Jared Padalecki & Jensen Ackles Would Still Be Doing Supernatural Today – If Not For The Show's Episode Count
Quantity is often at odds with quality.
One of the complaints of the striking WGA writers is that production companies have drastically reduced the number of episodes per season and the length of episodes in shows. The writers claim it was done to reduce writing costs. But some argue the move can actually improve the quality of shows, too.
Producing large numbers of episodes per season puts a lot of strain on the crew, the cast and the writers. Supernatural star Jared Padalecki recently suggested that he and Jensen Ackles would probably still be playing the legendary Winchester brothers today if Supernatural had fewer episodes per season.
Supernatural was a massive series consisting of a whopping 327 episodes, but Padalecki believes that if each season had only comprised 13 episodes, the show could still be running today.
'You know, Jensen [Ackles] and I asked for 13-episode seasons of Supernatural, many, many, many times. As a matter of fact, I feel like if we had done 13-episode seasons of Supernatural, we’d probably still be doing Supernatural right now. Because it's hard to do a long network season while also trying to be a husband and a father and friend,' the actor shared.
The main problem, he believes, is the resources that the crew and cast put into production: actors burn out, and the quality of the writers' output tends to decline, too, as more and more episodes get churned out.
'I think Jim Beaver at one of our Comic-Con panels said about 22 or 23-episode seasons, "You know, even if it’s the best batter on the planet, if Ted Williams goes to bat 23 times, he's gonna strike out a few times," Padalecki quoted a reference comparing screenwriting to baseball.
As an example, the actor pointed to what is considered one of Supernatural's worst episodes, Bugs, which might have been a lot better if Eric Kripke and the team had had more time.
'And so I think a shortened season would just be a really strong, action-packed, story-packed season where we don’t have to do an episode like "Bugs" in Season 1 of Supernatural. [Laughs]'
The infamous episode deals with Dean and Sam's attempts to get to the truth through swarms of insects that are a curse brought on by Native Americans. In addition to its highly exploitative subject matter, the episode was criticised for inconsistencies and plot holes.
Well, longer seasons and episodes have pros and cons, and the biggest con is that the constant pressure to put out more content in less time inevitably increases the probability of lemons.
Source: TV Insider.