When Stranger Things hit our TV’s on Netflix in 2016, Obama was president (his last year in office) Closer was blasting on our speakers (The Chainsmokers), Lemonade was in our ears (Beyonce), and Hamilton was (and still is) selling out every show on broadway. Nearly 10 years, 2 presidential terms, a global pandemic, and pre-resession later – we’re here with the fifth and final season (Thank GOD). Stranger Things didn’t just launch an entirely new sci-fi franchise, it completely redefined the rules of television. With its heart at the center of ‘80s nostalgia, supernatural elements, and fully complex characters, the series was qucikly a cultural phenomenon. It was a major turning point in how I consume TV, how networks create it, and why I’m over it.
Netflix’s signature move of releasing an entire season at once, increased our appetite entirely and you can’t say otherwise. We weren’t waiting week to week to find out what happened anymore. Instead we shut the lights off, closed the blinds, ordered in, and sat in the same spot on the couch binge-watching a show in an entire evening rather than waiting for weekly drops over 4-5 months. This binge-watch model wasn’t entirely new, but Stranger Things proved it could power a global sensation. In doing so, it helped solidify the streaming binge as the dominant way we all engaged with scripted content across all streaming platforms.
That shift wasn’t without trade-offs though. The show set a precedent for fewer episodes and longer gaps between them. A huge win for actors. No longer locked into filming 20-24 episodes each year (which could run you around 1.5 weeks of filming per episode), no more seasons-long contracts – which inevitably rendered you unavailable for anything outside of filming the show. This mini series and shorter season format allowed actors to fulfill production requirements & be free to live their lives afterwards, bouncing between both film & television.
But that’s too late for the audience. The time between seasons grew noticeably. For example, there was a 20-month gap between Seasons 2 and 3, and nearly three years between Seasons 3 and 4. By the time the 5th and final season arrives this year, it’s been nearly a decade since those kids rode their way onto our screens. Well, it wouldn’t make any sense to call them kids as they are now full-fledged adults. To be fair, the slow production cycle is mainly due to the show’s massive scope. With each new season, the budget, effects, and desire for more have grown. We want and need more on our screens. Season 4 felt much less like a TV show and more like a blockbuster film series – split into long episodes and released in volumes. Sure, filming could take 4-5 months, but pre and post-production could take up to an entire year or more. Despite all of this – we still showed up. In just 3 days after it’s launch, Netflix reported 228 hours were viewed of Season 4 (alongside an 88% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes).
Stranger Things didn’t just influence how I watched TV – it influenced how shows are made entirely. Streaming platforms chased similar success with high-budget, shorter-season formats (Hulu’s The Bear, Prime’s Fallout, Disney+’s The Mandalorian, – the list goes on and on and on). Some streamers experimented with hybrid models like releasing 3 episodes and then falling into weekly releases (Hulu’s Little Fire’s Everywhere) to stretch engagement. Or as I like to call it: an extended buzz rather than a weekend burnout. Funny enough, some services have stuck to the weekly model (HBO’s GOT/Succession, Apple TV+’s The Studio). Aside from streaming services, the drop in episode count almost hinted at one of ABC’s biggest shows: Abbot Elementary, with the first season only releasing 13 episodes, which is unheard of for network television. After which, ABC gave the show a full sophomore season order. There’s a huge cost to this model: momentum gets harder to sustain, and viewer patience wears thin. By the time the next season of a show comes out, we’ve moved on, found a new show to love, and have forgotten all about the previous season.
Though turnaround time for critically acclaimed & internet-sensational shows are pretty quick. Netflix’s Nobody Wants This premiering in September 24′ and turning around to film season 2 in March 25′. The same goes for Hulu’s Paradise – premiering in January 25′ and filming season 2 starting just 4 months later (weeks after the finale aired) in April 25′. Hulu’s The Bear has stuck to a traditional timeline – a new season premiering every year.
Today, I’m caught between the instant gratification that Stranger Things helped normalize and the fatigue of waiting years for a new season. Yeah, I’d like to sit at home and bed rot for 10 hours on a rainy Saturday, but after the binge I feel empty and result back to the endless scrolling looking for another hit. Plus, these shows are becoming easier to knock out in one day.
As Stranger Things nears its final chapter, its legacy is already cemented. It taught Hollywood and audiences that TV could be cinematic and bingeable all at once. But it also exposed the challenges of sustaining that model. We’re already seeing a shift of networks and services going back to the weekly episodic release format. In some ways, I’m still living in the Upside Down it created: great storytelling takes time, but my appetite for it refuses to wait.
