I think they're starting to get it. Breaking Bad fully executed its ending. Game of Thrones announced their end years in advance. TV producers are finally starting to come on board with the idea of stopping a show even though it's popular.

The alternative is to mint an evergreen series like Law & Order. Someone finds a dead body in NYC; investigation, trial, and silly social commentary ensue. Then vary the parameters a bit and you get SVU, Criminal Intent, et al. Characters are interchangeable, guest spots abound, social commentary changes with the politics of the day.

Walking Dead -- eh, it's getting a little old. I thought they were going to explore some primitive economics, and maybe they will, but the cliffhanger gag last season reminded me too much of "Who Shot JR?" Not sure I care. And the spinoff went too heavy on the social commentary, couldn't even finish Season Two.

Mr. Robot is more promising, but I haven't seen one yet that comes close to the satisfaction I got from the clear arc of the story in Breaking Bad. Sons of Anarchy tried, but fell short somehow.

Walking Dead, I just wish they could find another model for a season.

"Oh, we're walking or driving through the woods" "Cool, we found a place that looks cool and has cool people" "Oh, the cool people were actually horrible for some reason" "Time to blow it up I guess."

Wish that were true with battlestar Galactica, very disappointed in its last season

And then there's Caprica, in which we discover that Battlestar Galactica's awesomeness was apparently a complete and total accident:-(

>Budget, maybe?

Budget and the revenue from a hit.

Making a hit is such a crap shoot that depends on a lot of things including what basically boils down t luck, i.e. it grabs the limelight for whatever reason. So when something does become a hit, there's a lot of pressure to just keep things going.

- The network likes that they have a predictable money-making show.

- A lot of fans will continue watching out of habit/duty.

- Many actors and others associated with a hit show may think (often for good reason) that they'll likely never see as good a payday again.

It's also worth noting that shows like Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones still had relatively niche audiences compared to a hit on a major network. Probably makes it easier to plan for a fixed length.

You do see some of the same effect in, say, genre fiction though. There are a lot of interminable series because they have a built-in readership.

> I'm not sure why this model seems to be more successful in, say, Anime as opposed to western TV. Budget, maybe?

It's mostly a US thing. The UK is fine with making shows that have short seasons and that only last two or three seasons.

Actually, I think the UK is the exception in this regard. Most other countries that shoot their own local TV shows have 6-9 month seasons. Brazil, India, China, Turkey.. etc.

Furthermore I'm not convinced UK's shorter season format is a good thing. I actually think it's a symptom of much smaller budgets.

Yes! You made me realise that I was applying my own limited view of tv shows (what I see on English TV) and appying that to the whole world.

The consistent, long-term revenue for a series comes via syndication, which typically becomes feasible for a 30-minute sitcom around 100 episodes (can vary by format, however).