Traditional television’s artificial cliff-hanger syndrome and the reshaping of streaming television pilot episodes
How streaming television has reshaped the story structure and cliff-hangers within television
Traditionally television had several aspects to consider when creating the perfect storyline for each episode and season. With the popularisation of streaming services, the typical story structure for narratives changed.
Typical constraints seen in traditional television were the commercial breaks as well as the one-episode-a-time structure. Alongside these constraints was the original perception of audiences’ time. Traditionally, the time audience gave television was a scarce moment before bed. This meant story structure included more hooks and cliff-hangers to keep the audience engaged (Poniewozik, 2015). In contrast, streaming television views audiences’ time as something they own. Audiences access services such as Netflix and Hulu in their free time, whenever that may be (ibid).
Because of the constraints of commercials and schedules, traditional television could oftentimes appear to have artificial and forced cliff-hangers (Ege Kozak, 2020). Hooks were timed as commercials were about to air, ensuring the audience would re-engage after the advertisement run. The risk would be the artificial nature of these hooks, as sudden interest was put on subplots to create forced cliff-hangers. The cliff-hanger audiences were most engaged with would often become the end-of-the-episode hook. Meanwhile, streaming television writers are able to focus on story and character development more organically, which in turn creates a deeper connection between audience and hero (ibid). Cliff-hangers are more aligned with the correct emotional structure of the character, instead of feeling somewhat forced in hopes to fit with the timing of commercials.
Due to the lack of rating and content restrictions within streaming services, more narrative changes were able to occur. Shona Rhimes, who left ABC Studios for Netflix, confirmed she was more able to do whatever she wanted with storytelling (Navar-Gill, 2020). Annemarie Navar-Gill interviewed several high-profile creators within multiple streaming services, such as Netflix and Hulu, investigating the differences in storytelling between traditional and streaming television. In her research, she discovered streaming services allowed for more “boutique” originals which may have been considered too risky within traditional television (ibid). These platforms allow writers a more creativity-centric model as they no longer focused on audience-data to micro-manage the writers’ room.
“As a co-executive producer from Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale noted, “It’s weird not knowing how the show is doing, but I feel it’s doing well. It’s starting a cultural conversation” (emphasis added). For her, getting people to talk about sociocultural issues and having what she perceived as some kind of political impact was a more personally significant barometer than the absolute number of people watching,” (ibid).
Navar-Gill wrote about how writers were more likely to source personal anecdotes from audiences regarding their shows, using searches on platforms such as Twitter to investigate the reception of their program. In the quote above, it reveals how writers see society changes such as cultural conversation as a marker for success, instead of the traditional views-per-episode gauge seen in traditional television. These markers for success differ per writer, but it allows these writers to focus on storytelling more than rewriting characters.
Lastly, the structure of pilot episodes is changing. Netflix chief content officer, Ted Sarandos, sees the move from the first episode to the entirety of the first season as the pilot (Hooton, 2015). Looking closely at the Netflix releases, the narrative structure has clearly changed from the story conventions seen in traditional television. For example, shows such as Narcos (2015) and The Queen’s Gambit (2020) include heavy exposition in the first episode. The Queen’s Gambit’s first episode explores the protagonist’s, Beth’s, childhood and how she was first introduced to chess and the drug xanzolam. The release of The Handmaid’s Tale on the original distribution platform, Hulu, is another example of how a pilot episode is no longer restricted to the first episode of the series (Navar-Gill, 2020). Hulu released the first three episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale and afterwards released one episode a week. As described in Navar-Gill’s research, the writers’ room of The Handmaid’s Tale decided to release the first two episodes to encourage the audience to begin binging the series, ending on the third as it left the audiences with a rather strong image (Alexis Bledel’s Emily was just subjected to involuntary female circumcision), giving audiences time to breathe (ibid).
Storytelling and narrative structure within television programs have evolved to suit the new habits of audiences. There is no longer a risk in serial dramas, in which an audience member can join the fandom late into the release, as they have the ability to catch-up on any missed episodes. Traditional television now offers similar, as reruns of their programs are available on the television channel’s online services. For example, SBS OnDemand, ABC iView, and 10Play are all online streaming services partnered with their traditional counterparts, allowing audiences to catch-up on missed episodes as well as offer some behind-the-scenes content. However, these services still premiere on traditional television first and therefore are still confined to the constraints seen in this medium.
References
Ege Kozak, O. (2020). The Evolution of TV Scripts in the Streaming Era. pastemagazine.com. Retrieved 5 November 2020, from https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/streaming-tv/script-advice/.
Hooton, C. (2015). The pilot is dead: These are the moments you got hooked on a show. Retrieved 7 December 2020, from https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/pilot-dead-these-are-moments-you-got-hooked-show-according-netflix-data-10512982.html
Navar-Gill, A. (2020). The Golden Ratio of Algorithms to Artists? Streaming Services and the Platformization of Creativity in American Television Production. Social Media + Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305120940701
Poniewozik, J. (2015). Streaming TV Isn’t Just a New Way to Watch. It’s a New Genre. Nytimes.com. Retrieved 5 November 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/20/arts/television/streaming-tv-isnt-just-a-new-way-to-watch-its-a-new-genre.html.
