.

Although all three seasons Stranger Things It’s been well received and I know I’ve struggled personally this past season. It feels like ’80s nostalgia has finally been pushed to the extreme, and there isn’t much energy to back it up. Not to mention that the story seems slow and lacks the character-driven urgency of previous seasons. Thinking back on how tough those regular-sized episodes are, the announcement of these super-long episodes doesn’t excite me at all.

I understand why they do this; Netflix shows usually do well for a weekend (maybe a week) and then their ratings – and the media – plummet as people who want to watch the show scramble to attend over the weekend A marathon race, hoping to avoid spoilers or getting kicked by the hits on Twitter. Splitting a season into two parts with a month in between allows more fans to start season four without feeling like the finale has been spoiled online.The five-week wait between season start and finish also allows new fans to catch up on past seasons before the finale, gives the Duffer Brothers time for a long press tour, and gives people plenty of room to speculate wildly— May invite more viewers to enter Stranger Things Fandom – This is probably the most rewarding part of any TV series.

Let’s take an example, lostThe smash-hit mystery box TV show first aired in 2004, when streaming was still the future, and every week people got more clues, stories and questions to unravel. There are forums and fan boards dedicated to wild speculation and theorizing, and there are often viewing parties to stimulate the season finale.what many people like lost Chance to try to figure it out, get more info weekly. It’s still considered one of the best TV shows of all time.

This is in huge contrast to Stranger Things. After the first season, Season 2 and Season 3 benefitted from a years’ worth of speculation, but the impact of any episode, individually speaking, was relatively insignificant to the theorizing that took the whole season into account. Each season drop was a big event, and then the excitement simmered on the backburner until the next season started teasing its cast, posters, and trailers. Now, with five weeks built into the release schedule between Volumes, I have to ask… why not just release Stranger Things weekly?

Netflix has resisted this format for a long time, but with Arcane’s multi-episode bloc release schedule, it felt like something was turning around. This announcement, however, makes it seem like Netflix is experimenting with ways to stay in the nerd-news cycle for as long as possible, rather than delivering a cohesive and exciting television experience. So instead of a more formulaic television series, we’re getting a series of films that are being described as television, simply because they exist in the same Volume. At what point, however, does streaming eliminate the difference between television and a cinematic universe?

This schedule feels like a lot of effort to circumvent a perfectly good weekly (or even bi-weekly) release schedule, which would achieve the same goals as this split release, allowing people time to speculate, invest, and set aside evenings to watch the show. If this split-release was the plan all along, why not release more episodes over more volumes? Why chonkify the medium, which is inherently meant for drop in-drop out viewing?

I know, I’m rehashing the same arguments that were brought to the table when black mirror Announced their 90-minute episode. While I do think there are some differences between a narrative TV series and an anthology series, I won’t stress too much about the external definition of TV as a medium – it’s not an interesting argument, much less my opinion, it’s what I think Netflix doesn’t need to make three movies to complete a series.

Since streaming breaks the distinction and definition of film as a medium, I don’t want longer series or more episodes. Most importantly, I want a fun and exciting fan base for effective, tight, cohesive storytelling.what i want audience of lost Have.For a while, I thought Stranger Things would deliver…and for two seasons it did. but now?I’m disappointed that I can’t easily get in and out of the marathon watch in season 4, that Stranger Things The series has turned into a sprawling franchise (comprising comics, video games, Dungeons & Dragons tie-ins and novels) that I’m going to have to hear Stranger Things Five weeks in theory, nothing new. I may be alone here, but I just want to watch one TV series, not three movies.

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